Monday evening we welcomed this year’s ESI Elite Symposium attendees and began our business sessions first thing Tuesday morning with a jam packed agenda!
We began the morning hearing from ESI’s President & CEO, Ata Azarshahi where he congratulated all of ESI on their 2021 success of $1.5 billion in sales (up 31% over 2020!) and reported on 91% growth in total AUM since 2016! How are we doing this? Because of YOU – ESI’s rep base, where we are seeing more and more ESI reps hitting major sales milestones each year. Ata closed out his remarks thanking our top producing agencies and reps – noting that 2021 was the first time ESI has seen two reps, Steve Simon and Mark Vosk, finishing the year in over $1 million of GDC each!
Following Ata, we heard from Rebecca Dunne, VP of Affiliated Distribution, who we are excited to have as the next leader of the Affiliated channel starting this summer! Rebecca also started off by congratulating everyone on a record breaking life sales year for the channel hitting $78 million of WNAP in 2021! Rebecca attributed this to the strong partnership ESI shares with the Affiliated channel, but was sure to remind us that “last year, was so last year” and ESI and Affiliated will continue to partner closely. To ensure a strong 2022, we are working on solutions around succession planning, teaming, and additional comprehensive, advice-based solutions which encompass all asset classes.
Before our mid-morning break, we received a quick re-cap of everything the ESI Field Committee has accomplished in the past year from co-chair Tyler Degeneffe –from getting Entrada and AdvicePay through the door to introducing two new members to the Committee, Michelle Lawrence and Gary Liskow. National Life’s Lee Revels also joined us for an annuity update pointing out that NL Annuities sit in the top decile of offered rates in comparison to our competitors, and reminded us of the bond characteristics of a fixed indexed annuity.
Dan Randall, VP of ESI Product Management kicked off the second half of the day showcasing new opportunities for ESI Illuminations – specifically the expansion of our Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) offering! This enhanced SMA line-up can help you differentiate your services, provide increased transparency of ownership, give you the ability to customize at the client level, and provide tax overlay opportunities. We have added eleven new high conviction managers including names such as Columbia and Principal.
We then received an economic update from Chief Investment Officer, Jason Doiron. JD shared that what we’ve experienced in more modern times, is the Fed (starting with Alan Greenspan) gradually changing the way inflation is measured, moving from the traditional (Paul Volker and prior) calculation of looking at both asset inflation and consumer price inflation to a more concentrated focus on consumer price inflation. This fundamental shift has created unprecedented times, and while we’re watching the Fed begin another tightening schedule, we’re looking at the second highest CPI on record – at the fast acceleration rate we’ve ever seen – and unemployment at an all time low, it is unclear if they can land this softly. So what’s the best performing asset Jason has today? Not cash! Instead, a vehicle which not only provides a guaranteed death benefit, but also provides great tax advantages, and coupon potential with interest crediting.
Chairman, CEO & President, Mehran Assadi closed out the day stating “I love ESI!” (so do we, Mehran!). 2021 was the best year in history for the company for both profitability and top line growth, and with this growth oriented leadership team in place at National Life, he is confident that ESI can grow sustainably and responsibly to achieve its goal of 1,000 productive reps. Mehran shifted into addressing National Life’s big, scary goals of $750 million of WNAP and $5 billion of annuities – SPADs in particular – confident that we can achieve and exceed these opportunities, concluding the day re-affirming JD’s comments on life insurance being a valuable asset class. As amongst the global uncertainty we are facing today, our life insurance products are no longer just a sale for the mortality play, but living benefits as well; giving us the advantage we need to move forward and achieve our future growth goals.
What an exciting start to ESI’s Elite Symposium in Park City, UT! We’ll be sure to share more highlights in next week’s Insights so stay tuned!
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