tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86374975002031254202009-11-08T20:32:58.814-06:00Information, comments and musings from an Independent Insurance Agent designed to help educate the insurance buying public.Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-35921596747926779172008-01-15T08:21:00.000-06:002008-01-15T08:43:26.780-06:00

Effective January 1, 2008 a new Workers Compensation law went into effect in Illinois. The short title of this act is the "Employee Classification Act". This Act is intended to address the practice of misclassifying employees as independent contractors to avoid paying proper taxes. Several highlights (or low lights) of this act include:all subcontractors are presumed to be employees of the

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-69799432191130757582008-01-07T10:17:00.000-06:002008-01-07T10:32:57.393-06:00

It is January 7, 2008. With today being the 1st Monday of the 1st full week of January 2008, it is time to get back to business: Renewed energy towards insurance sales and service; My kids are back to college; New Years resolutions to start (diets start; regular excersie) and posting to my Blog to restart.I started this blog in Dec 2006 as an assignment for my Master in Insurance Management

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-82622845022418736042007-01-08T16:38:00.000-06:002007-01-08T16:59:07.309-06:00

I am pleased to announce that I have been retained by the Embanet Corporation, an online education service provider, to serve as an online teaching facilitator for the Master of Science in Insurance Management program through Boston University. What this means is I will be a facilitator (teaching assistant) for an online class through BU. The upcoming class is titled International Business,

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-48687351720300492122006-12-19T15:19:00.000-06:002006-12-19T15:20:24.859-06:00

Well its over, I have completed my exam in eCommerce through Boston University and I am on the plane heading home. What follows are several random thoughts on the entire educational experience.I am happy that I took the time and went to the expense to travel to Boston University. Even though it was only for a few days, I can say I attended BU. I am looking forward to returning to Boston in May

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-8570488720284862482006-12-17T10:49:00.000-06:002006-12-17T17:30:10.666-06:00

Well today is test day. I have been studying eCommerce exclusively for the last 3 days. The exam is online and needs to be completed by 11:59PM December 17th. Our group project; an eCommerce website to sell college textbooks has been launched. If interested you can view our site as well as other student's sites for this class by going to: www.ecommerceclass.org In the drop down select: Brian's

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-19600809311807293922006-12-09T10:28:00.000-06:002006-12-09T10:44:33.760-06:00

To all of my loyal readers, I will be posting to this blog rather sporadically for the next week to 10 days. You see, I am in my final week of my final class in a Masters program through Boston University. The degree (if I get through this last week) will be a Masters of Science in Insurance Management. Currently I am in an eCommerce course building a website as a team project. What better

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-53613917300500958372006-12-07T14:02:00.000-06:002006-12-07T14:17:41.004-06:00

The commercial insurance market continues to enjoy an outstanding year of profits. The lack of hurricanes this season and increased rates for catastrophe prone areas and has sent profits soaring. With soaring profits insurance companies are lowering rates to retain clients and attrack new clients. According to one market study, insurance rates have fallen for the last 5 quarters and the

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-54705387204047105592006-12-06T10:36:00.000-06:002006-12-06T10:54:12.267-06:00

It is hard to believe the explosion that has occurred in blogging. I am relatively new to blogging too, but when Pekin Insurance Company, a regional carrier operating in about 5 midwestern states holds seminars about the importance of blogging and insurance agents develping a blog site, blogging is getting out of hand. As I have stated in an earlier post, blogging about insurance may not be the

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-12896245536766685532006-12-01T15:41:00.000-06:002006-12-01T15:54:14.543-06:00

Guest Author: Bill Folkerts, CPCU, CICAuto-Owners Insurance CompanyWith a name like Auto-Owners Insurance, it may seem odd to understand that this Fortune 500 company writes a significant amount of life insurance products, including annuities. Auto-Owners Insurance has been the corporate name since it's origin in 1916 (that's right, we are celebrating our 90th anniversary!) when we began writing

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-17612696872938114442006-11-29T12:17:00.000-06:002006-11-29T12:18:46.523-06:00

I had originally plan on this post slamming Safeco Insurance for their mishandling of a policy in my office. Safeco, like most insurance companies want their agents to quote and issue policies online. Online quote and issuance of policies is quicker, cheaper, and requires less underwriting review. If the client fits through all of the online underwriting guidelines, then the policy is quoted

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-80640474246348702842006-11-27T10:24:00.000-06:002006-11-27T10:48:53.998-06:00

Before I get back to insurance issues (starting Nov. 28th) the main topic of this blog, I thought I would share a photo of at least part of the family, my wife, daughter and our two dogs, during our annual Christmas tree cutting. For 25 of the last 26 years we have cut our tree at the same Christmas tree farm about 10 miles from our home. And since this is a "family" event, we must always include

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-65803176890867800692006-11-24T11:45:00.000-06:002006-11-24T12:10:38.377-06:00

On December 1, 2006 I have arranaged for Bill Folkerts, a representative of the Auto-Owners Insurance Company, to be a guest author on this blog. The topic and content will be his to choose. Check back to see what Bill has to say.

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-36596241734895502192006-11-22T15:48:00.000-06:002006-11-22T15:50:47.048-06:00

I have been so blessed in life, family and health! More blessed than I deserve.Just thought I show you what I am most thankful for; my two kids JB & Lucy!Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-18903425456463050312006-11-21T13:12:00.000-06:002006-11-21T13:15:52.887-06:00

Registering with TechnoratiTechnorati Profile

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-34903798362123124022006-11-21T10:07:00.000-06:002006-11-21T10:16:50.528-06:00

While I am on the topic of teenage driving safety, let’s consider the types of autos we let our kids drive. If we are concerned about safety, why would we let our kids drive a Chevy Camaro Z24 or a Ford Mustang 5.0? If you put young drivers into a high performance car they will drive it like a sports car. It is what you would expect; you and I would drive it the same way. As parents we can use

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-45098469690736807502006-11-20T08:52:00.000-06:002006-11-22T16:35:42.532-06:00

A drivers license is one of the first signs that your son or daugther is moving from childhood towards adulthood (Photo Copyright of Mike Rizzo, 2006) and the responsibilities that go with it. Turning your 16 year old loose with a car on Friday night is one of the scariest things a parent can do. Auto accidents can alter or at worst, end someone’s life. As a parent you want to protect your child

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-27454613993263790352006-11-18T12:10:00.000-06:002006-11-18T12:22:33.478-06:00

How many insurance blogs have you looked at? Not too many I bet. For insurance to be such a large part of a family's or businesses financial security and budgets, there are surprisingly few good insurance blogs. Too many insurance blogs seemed focused on trying to quote your insurance rather than foster dialog about insurance issues. A few blogs I have found that did not bombard me with links

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8637497500203125420.post-78670018079329174122006-11-17T19:28:00.000-06:002006-11-23T11:12:05.788-06:00

Wikipedia defines commodity as "a term with distinct meanings in business and in Marxian political economy. For the former, it is a largely homogeneous product, whereas for the latter, it refers generically to wares offered for exchange." A homogeneous product, according to The Random House Dictionary means "composed of parts all of the same kind."GEICO wants the insurance buying public to

Jeff Luken, CPCUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14691516614123583779noreply@blogger.com3