Resolutionary Wars The marking of a new year – whether it be January 1st, the Chinese New Year, the Jewish New Year, or any other iteration of a new beginning, is the only major holiday in most societies celebrating the passage of time. January 1st as the beginning of a new year, of course, is […]
User Unfriendly We all complain about regulations. Grousing about excessive, intrusive, costly, ineffective, unnecessary, time-consuming, and annoying regulations is an apparent birthright given the amount of time and energy we often spend on the subject. We who work in the insurance industry have the added joy of participating in a “regulated” industry, which means that […]
Imaginary Games Sports broadcasting legend, Bill Mazer, died recently. Mazer was one of the pioneers of sports radio talk show, with a career spanning 60 years – 40 in the Metropolitan New York area including 20 years hosting “Sports Extra” on WNEW-TV. Mazer was known particularly for his encyclopedic memory for all kinds of sports […]
Ethics, Conflicts and Justice Stewart Being against ethical standards in our business is like being against apple pie or ice cream! Rooting for conflicts of interest is like a Yankee fan rooting for the Red Sox! We all have rules that must be followed in our business and professional lives. These rules are generally set […]
The Wonderful World of Annuities Picture the child sent out to play in the snow so bundled up with layers upon layers of protective clothing that the child is barely able to move or to enjoy the experience. Keep that picture in mind if you want to buy an annuity in New York. The statutory […]
Over the past several decades I have assisted a number of small to midsized brokerage firms with licensing and disciplinary matters with their State regulators. The majority of these matters involved inadvertent licensing lapses through inadequate record keeping and monitoring rather than juicier issues like improper placements or premium trust account mismanagement. In the past […]
You may have heard the huge sigh of relief coming from Downtown Manhattan in early August, particularly from the William Street offices of the New York Liquidation Bureau. On August 8th the decades long failed rehabilitation of Executive Life Insurance Company of New York (ELNY) finally ended and it was officially liquidated. Not only was […]
Many years ago I participated in a meeting at the old New York insurance department moderated by a relatively new deputy. A few minutes into the meeting the deputy interrupted the proceedings and declared: “No more acronyms!” The offending acronym was “Pru Re.” Pru Re, of course, is not an acronym – it is simply […]
The New York legislature ended its 2013 session in the wee hours of the morning on June 22nd. The next day Governor Cuomo issued a press release together with a 46-page end of session report titled “New York Rising” extolling the accomplishments of the Administration with the help of the legislature. The Governor’s end of […]
WOW! What a report! Full of colorful charts, graphs, statistics and other amazing stuff ! It is clearly a thing of beauty! I am referring – surprisingly – to the self-proclaimed “New York Liquidation Bureau – 2012 Annual Report,” which was announced by Superintendent Lawsky by press release on May 29th and at the same […]
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