The New Order | December 2001 Lighter Side of Life

Lighter Side of Life: The New Order

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We must help our clients define and achieve their financial goals.

By Ron Hauenstein, CLU, ChFC

Everything is different now.

America was widowed when she lost her innocence on September 11. Like other cataclysmic moments of this century, the events of that day are forever etched in our minds. Terrorists have brought their brand of warfare to our shores and no one can escape the changes in the American way of life.

September 11 will always be with us because everything is different now.

As financial professionals, we are a special seam in the fabric that is the American economy. Our calling is to help our clients define their financial goals and develop a strategy to help achieve them. But the first step in the process is to lay down a foundation of protection. Can there ever be a more important time to do this than now?

What happened to us individually and as a nation when we watched those twin towers of hurricane-proof commerce disintegrate into a seven-story pile of rubble? What part of our souls was transformed irrevocably as we watched those jetliners slice into the skyscrapers like an arrow disappearing into its target?

It's as if I've been fitted with a new set of lenses. It's not just a red, white and blue prism. I see relationships more clearly now. And the fragility of life-at best a fuzzy, distant image-has been brought into sharp focus.

It is more difficult now for our prospects to deny their mortality.

Our frantic pace of life suddenly slowed on September 11. Reaping the benefits of huge technological advances spawned by our competitive, capitalistic economy, we were inundated with more and more information at a faster and faster pace. Our cell phones hugged our hips and weighed down our purses so we could always be in touch, even if it was just to know how much milk is in the refrigerator.

New gadgets now give us access to the Web without wires, so we can check our portfolios from virtually anywhere. We swipe credit cards at the pump and expect four mortgage refinancing quotes in 30 minutes or fewer. E-mail messages fly around the world in a heartbeat, but we get increasingly impatient with slow-loading Web pages, DSL connections and cable modems.

A new perspective

Suddenly, America has slowed down because everything is different now. Real-time stock quotes aren't as important to me as lunch with my wife. My email inbox overflows with unopened correspondence that I used to think I urgently needed. That must-have-it-today, can't-wait-any-longer pace of life has felt the brake of our core values. Ask your clients to write down their definition of financial security. Then ask them if they think they would have written something different before September 11.

As America's funeral comes to an end and her new life begins, we must again perform the service that sets us apart from others who come to share their grief. Just as we bring to widows and the disabled what they need most, we can now bring to America exactly what she needs. Appointment by appointment, household by household, business by business, we can help restore this ailing American economy by guiding people back to the paths of financial discipline and wise stewardship of their assets.

It is much harder now for our prospects to deny the importance of saving for the future. It is much more difficult now for our prospects to deny their mortality. And it is much easier for us to say, "We don't know what the future holds. Doesn't it make sense to start a plan today?"

The death of America's innocence has changed the course of her history, but it has not altered her destiny. Although the twin towers collapsed, no terrorist act could destroy the twins that foster our greatness: the twins of political and economic freedom.

"What light is to the eyes, what air is to the lungs, what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man," said Robert G. Ingersoll. What liberty and freedom we enjoy in our profession! Most of us can work our own hours, select our company affiliations and choose those individuals we wish to have as clients. Our residual income gives us the time and freedom to coach Little League, deliver Meals on Wheels, raise funds for the Red Cross and be there for piano recitals and soccer games.

However, we have now seen in horrible and chilling detail that liberty and freedom are bought at a price. We have to keep paying that price in our own way, by doing our jobs and doing them well. We must summon the courage to rise up into the smoke and dust of uncertainty and rejection, and we must do it better and more often than we have ever done before.

Because everything is different now.

Ron Hauenstein, CLU, ChFC, is a veteran insurance agent who signed his first contract in 1983. Comments on this column can be addressed to Ron at rhauenstein@ft.newyorklife.com.

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