Shows
Advanced PlanningOut in 10: RMDs and the SECURE ActThe SECURE Act clock is ticking! Join Carlos Zarate, ChFC, from the Advanced Planning Team at AuguStar as he breaks down the critical deadlines for inherited IRAs. The 10-year rule is top of mind for many IRA beneficiaries, especially now that waived penalties for missed RMDs are a thing of the past. Carlos shares a 3-step strategy for financial professionals to proactively model distributions, build client trust, and help clients avoid the year-10 tax spike.
2025-11-1006 minAdvanced PlanningAG business case studyAdvanced Planning's Jim Barbee discusses a recent agribusiness case. The agent used Advanced Planning's business valuation service to value a farm and placed a policy on the farm owner to facilitate the transfer of the business to the farmer's daughter (with premiums paid by the farm). The agent placed a second policy on the farmer to create additional estate wealth that could be passed on to the farmer's son. Because the death benefit on the second policy was equal to the value of the farm, the farmer was able to equalize the inheritances he was leaving to his two children.
2025-09-2205 minAdvanced PlanningTaxes Quick View guideCarlos Zarate, member of the Advanced Planning team, discusses the popular "Taxes Quick View" guide. This updated guide incorporates changes from the Big Beautiful Bill, including new standard deductions, bonus senior deductions, and revised SALT deduction rules.
2025-09-2205 minAdvanced PlanningThe power of omission - OBBBA three thingsAdvanced Planning’s David Szeremet highlights three planning principles that are sure to gain importance under the OBBBA. In this short podcast, Szeremet discusses three planning principles left untouched under the OBBBA and why they are sure to thrive in the current tax environment. Use these ideas to help clients and prospects understand and seize historic opportunities.
2025-09-2206 minAdvanced PlanningTrust-Owned Annuities: From Basics to Pass In-Kind Wealth TransfersCarlos Zarate, ChFC, from the AuguStar Advanced Planning Team reviews Trust-Owned Annuities: From Basics to Pass In-Kind Wealth Transfers.
2025-06-2409 minAdvanced PlanningRequired Minimum Distribution PlanningCarlos Zarate, ChFC, from the AuguStar Advanced Planning Team reviews Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) basics, such as the deadline to take your first RMD, as well as strategies around RMD planning. Carlos explains how annuities and Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) can be used as tools to better prepare for RMD income.
2025-04-1006 minAdvanced PlanningCustodial Executive BonusLearn about a popular business life insurance fringe benefit that uses cash value life insurance. Advanced Planning’s David Szeremet explains how Virtus IUL was positioned to help retain a valued employee with a simple concept. The concept is selective, tax-deductible to the business, and the business maintains control over access to policy cash value.
2025-03-1907 minAdvanced PlanningPlanning for RMDsPrepare to navigate required minimum distributions this year. Hear from Advanced Planning's Jim Barbee, JD and Carlos Zarate, ChFC, as they discuss RMD basics, timely strategies, and new rules on inherited accounts.
2025-01-1520 min
UBCNews - EducationMemphis Blues Festival "Blues Society" Documentary Blues Disciples InterviewBlues Disciples, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving blues music, interviews Ms. Augusta Palmer, director and co-producer of The Blues Society, a documentary that highlights the rich history of the Memphis Blues Festivals from 1966 to 1969. Palmer, daughter of legendary musicologist Robert Palmer and Mary Branton, shared insights into the creation of the film and its cultural significance.
Learn more at: https://BluesDisciples.org
In the interview conducted by Jamie Anthony, Augusta reflects on her discovery of rare footage from the 1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival, shot by Gene Rosenthal of Adelphi Records. The...
2024-11-1002 minAdvanced PlanningAdvanced Planning Strategies Using Protection IULLearn several sales strategies using AuguStar’s new Protection IUL product in the advanced planning marketplace. Hear from Advanced Planning’s David Szeremet and Jim Barbee in this round-table discussion.
2024-08-0216 minAdvanced PlanningSupreme Court creates buy-sell hurdle (and opportunities) for business ownersAdvanced Planning’s David Szeremet and Jim Barbee discuss Connelly v. United States, a recent U.S. Supreme Court case involving a family business and the federal estate tax. Learn how Connelly may significantly change the planning landscape as it relates to life insurance used in business succession planning.This podcast is a must if you work with business owners. Learn how Connelly potentially creates a tax trap for buy-sell plans funded with life insurance - and learn how to navigate the new ruling with a few simple planning moves.This podcast can arm you with the knowledge and Advanced Pla...
2024-06-2120 minAdvanced PlanningBusiness Valuation Service: Uncovering Hidden Sales in Plain SightWith over 500 businesses valued and over $1.7 billion in aggregate valuations, Advanced Planning’s Jim Barbee shares his insight and highlights sales opportunities discovered through using the business valuation service.
2024-02-0112 minAdvanced PlanningExciting Planning Opportunities with Annuities and TrustsThe Advanced Planning Team is gearing up to help you place annuity business in the advanced planning marketplace. In this episode, Advanced Planning’s David Szeremet shares four significant planning opportunities where annuities and trusts intersect, and how they can grow income and protect wealth.
2024-01-0514 minAdvanced Planning10 Life Insurance Sales Opportunities in Advanced PlanningIn support of Life Insurance Awareness Month, Advanced Planning’s David Szeremet discusses the intersection of life insurance and advanced planning, and shines a light on 10 evergreen, but sometimes overlooked, life insurance sales opportunities.
2023-09-0121 minAdvanced PlanningFive Retirement Distribution HacksAdvanced Planning’s David Szeremet shares tips to help your clients maximize their retirement income. We’re calling them “retirement distribution hacks,” because they are simple things you can do to help make your clients’ lives easier and potentially save them thousands in taxes and penalties.
2023-07-3117 min
MomentumEpisode 28: Women’s Financial Security in RetirementWith longer life expectancies, more years in retirement and lower income during their working years, women face substantial demographic challenges as they prepare for life after work ends. In this episode, experienced agent Sean Quigley explains how he works with married couples and the important role his approach can play in helping women, who typically outlive their husbands 65% of the time, achieve financial security in retirement. His strategies can help you increase business, retain clients and let them maintain their financial independence at one of the most trying times they’re likely to face. This episode is an ex...
2023-03-2423 minMomentumEpisode 29: Building holistic financial futuresFinancial success hinges on preparing for the unexpected. None of us know how investments will perform, how our health will change or what obstacles we’ll face as we strive to meet our financial goals. That’s why relying on knowledgeable, talented financial professionals is crucial for clients, as is incorporating a variety of products and multiple types of protection. In this episode, agent Larry Dietz of Dietz NextStage Financial Management discusses how he integrates a variety of insurance and annuity products into his clients’ financial profiles, and offers tips to help clients understand the benefits of doing so.
2023-03-0828 minMomentumEpisode 27: Insure Your Love 2023Each year, Life Happens celebrates February with its Insure Your Love campaign. Designed to highlight the important role life insurance can play in protecting the people we love, it offers resources agents can use to help clients understand life insurance’s potential and the impact it can have on their loved ones’ financial futures. In this episode, Life Happens’ Content Strategy Director, Julie Holsinger, joins the show to talk about this year’s campaign, the resources available to financial professionals and how you can use them to help your clients and increase your business.
2023-02-0115 minMomentumEpisode 26: Staying positive about retirement incomeRetirement can be daunting. Funding your own income for years in the face of inflation is a challenge that requires preparation and planning well in advance. Ohio National’s new Ion guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit rider is designed to help address those challenges. With annual credits even once they start taking income, it can help clients not just get ready for retirement, but also keep their income growing throughout retirement. In this episode, Abby Lauter explains how it works, and how it can work for them.
2022-11-0413 minMomentumEpisode 25: How to use indexed whole lifeOhio National’s new indexed whole life product is designed to offer clients both death benefit protection and significant potential for accumulating assets. Its unique combination of guarantees and growth potential can make it a flexible addition to a financial plan, capable of meeting the needs of a wide variety of clients. In this episode, Karl Kreunen discusses the kinds of clients that might be able to benefit from an indexed whole life policy, and the ways they might be able to use one.
2022-10-1421 minMomentumEpisode 24: One of a kind- All about the new Indexed Whole Life productNext month, Ohio National will launch the industry’s only indexed whole life product, combining the guarantees of whole life with upside potential that’s based upon the performance of market indices. In this episode, Karl Kreunen offers an overview of the product, explaining how it works and how it can work for your clients. To learn even more, visit us at IWL4Life.com.
2022-08-2918 minMomentumEpisode 23: Market update- The impact of rising interest ratesWith interest rates climbing and the Federal Reserve indicating that this trend will likely continue throughout the year, loans, investments and financial products will all be impacted in different ways. In this episode, Vice President of Product Marketing Karl Kreunen joins the show to discuss the impact on insurance and annuity products, while Terry Garrard, the Second Vice President and National Sales Director of our ONESCO broker-dealer, discusses the impact on the market and larger investment environment.
2022-06-2424 minMomentumEpisode 22: The Social Networks- Building business through social mediaWith the ability to reach millions of existing and potential customers, financial professionals need to understand the most effective strategies for building their businesses on social media platforms. In this episode, John Grevas is joined by international speaker, author and trainer Kevin Knebl, who shares his years of expertise, explaining where financial professionals need to be, what they need to do and why succeeding at online social networking can be as simple as not being boring.
2022-05-2033 minMomentumEpisode 21: Black Americans and Life InsuranceOn Feb. 23, Ohio National’s Committee on Inclusion and Awareness celebrated Black History Month by hosting a panel of financial professionals Glenn Jones, Thomas McLeary and Rakisha Nicholson, each of whom is positively impacting lives while building significant business among black clients, families and businesses. This episode features excerpts from that conversation, including a discussion of the methods that have enabled them to successfully provide this market segment the important protection needed for their families and financial futures and tips on how financial professionals can do the same.
2022-04-2235 minMomentumEpisode 20: Expert advice- Working with a business coachWe all need advice from time to time to take our business forward. In this episode, author, speaker and executive coach Cliff Karthauser joins the show for a conversation that examines the benefits financial professionals can gain from working with an expert, the process of working with a coach, the factors that impact a coaching relationship’s success and the importance of accountability.
2022-03-1829 minMomentumEpisode 19: New sales ideas to drive your business furtherWith new products come new opportunities, and Ohio National’s whole life product changes have opened the door to new sales possibilities for you and new options for your clients. In this episode, John Grevas and Karl Kreunen go over new sales ideas you can use with clients that work with Ohio National’s new whole life products.
2022-02-2519 minMomentumEpisode 18: Whole life product suite changesOn January 1, 2022, Ohio National introduced new versions of our Prestige Whole Life products. In this episode, John Grevas and Karl Kreunen go over what’s changed, why we made the changes we did and what you and your clients can expect from our new products.
2022-01-0717 minMomentumEpisode 17: Expert advice- Using all the tools at your disposalWith the wide array of financial products available, it can be difficult to understand the intricacies of each. Having experts on your side to help understand which product is best for each financial need can be crucial for helping you make the best recommendations to your clients. This episode features Ohio National’s internal experts Shannon Luckey and Will Vollmer walking you through the services we offer, from sales ideas to advanced case designs, to help you understand our products and how they can take your business to the next level.
2021-10-2223 minMomentumEpisode 16: Talking Term – Versatility and product updatesTerm might be the simplest product in the life insurance catalog, but that doesn’t mean the right product can’t add versatility to a client’s financial plans or meet important needs.In this episode, John Grevas and Brittany Bell discuss Ohio National’s term products, what they offer, and the latest updates that make our Term portfolio more competitive than ever.
2021-10-0418 minMomentumEpisode 15: Life Insurance Awareness Month 2021It’s no secret that Americans don’t have the life insurance coverage they need. In fact, according to LIMRA’s 2021 Life Insurance Barometer study, 102 million Americans either don’t have life insurance or believe they don’t have the coverage they need. Help close the gap by joining John Grevas and Karl Kreunen for a discussion about what Life Insurance Awareness Month and why it’s so important. This episode features tips and resources to help you reach prospective clients and overcome the obstacles that leave so many without the protection and other benefits life insurance can offer.
2021-08-2716 minMomentumEpisode 14: Doing well by doing good - Building a practice by working with underserved communitiesWithin financial services, minority populations are often overlooked. But with a total buying power of about $4 trillion, making the effort to understand and reach out to these communities can be lucrative and help bolster a financial professional’s practice. In this episode, Carlos Vides from Prevail Wealth Innovative Strategies and James Cowan, Ohio National’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy Lead, offer practical tips to help financial professionals start conversations and build relationships with underserved communities, including information about how Ohio National helps support these efforts.
2021-07-2341 minMomentumEpisode 13: Reconsidering UL & IUL - A conversation for whole life enthusiastsWithin the life insurance industry, many whole life devotees have a bias against universal life (UL) and indexed universal life (IUL) products, rarely recommending them to clients. But doing so rules out many cases where a low-cost, properly funded UL or IUL policy could be a great fit for a client need. Join John Grevas and Karl Kreunen for a discussion about reconsidering UL and IUL, and the needs it can fill as well as if not better than a whole life product.
2021-06-2518 minMomentumEpisode 12: ON CUE: All about our new permanent fluidless underwriting programIn this special episode, join Karl Kreunen as he interviews our Chief Underwriter Ray Spears, and learns all about Ohio National’s Customer Underwriting Experience, our new permanent, fluidless underwriting program. We’ll discuss not just its origins, but the differences from the temporary version, and why you and many of your clients are expected to have a faster, smoother experience.
2021-06-0113 minMomentumEpisode 11: Which Index When? A guide to the ONdex annuity’s allocation optionsEvery fixed indexed annuity (FIA) product offers allocation options that are tied to different indices and perform differently depending on market conditions. Understanding each option is crucial to helping clients develop an allocation strategy that will meet their retirement goals.In this episode, John Grevas and Ohio National’s Vice President of Annuity Product Management, Tom DeGaetano, dive into the strengths and weaknesses of the ONdex FIAs’ allocation options, helping you understand which option to use when.
2021-03-2621 minMomentumEpisode 10: Regulatory update: The COVID relief bill’s long-term impact on life insuranceIn late 2020, Congress passed a new COVID relief bill that altered the Internal Revenue Code in ways that will have an important impact on life insurance products and client contributions. In this episode, John Grevas and Karl Kreunen offer an overview of what’s changed, what it means for clients and how Ohio National plans to respond.
2021-03-0518 minMomentumEpisode 9: 2020's best sales ideas2020 was an unprecedented year of upheaval in our personal and professional lives. But amidst regulatory and social change, new financial planning opportunities also emerged. Jenna Washatka joins the show in this episode to discuss the best sales ideas that real financial professionals used after consulting with Ohio National’s Advanced Planning team and how they were able to not only better position their clients’ financial plans, but also deepen client relationships. To learn more, contact the Advanced Planning team at 877.665.2468 or advplanning@ohionational.com. Their webinar about 2020’s best sales ideas is also available on ON-Net at htt...
2021-02-1221 minMomentumEpisode 8: A how-to guide for working with business ownersThanks to larger amounts of investable assets and a variety of personal and professional needs, business owners are some of the most sought-after clients in financial services. In this episode, Brad Lawing of Prevail Innovative Wealth Strategies joins us to discuss how he prospects for business owner clients, how he retains them and the importance of working with their other professionals.
2021-01-0817 minMomentumEpisode 7: What ever happened to IUL’s downside protection?We’ve all heard the refrain when it comes to Indexed Universal Life (IUL) products: Upside potential with downside protection. But as the market grew, new features focused on the upside potential eroded the other half of the product's traditional value proposition.In this episode, John Grevas and Rebecca Walser of Walser Wealth discuss how buying higher return potential can diminish not just protection, but also performance, and how regulatory changes may impact the way IUL products are illustrated and sold.
2020-12-1029 minMomentumEpisode 6: Digital marketing – Doing business in the pandemic2020 has forced us to find new ways of doing business, and the financial services industry is no exception. With face-to-face interactions the preferred – and potentially most effective – way to work with clients for many of us, how do we continue working remotely, providing clients the protection and products they need?In this episode, financial professionals Bryan Bloom and Caleb Guilliams discuss the strategies that have helped them find success and offer tips that can help agents work more efficiently not only during the pandemic, but also be implemented once our working lives go back to something closer to norm
2020-11-2321 minMomentumEpisode 5: Stretch IRAs are dead. What now?With the SECURE Act making Stretch IRAs a thing of the past, what options do clients have left? Join David Szeremet from Ohio National’s Advanced Planning Team for a discussion of options clients can use with their trusts, adding flexibility, protection and cash value access for themselves and their beneficiaries.Read more about it at http://bit.ly/RIPStretch
2020-10-2821 minMomentumEpisode 4: Encouraging the long viewWhen markets start to fluctuate, it’s a given that investors will be bombarded with alarming headlines. Panic is often the reaction, with investors abandoning carefully-developed portfolios and investment plans and fleeing to the safety of cash or fixed investments. In this episode, we discuss how financial professionals can encourage clients to weather the storm, stay invested when volatility rears up and stay dedicated to their long-term plans.Read our white paper about this at http://bit.ly/SmoothingVolatility
2020-10-2820 minMomentumEpisode 3: Thinking small - Opening doors with Guaranteed Standard Issue DIIn a special disability income (DI) insurance takeover episode, David Berman and Adam Mahnen discuss Guaranteed Standard Issue DI opportunities you may be overlooking. Learn more about how this group offering opens doors with small business owners not only for DI sales, but also offers cross-selling opportunities and an annual stream of recurring revenue.
2020-10-2820 minMomentumEpisode 2: How to measure (and not measure) whole life efficiencyIt’s not too difficult to measure a whole life insurance policy’s efficiency at purchasing death benefit, but things get more complicated when trying to determine its effectiveness at accumulating and distributing cash value. In our latest episode, we discuss whether commonly used measures, like a policy’s internal rate of return on cash value or an insurance company’s current Dividend Interest Rate, are appropriate, or whether there’s a better way to evaluate policies.Read our white paper about measuring whole life efficiency: http://bit.ly/WholeLifeEfficiency
2020-10-2824 minMomentumEpisode 1: New opportunitiesIn the debut episode of Momentum, we discuss the new cash value and death benefit accumulation opportunities available on Ohio National’s limited pay whole life products, the ONdex fixed indexed annuities’ (FIA) new allocation option and why there’s never a bad time for clients to buy the protection of permanent life insurance.Learn more about the new FIA allocation option: http://bit.ly/HigherCap
2020-10-2826 min