Plybon Passes AALU Torch To Comiskey

Indeed, Comiskey says, more than 100 AALU members were set to attend a session during the annual meeting to participate in a program on how to develop better relationships on Capitol Hill.

Plybon says this should come naturally for AALU members. "Our business is relationship building," he says. "Impact gives us the opportunity to let members know they can use those same skills to develop relationships with policymakers."

The life insurance industry, he says, is under attack, not only because of some misleading articles written about COLI but also because Congress needs money due to the deficit.

"That is one of the major reasons why the groups have galvanized together," Comiskey says. "We promote the legitimate uses of life insurance."

Life insurance, he says, is about protecting widows, orphans, businesses, employees and families. Congress, Comiskey says, has always favored the cash buildup of life insurance. "It is good for the economy and good public policy."

Comiskey says that during his tenure as AALU president, he plans to focus on 4 major issues. The first, he says, is reform, rather than repeal of the estate tax. If the estate tax exemption is raised to $2.5 million per person, he says, it would eliminate the estate tax for 99.6% of all families. "We think that is very fair for all Americans."

Plybon adds that in addition to eliminating the tax for 99.6% of American families, raising the exemption to $2.5 million would also virtually eliminate the revenue loss to the Treasury.

The second issue he wants to resolve during his term is COLI, Comiskey says, and AALU is eager for Congress to pass the COLI amendment approved by the Senate Finance Committee, which represents the best practices in the industry.

The third issue is nonqualified deferred compensation, he says, and AALU supports the NQDC proposal developed by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif.

The fourth issue, according to Comiskey, is a relatively new one and is playing out in several states. Specifically, he says, some people are trying to expand insurable interest laws in ways that go beyond the traditional interests of families, businesses and charities.

AALU believes these proposed changes are not good public policy, Comiskey says, and could produce a backlash. "We are very opposed to insurable interest laws that do not meet the test of good public policy."

For all the challenges facing the life insurance industry, both Comiskey and Plybon believe it can offer people an outstanding career opportunity.

"The potential is phenomenal," Comiskey says, "but it is not for everyone." It takes a certain personality to succeed, he says, someone who is a self-starter and who can find creative solutions to problems.

But, Comiskey adds, life insurance agents will also be told "no" a lot of the time.

Plybon notes that there are fewer people in the business now than 10 years ago but that the market is significantly larger.

It is a difficult business; it is not easy to get started, he says, but the income potential is unlimited.

There is a saying, according to Plybon, that successful life insurance agents are probably underpaid relative to the hours they put in during the first 5 to 10 years in the business. But then, he says, they are overpaid for the rest of their lives.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 30, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.