Lifelong Learning

Listen and Learn – NOT!

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Insurance Industry Seeks TARP Funds : NPR

I like to start my day by listening to NPR but I have to advise the followers of my blog not to waste 4 minutes of their lives listening to this piece of crap journalism.  The podcast/radio spot is one sided and in my opinion irresponsible reporting.  I wrote the comment below:

I am disappointed in the one-sided view presented by this podcast. The
use of the term “Ponzi scheme” to start the broadcast delivers not only
a negative tone to the piece, but also creates a false assumption in
the minds of the listener, that the entire life insurance industry is
in trouble and seeking TARP funds.

No specifics are provided as to which companies are in trouble and have requested TARP funds. The only specific examples are of some companies whose stock prices have been devastated in the past year. Get real. ALL stocks have been hit hard this past year.

Where is the balanced reporting I’ve come to expect from NPR. Shame on you.

Another listener wrote a similar rebuttal:

As an avid listener of National Public Radio, and a 27 year employee at
one of the most stable and responsible Life Insurance Companies in the
country, I was very alarmed to hear this unfairly negative report on
the financial insecurity leveled at the entire Life Insurance Industry.
Admittedly, there are plenty of Life Insurance companies in the
described situation, but not all. This reporter’s failure to
acknowledge financially sound life insurance companies with AAA ratings
across the board, or even explain the concept of mutual (owned by the
policyholders) versus de-mutual (owned by stock investors) life
insurance companies casts a major cloud of doubt across the entire
industry, at the expense and recognition of the companies that have
been well managed, carry huge capital reserves, accepted zero TARP
funds, are strong and sound, and hold a high degree of responsibility
for their policy owners financial welfare. As a reporter who was
described in the story as one reporting on the Life Insurance Industry,
I am appalled by David Hilzenrath’s lack of research and balance in
reporting. He has caused unnecessary stress and concern for many policy
owners who really need not worry.

Don’t believe everything you read (or hear).  Read a lot and read widely.  Beware of irresponsible journalism!

Suicide and US Soldiers

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Suicides of Soldiers Reach High of Nearly 3 Decades – NYTimes.com

This is an unfortunate trend that underwriters need to be aware of.

Use this permalink if the above link is not working:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/us/30suicide.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Meet the New Boss – Same as the Old Boss

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Medical News: Risk of Sudden Death No Less Likely with Atypical Antipsychotics – in Psychiatry, Schizophrenia from MedPage Today

Here is another report on the same Vanderbilt University study on antipsychotics originally reported on in the NEJM.  The lesson from this comparison is obvious.  Be cognizant of differences in reporting quality and possible underlying biases.  The NYT article didn’t go deep enough.  The sudden cardiac death risk from newer antipsychotics is about the same as the sudden death risk from older antipsychotics.

Same study, different perspectives.  I’ll leave it to the reader to determine which is the better report.

Read a Book a Week (or 0.9846)

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I came up short in my 2008 efforts to read a book a week.  Every year I have the same goal – read a book a week.  Hitting or exceeding that number is not the point.  The point of this simple exercise in goal setting is establishing motivation to read.  The beauty is in the simplicity.  One.  You know when you are on track.  You know when you are off the pace.

Last year I read or listened to 40 books.  I got busy with other stuff and my reading got less time.  But the end of 2008 marked the completion of five years of practicing this simple success strategy.  Over that time period, I have read 256 books or 0.9846 books per week.  So while I missed my goal in the short term, over the longer term I am reading about one book a week.

Here are some strategies I plan on using in 2009 to raise my average to 1.0:

  • More audio-books.  You can get a lot of “reading” done by listening.  This is especially effective when exercising.
  • Find little blocks of time to read.  Get up 30 minutes earlier and read.  Listen to a book in your car on your way and from work.  Read when you’re waiting in a line.
  • Read something you normally don’t read.  Personally, this means less business books and more fiction.

Tune in next year, same place.  I’ll report on my 6 year average which, hopefully, will be >1.0.

Lifelong Learning

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I was thinking the other day about reading a book a week and the value of lifelong learning.  Never make the mistake that learning stops when school stops.  Be a lifelong learner.  Understand that stuff changes all the time and there is always more to learn on your path to success.    Try the following strategy:

Teach yourself what they don’t teach you in school.  Sounds simple doesn’t it?  Well, it’s not really that simple.  Lifelong learning is not simple because school may not teach you a lot of useful information for your chosen line of work.  If you’re a recent entry to the world of work, you probably figured that out already.  The problem is not just what doesn’t get taught.  It’s deciding what to teach yourself to become the best you can be on your chosen path.

There are a lot of people who go through their lives trying to figure out why they’re here and what they’re here to do.  I personally know some boomers who are still trying to figure what they want to be when they grow up.  Imagine yourself at 60 trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up!  Don’t let this happen to you.  Take one simple action.  Make a decision.

The decision you make may not be the “right” decision but at least you have made a decision.  Indecisiveness will doom even the most well intentioned.  Make up your mind.  What you settle upon may not be the grand purpose for your existence but at least it’s a start.  And if whatever you choose turns out to be not what you expected or wanted, then try something else.  As people age we limit ourselves to what is possible.  Try something you’ve never done before.  Maybe, just maybe, you’ll surprise yourself and begin the journey that is yours alone.

It helps to have an uncommon curiosity about everything to be a good underwriter. Arguably this is true across many different professions.  You have to want to learn before you truly learn.  I spent some time this past week adding more links to my sidebar.  I wanted a kind of underwriting friendly mini-portal.  Click through and continue your lifelong learning.  If you have any suggestions for a good website, email me or comment and I’ll add a link.