Summer Risks

Memorial Day is the unofficial beginning of summer for most people.  From BBQ's to pool parties, sandy shorelines to boat trips - there are risks under every beach umbrella!

Did your insured recently install an above ground pool?  What about that new trampoline?  Do you know if they recently purchased a brick oven for their backyard?  And don't forget the company picnics on company grounds!  The list is endless.

Click here is some information on at least SIX Summer Risks from Fox Business.

Stay Cool and think Jimcor!

From your friends at Jimcor Agencies

Did you ever wonder how it all began?

Did you ever take a minute to think about how it all got started?

Not the 'Big Bang Theory' or the Chicken or the Egg.

We mean us, this thing, the American insurance industry?

Swiss Re conducted a study and found:

• Insurance employs about 2.23 million people in America
• Gross insurance premiums totaled $1.16 trillion
• More than 4,000 companies underwrite insurance in America

(You can check out more from this study here)

But that doesn't tell us how it all began?

Well, according to PropertyCasualty360, in the mid-18th century Ben Franklin and other firefighters founded the first, lasting insurance company.

To learn more about the birth of an industry and fun facts about some companies we all know and love click here!

Diversity Discussion with Elmer Rivera (Pt III)

Welcome back as we finish up our conversation with Elmer Rivera, Branch Manager for Jimcor Agencies' Long Island, NY office and President of LABA (Latin Agents and Brokers Assoc.).  Elmer has already answered questions about Diversity with regards to employment in our industry, geographic differences, leadership and more.
Here we will look at what the industry can do to further embrace diversity as well as an inside look at the new trade association, LABA.

Q: What else does the industry need to do to further embrace different cultures in our country?
A: "Bring It To The People" ...We need to educate not only our sales force, but also our office support, customer service reps., claims reps., and accounting reps. The fastest growing consumer group, people from diverse cultures present a great virtually untapped opportunity for insurance companies and agents to sell their products and services. By providing face-to-face communication, with clear product descriptions, and implementing patience & understanding, you can begin to build trust with the culturally diverse consumer.

Q: What is the purpose of your group LABA (Latin Agents and Brokers Assoc) and how are you different from other associations in the area / country?
A: Our purpose is to provide support in the advancement of the Agent and Broker serving the Hispanic American insurance consumer in the North East by assisting in providing the best possible product offerings to this ever growing consumer segment. We are also focusing on promoting education and mentoring to the future young Hispanic American insurance professional.
We differ from other associations in the Northeast by bringing together those already servicing, or interested in targeting Hispanic insurance consumers. We also differ by being the first association that looks to focus on educating not only the agent and broker, but the Hispanic insurance consumer as well. By educating the consumer, we believe we can help the agent & broker facilitate sales and servicing to the Hispanic insurance consumer.

Q: Do you have any additional comments?
A: The bottom line is that today the diverse cultures are what make America truly the land of opportunity, and the insurance industry needs to further prepare itself to take advantage of the opportunities that will come from this fast growing consumer group.


Thank you Elmer for taking the time to answer our questions.

If you would like more information on Jimcor visit our website at http://www.jimcor.com/.
For information on LABA visit http://www.latinagentsandbrokers.com/
You can also email Elmer Rivera at erivera@jimcor.com

In closing, ask yourself how diverse your agency, company or office is.  Look around your community and find ways to learn about the different cultures all around you.  After all, everyone needs insurance!

Diversity

We sat down with Elmer Rivera, Jimcor's Long Island Branch Manager and President of LABA (Latin Agents and Brokers Assoc) and asked him a few questions on Diversity. We will break the discussion up into a series of blogs. Here is the first of that series.

Q: How do you define Diversity?
A: Diversity can have many different meanings. When you speak of a people I would define diversity as "Cultural Diversity". This means understanding that every culture has made a contribution to American history and each culture may have very different sub-cultures. In my view, we as Americans have a duty to show tolerance and understanding of the many cultures that make our country so great. While we are all Americans, keeping our cultural identities alive should be valued and not be ignored or put aside.

Q: Do you think diversity is different geographically? (i.e. in the northeast as opposed to other parts of the country?)
A: Yes. In America there may be one group of people, but many sub-groups within. This is evident in the Asian and Hispanic communities. While this holds true in the Northwest as well, when you discuss the topic of primary Hispanic communities, Mexican is the dominant Hispanic culture by the largest margin. In the Northeast there are many different Hispanic cultures. While Dominicans are the current largest segment, other Hispanic cultures (Puerto Rican, Mexican and various Central and Southern American cultures) are only less by a much smaller margin.

In the next blog we will be asking Elmer Rivera questions about his views on diversity within the insurance industry.

Jimcor Helps Make Insurance Cool for the Next Generation

Recently I had the opportunity to go into my son Tommy's 5th grade class to talk about the insurance industry.

The American Agent and Broker article (link below or in the title above) talks about my day in the classroom and the students' reactions.

Yes, insurance can be cool. Yes, young children can understand the differences between independent agents and MGA's and insurance companies and the relationships that exist between the three. They learned about how the industry works with local and state governments and about flood and homeowners insurance. And yes, they loved the Dunkin Donuts that I brought in to entice them to listen and ask questions!

Overall the day was a great success.

How can you get started? It's simple - reach out . Just by contacting my high school Accounting teacher I was able to work with students on projects and talk to them about the different careers in insurance while they learned about the industry. Opportunities are out there if you have the time and know where to find the tools. You can utilize resources from associations like PIA and go to organized events like career days, college fairs, etc.

To read the article click here.

What other ways can we work together to improve the public perception of the industry? How can we get more people interested in careers in insurance if not for today, then as a future career? What are your thoughts? As an industry we need to work on our image with the public. We all know that. Employers allowing staff the time to talk to students, attend events such as a career day make a world of difference. Jimcor giving employees like me the time to give back to the industry and our community only makes our company that much stronger in the end - management realizes and embraces this in our culture. What is your corporate culture?

These kids may have been young, but they learned that insurance is more than a cartoon or lizard. And most importantly, INSURANCE IS COOL!

Running for a Cause

According to Google community can be defined as:
 a group of people living in a particular local area; "the team is drawn from all parts of the community"
Insurance professionals have always been known for their sense of community, for giving back to the community, and for going above and beyond for their community. Jimcor Agencies has had the opportunity for many years to be involved with the NJ Young Insurance Professionals and their Fun Run which benefits the Special Olympics of NJ. Jimcor’s own sense of community was never so evident as the team (made up of Jimcor executives, staff, spouses and company representatives) ran for a great cause yesterday.
Special Olympics of NJ is an organization that provides sports training and athletic competition to children and adults with intellectual disabilities (http://www.sonj.org/). Since 1984 the Fun Run has raised over $2 million for SONJ and this year over $140,000 was added to that amount!
Held on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ, outside the Trump Taj Mahal which is where the Annual PIANJ / NY convention was still going on, the run started with warm-ups at 6:30 and concluded with a heart-felt awards breakfast where Jimcor Agencies was honored with a plaque for 1st place Overall Agency Fundraiser bringing in over $10,000.
Jimcor has always felt that our best asset is great people.
Tuesday morning, June 15th, on the boardwalk, as the sun was rising and people were stretching – we saw all the great people. Yes, the great people of Jimcor – not only the ones able to attend the event but all of those back at the office who bought a raffle ticket or contributed throughout the year to the many fundraising events held in our 7 offices – or even those lending a helping hand to the work piling up on desks and via emails. We looked around at the great people in the making up some of the best of our industry who gave up their morning to support the Special Olympics and run a 5k when others were sipping coffee and reading the paper.
That is what community is all about. That is what our industry is all about. And that is why our industry is the best. “The team is drawn from all parts of the community” and the team of insurance professionals we saw yesterday morning was pretty strong.

Thank you for allowing Jimcor Agencies to run along side you for so many years and be your partner – not only in this great event, but in this great industry of ours.