THIS AFTERNOON! Rethinking and Reinventing Your Practice

May 17, 2022

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Tapping Into Maple: Myth of Market Timing

May 17, 2022

Financial market performance since the start of the year, and in particular since the end of the first quarter, has been sobering to put it mildly. While these type of market gyrations are never fun, it may be helpful to provide some context. In the last ten years, there have been just two quarters when the S&P 500 index declined by more than 10%. Think about that for a moment! And one of those quarters was at the start of the pandemic. Simply put, financial markets have been behaving favorably for too long and investors have become unaccustomed to the volatility. However, market volatility is normal and is healthy in the long run.

Markets are currently reacting to an enormous set of changes in a compressed period of time: the on-going pandemic, the outbreak of war, supply chain disruptions (made more challenging by the war), high inflation (made incredibly more challenging by the war), and changes in monetary policy.

There were very few places to hide during the first four months of the year. Equities across the board struggled: the S&P 500 index -12.89%, MSCI EAFE index (Developed Markets) -11.74%, MSCI Emerging Markets index -12.10%. Bonds also had a difficult few months: the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index -8.82%, the Bloomberg U.S. Intermediate Aggregate Index -7.09%.

Pretty much the only areas of the market that have performed well this year include energy and just about anything commodity-related. However, their recent performance is almost entirely due to the war in Ukraine. If there was a sudden end to the conflict, many commodity prices would be highly vulnerable to a significant pullback. Moreover, investing in commodities directly remains extremely risky since it is essentially speculation as commodities do not generate cashflows and are inherently volatile.

CLICK HERE TO FINISH READING MAPLE CAPTIAL’S COMMENTARY

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Rethinking and Reinventing Your Practice

May 10, 2022

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Fixed Income Commentary Available

April 19, 2022

“Following the “Forgettable February” theme, “Miserable March” was not a pretty month for bond returns, but the future income component on new bond investments will be more appealing as a result. Yields rose considerably during the month — by 90 basis points (bps) on the two-year Treasury, 50bps on the ten-year note, and 29 on the thirty-year bond. Total return results for the Bloomberg Intermediate U.S. Aggregate Bond Index and the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index were -2.51% and -3.24%, respectively.” Continue reading…

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Bright Break: What’s Ahead with Jerry Rice

April 12, 2022

Fuel your motivation by joining a Bright Break with professional football Hall-of-Fame athlete Jerry Rice.

Over his career, Jerry Rice’s dedication, commitment, and discipline have inspired so many, and now he wants to share with you what makes him strive for excellence. Join our exclusive livestream event where Jerry Rice answers your questions and talks about remaining focused on your goals and achieving greatness.

Submit your questions in advance on the registration page. We will address as many as possible during the livestream event.

This complimentary event is presented by Brighthouse Financial®.

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT

Questions?

For more information, talk to your Brighthouse Financial wholesaler or call the Sales Desk at (855) 459-7277.

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New Practice Management Piece from Jackson National

March 29, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has unquestionably affected the financial professional-client relationship. While many clients, and their financial professionals, have opted for virtual meetings as opposed to in-person annual reviews, your relationship with your clients can continue to thrive in a virtual setting.

To gain insights, Jackson and Greenwald Research surveyed 305 consumers with investable assets of at least $200,000 who recently had an annual client review and 305 financial professionals (in client-facing roles who get at least half their revenues form individuals and AUM of $20 million or more) who have recently conducted at least three annual reviews.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN WHAT THEY DISCOVERED

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Sign Up Today! ESI Leadership Call and Pacific Life Product Launch!

January 4, 2022

Introduction to Pacific Life

As announced earlier, Pacific Life has joined ESI’s Strategic Partner Program, making their variable annuities now eligible for qualified and non-qualified registrations. Pacific Life has strong brand recognition, particularly in the high net worth marketplace and their suite of variable annuities and competitive riders complements ESI’s variable annuity platform. To learn more about Pacific Life and their products, join us ESI and Pacific Life for an introductory webinar on January 11th.

When: Tuesday, January 11^th at 2:00pm ET

Where: Click Here to Register!

ESI Q1 2022 Leadership Field Update & Kickoff

Please join ESI’s Leadership Team for our Quarterly Field Update series. In this session, we’ll be reviewing the activities and results of Q4 and reflecting on 2021 as a whole. We’ll also be sharing some insight into what you can expect from ESI in the new year.

When: Thursday, January 27th at 1:00pm ET

Where: Click Here to Register!

As always, we want to take this opportunity to hear from you and answer any questions you may have for ESI’s Leadership Team. Please help us plan the meeting by submitting your questions to ESIBusinessDevelopment@nationallife.com. The deadline for submitting questions is Monday, January 24th.

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Maple Capital: Fixed Income Commentary – December 2021

January 4, 2022

Our format this month takes a slightly different approach. First, we provide some brief color on what transpired in the bond market last month. Next, we offer some comments on economic reports and what they portend for the future. Lastly, we present some brief commentary on each of the broad sectors of the investment grade bond market with the goal of providing you a comprehensive overview of the market as we see it from our seats.

Bond Market Review

Yields on short maturities (under 5 years) moved 7-10 basis points higher, while yields on longer maturities fell by 8-14 basis points. The resulting total return for the broad market as represented by the Bloomberg U.S. Intermediate Aggregate Bond Index was 0.04%
Corporate bonds lagged a bit during the month. Yield spreads rose in response to the yield curve flattening as well as other technical factors.
MBS performance did not keep pace with Treasuries and valuations remain in transition as the Fed begins to taper its monthly purchases.
Municipal bonds were the star performers in November after three months of negative returns. Investor demand was strong since the threat of higher tax rates is real, while supply remains rather tepid.

Read More

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Join Pacific Life for an Introductory Webinar

December 27, 2021

As announced earlier, Pacific Life has joined ESI’s Strategic Partner Program, making their variable annuities now eligible for qualified and non-qualified registrations.

Pacific Life has strong brand recognition, particularly in the high net worth marketplace and their suite of variable annuities and competitive riders complements ESI’s variable annuity platform. To learn more about Pacific Life and their products, join us ESI and Pacific Life for an introductory webinar on January 11, 2022 at 2:00 pm EST. Click here to register for the webinar.

Resources
Note that e-signature is not currently available with the Pacific Life applications. Reps should get all ESI documents e-signed in Docupace – then upload the wet signed Pacific Life documents into the existing work item.

Please feel free to reach out to Pacific Life with VA product questions. Their Sales Support number is 800-722-2333.

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Pacific Life Joins ESI’s Variable Annuity Strategic Partner Program

December 15, 2021

ESI is very happy to announce that Pacific Life has joined our Strategic Partner Program. Pacific Life’s variable annuities are now eligible for qualified and non-qualified registrations. Pacific Life has strong brand recognition, particularly in the high net worth marketplace and their suite of variable annuities and competitive riders will compliment ESI’s variable annuity platform. ESI and Pacific Life will be hosting our initial rollout call in January 2022. The date and time will be shared in the coming weeks.

E-signature is not currently available with the Pacific Life applications. Reps should get all ESI documents e-signed in Docupace – then upload the wet signed Pacific Life documents into the existing work item.

Please feel free to reach out to Pacific Life with VA product questions. Their Sales Support number is 800-722-2333.

Click here for more information on any of ESI’s Strategic Partners – including Pacific Life!

Pacific Life: We know that customers have a choice when it comes to the financial services company they put their trust in. Our brand pillars have served as our strategic guide ensuring that for more than 150 years our products and services stand the test of time and help generations of families plan for better tomorrows.

Click here for more about Pacific Life

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