You have to get people to make good decisions. Wherever you are in life, good or bad, it’s because of the choices you make. Choose to succeed rather than fail. Choose to work hard rather than to loaf your way through it. We had a plan, a vision and we wouldn’t compromise our core values.
Lou Holtz at his induction ceremony into the College Football Hall of Fame
Lou Gehrig’s famous speech was reproduced in yesterday’s local newspaper. It was the first time I read the entire speech. This speech was an awesome speech. Gehrig’s attitude in the face of certain death remains impressive 70 years later.
Whatever your struggle, try to maintain a positive attitude.
“For the past two weeks, you’ve been reading about a bad break. Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.
I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
When you look around, wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such fine-looking men as are standing in uniform in the ballpark today? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have (Yankee owner) Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow. To have spent six years with such a grand little fellow as (Yankee manager) Miller Huggins? To have spent the next nine years with that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Who wouldn’t feel honored to room with such a grand guy as Bill Dickey?
When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift, that’s something. When the groundskeepers and office staff and writers and old-timers and players and concessionaires all remember you with trophies, that’s something.
When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles against her own daughter, that’s something. When you have a father and mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body, it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that’s the finest I know.
So I close in saying that I might have had a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for. Thank you.”
Compiled by biographer and author Jonathan Eig.
Sanders Says: The total confidence reading plan
Sanders is a former Yahoo exec with some interesting ideas about everything.
EconomPic: Can We Inflate Our Way out of this Mess?
Looking for a remote underwriting job? Maybe you’re looking for any underwriting job. If the answer is “yes” please read this article on EconomPic. And if you’re a visual type, I’ve reproduced the graphics from the article.
Take Home Lesson – Plan B…now. Time to create a new and different future.
Scary stuff
Scarier stuff
If you are a repeat visitor you will no doubt notice the theme change for this blog. Over time, the content of this blog has evolved too. At first, I focused on success tips. As my writing matured, this blog has become an online archive of news I find interesting and relevant to the life underwriting profession. I hope you find this website useful. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcomed.
BBC NEWS | Health | Long hours link to dementia risk
My wife tells me I don’t have to worry about this. Interesting study but of little underwriting significance at this time.
If you are looking for work it is critical to do your homework about a prospective employer. There are companies out there in trouble. For example, check out this excerpt from a recent SEC 8K filing. To be clear, this filing is not from an insurance company and is used here solely for illustrative and educational purposes. The company who filed this report is real. Would you take a job with this company? Do your homework.
Item 8.01. Other Events.
Company Actions Regarding Liquidity Position
The Company is, and expects to be, in default under a number of its financial obligations to its lenders and venture partners, including under certain loan agreements and other funding obligation agreements, and has commenced discussions to restructure these obligations and potential related claims. The Company has sought, and continues to seek, waivers with respect to such defaults, and is seeking to reach negotiated settlements with its various creditors in order to preserve its liquidity and enable it to continue operating. The Company believes that it will be in the best interests of all creditors to grant such waivers or reach such negotiated settlements with the Company and has entered and is seeking to enter into standstill agreements with a number of its creditors similar to the Standstill Agreements described in Item 1.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K. However, there can be no assurance that such waivers will be received or such settlements will be reached, and, depending on the materiality, such discussions and agreements may or may not be separately disclosed in the future. If the defaults are not cured within applicable cure periods, if any, and if waivers or other relief are not obtained, the defaults can cause acceleration of certain of the Company’s financial obligations, which the Company may not be in a position to satisfy. The Company is also engaged in discussions with various venture partners and third parties regarding the sale of certain assets with the purpose of increasing liquidity and reducing obligations to enable the Company to continue operations. There can be no assurance that any of these discussions will result in the consummation of any transactions, and, depending on the materiality, such transactions may or may not be separately disclosed in the future.
What do you do with books after they have been read?
Like most avid readers I like to keep a lot of my books. So I’m into bullet points 1 & 2. But to avoid bullet point 3 you need a plan. My plan is to give most of my books away. I’ve created a sidebar link that will take you to a list of available books on Bookins. The only cost to you will be S&H charges. Check it out.
The insurance industry has shed 8,140 jobs since November 1, 2008. This is according to Bloomberg News and Challenger,
Gray & Christmas, the Chicago-based outplacement firm. I intend to continue writing posts on job search sites and articles of interest for underwriters who may be searching for their next opportunity. If you are searching out of necessity feel free to contact me and I’ll do what I can to help.
And with this post, I’ve started another intermittent series titled Survival Strategies. I hope you find this useful and best of luck in finding what you’re looking for.
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:
Tune in next year, same place. I’ll report on my 6 year average which, hopefully, will be >1.0.
lifeunderwriter.net 
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