By George A. Norris

We don’t normally like to toot our own horn, but Advisor Today has been around for close to 100 years and in that time, we’ve seen—and figured in—a lot of history. Rarely has a magazine been published for so long and served so consistently one readership.

1906 The Beginning of The News
The first issue of Life Association News is published in September. Commonly called, “The News” by its readers and competition, the magazine offers 12 pages of text, no illustrations. Subscriptions are set at $1 for the monthly newspaper. Members of the National Association of Life Underwriters pay a dollar-a-year fee to have their business cards included in a “Directory of Prominent General Agents” at the back of each issue.

1908 A New Editor, A New Benefit
The local associations approve a dues increase to $2 per year, with an automatic subscription to The News included while at the August NALU convention in Los Angeles. Everett M. Ensign becomes editor on Nov. 1, 1908.

1909 A Professional Journal
Ensign turns The News into a professional journal with a heavy emphasis on industry news and legislative issues and sales tactics. The lead article in December 1909, for example, was “The Right Line of Approach” by Cosmos Mindeleff.

“The solicitor must study his prospects, study them as closely and carefully as the scientist studies his bugs or the lawyer ponders his cases,” Mindeleff said. “Not only will his time and effort be richly repaid in material results, but he will find the play itself vastly interesting, for after all, the proper study of mankind is man.”

1911 The Age of Advertising
The age of advertising hits LAN full force. Ads for life companies shared space with Chicago’s Hotel La Salle with “the only roof garden in Chicago,” and The Hotel Cumberland in New York, billing itself as “the headquarters for insurance men.” G&C Merriam took out an ad promoting their Webster’s New International Dictionary and the Remington Typewriter Company promoted its new “adding and subtracting typewriter.”

1913 The Fight Against Taxation
The federal government begins debate on income tax legislation. The NALU Committee on Law and Legislation presented a resolution, which was immediately adopted and telegraphed to President Wilson and the Conference Committee of the Senate and House, asking them to strike from the bill “that section that taxes the refunds of policyholders.” It also called the bill as written “unjust” and “inconsistent” because the earnings on refunds from the “kindred institutions” such as fire insurance companies, savings banks and building and loan associations were “expressly exempted.” Therefore, the resolution concluded, “taxing refunds or so-called dividends returned to life insurance policyholders is an indefensible discrimination.”

While the life companies remained silent on the new tax bill, field agents lobbied for changes in Congress and at the White House, and LAN eagerly reported their efforts.

“It was noticeable how in all powerful circles the life insurance agent was recognized as really representing his clients and having a potent influence,” Ensign wrote. “What effect Edward A. Woods [and his brother] Lawrence C. Woods had in the hearing given them by the president and the brief submitted by them the week the bill passed the House cannot be stated, but the fact remains that three important amendments to the bill (striking out the words ‘or return of premiums,’ exempting surrendered policies and death claims) were made to the bill that very week, notwithstanding that it passed within a few days after that interview.

“It is claimed on good authority that the only hearing given to life insurance by President Wilson was therefore to these two agents.”

1914 Huebner’s Higher Education
Recognizing a need for a more professional workforce, LAN announces that the national association would publish a comprehensive textbook on life insurance. NALU engaged Solomon Huebner, professor of insurance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, to write the book.

“The volume will approximate 200,000 words, or about 550 pages, and will be prepared in the same form as Dr. Huebner’s recent book on property insurance,” LAN reported. “In order to have the book off the press by the latter part of September 1914, Dr. Huebner will spend the entire summer of 1914 on the work.”

1915 The Economy Falters
Feeling the economic repercussions of the war in Europe, the insurance industry begins to see a noticeable slide in production and sales. In a January 1915 article in LAN entitles “What About the Year 1915?” Ensign laments that “during the past year business conditions have apparently reached so low a level that no man wished for their continuance… One contemporary recently reported the 1914 business of 91 [life insurance] companies fell below their record for 1913.”

However, some remained optimistic. “Just recently Charles M. Schwab stated that there are $300 million of contracts placed in this country from Europe which must be completed before December 1915.”

Edward A. Woods also insisted that life insurance would fare well:

“[With] stock exchanges closed, many corporations almost ceased doing business, even the Standard Oil Co. for a while stopped buying oil, but there was not a single default, hardly a delay in the conduct of life insurance.” At the same time he predicted that interest rates would rise internationally. “The enormous amount of national debts, both already incurred and to be incurred, will maintain the rate of interest, and during the time the war prevails insurance companies, having funds, will be able not only to raise their rates on many current loans, but to make investments that for years to come will bring in large additional revenue from the increased rates of interest.”

1917 “Enlist or Invest!”
With the U.S. involved in World War I, insurance agents began a historical campaign to help fund the war effort.

“Enthusiastically adopting the slogans ‘Enlist or Invest,’ and ‘Liberty Bonds for Liberty,’ the life insurance agents have thrown themselves into making a success of the Liberty Loan,” Ensign reported in June 1917. “In a number of instances the campaigns conducted were an organized effort of all businessmen in different cities, mobilized and led by the life underwriters. This was the case in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the life men planned and officered the campaign. It was also the case in Richmond where a plan had been mapped out by the Chamber of Commerce but was dropped in favor of that put forth by the local association.”

Throughout World War I, LAN continued to keep the readers well informed on the details of the various local drives. “From reports reaching the office of the corresponding secretary, it seems safe to estimate the results of the third campaign as showing sales of 700,00 bonds with an approximate value of $700 million,” Ensign reported in June 1918. “These figures have exclusively to do with bond sales by life underwriters.”

1918 The Great Scourge
Although the end of World War I was greeted with great joy, the decade did not end on an altogether happy note. A devastating influenza epidemic swept through the American military camps and the civilian population in France and Western Europe and eventually spread throughout the U.S. by returning soldiers. The disease eventually took more lives that the Great War had exacted.

LAN termed the illness “The Great Scourge of 1918” in its November 1918 issue. “When it is estimated by competent authorities that death claims as a direct result of the influenza epidemic will in themselves reach the enormous total of $40 million during the current year, the seriousness of the matter becomes apparent,” the editors wrote. From late 1918 to early 1919, the extraordinary numbers of death claims placed a severe strain on the reserves of many life insurance companies, and a few folded.

1920 From Bust to Boom
With $11 billion of life insurance in force, 1920 promised to be a boom time for the industry. “Barring any sudden slump in business of a panic, the year 1920 may surpass the most sanguine hopes of a year ago,” LAN told readers in February. It also reported that some agencies with a record of producing $3 million during the previous 12 months had already placed $1 million of new business on the books in January alone.

At the same time, NALU’s membership went from 10, 372 in 1919 to 17,243 in 1920. At the same time, it was determined that LAN no longer turned a profit with subscription rates at just $1 a year, and NALU dues were raised to $3. This was still low compared to the $5 annual dues fire insurance agents were paying to belong to their association.

1922 Fudging on Prohibition
NALU officially endorsed Prohibition and many LAN articles quoted actuaries, medical examiners and other company officers that predicted a healthier insurance-buying public as a result of the nation “going dry.” However, the association conveniently opted twice to join Canada’s agents for a dual convention in Toronto, in 1922 and 1930.The 1922 convention proved to be very popular, attracting a larger attendance than previous meetings of either organization. That year, Adolph Eliason of St. Paul, Minn., was elected president of NALU. He is the only Ph.D. to hold that office.

1924 The Advent of the Sales Congress
Reflecting the trends of the industry, LAN began devoting much of its editorial content to life insurance sales. Much of this coverage focused on sales congresses—daylong programs offering a mix of inspiration, interview techniques and schemes for drumming up business, delivered by motivational speakers, well-known home office personalities, successful producers and managers with national reputations. They might be thought of as regional prototypes of the Million Dollar Round Table.

“During the past year, about 40 sales congresses and special educational meetings were held with an aggregate attendance in excess of 15,000, all of them conducted under the auspices of the local associations and almost without excepting having excellent, well rounded programs of inestimable educational value,” NALU President Adolph Eliason said. “It was my good fortune to attend nearly all of these meetings… The sales congress is now beyond a doubt an established institution supplying a long-felt need, and receiving the most enthusiastic appreciation and support.”

1925 A Look at Tinsel Town
Some agents began developing a profitable clientele in the new motion picture industry, insuring the lives of the stars.

“Many producers buy protection on the lives of their stars and keep it in force during the life of their contracts and for several years thereafter,” Ensign observed in 1925, noting that the greatest hazards faced by the glitterati, “other than morals,” were nervous strain and eye injuries. “The daily newspapers have just carried the story of a serious accident that befell Norman Kerry, a moving picture star, while playing the leading role with a company ‘on location’ in the Northwest. Ordinarily, when a star is incapacitated, it means a tremendous loss, financially speaking, until his or her physical condition becomes so improved that work may be resumed,” Ensign explained. “In view of the circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that the big producers take out life insurance on the lives of their principal players.”

1927 The American College, MDRT and a Lawn Tennis President
Since 1923, NALU had been trying to establish a formal degree for life agents and a course of curriculum that would lead to such a degree. In 1927, the finishing touches had been put on the program, and Edward A. Wood unveiled The American College of Life Underwriters at the Memphis convention in September. The association decided that Chartered Life Underwriter would be a suitable designation for graduates of the school, copying a program already in existence in Canada.

The 1927 convention also hosted the first meeting of the Million Dollar Round Table, the brainchild of NALU Vice President Paul Clark. “Only those life underwriters who are willing to go on record as having at least $1 million of business during the calendar year of 1926 or up to October 1, 1927, will be admitted to this special group meeting,” LAN printed that year. The 32 high-income producers who had participated in the meeting liked the idea and decided to meet again at the next convention, thus inaugurating what is probably the most prestigious organization of salespeople in the world.

Finally, 1927 also saw the surprise election of Julian Myrick of New York City as president of the national association. Myrick had become president of the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association in the early 1920s and also headed the Davis Cup Committee whose teams won the cup six years in a row. As if that weren’t enough, his business partner in New York was composer Charles Ives, the only agent to ever win a Pulitzer Prize.

1930 Selling in the Age of Depression
With the depression hitting the country full force, agents began to focus on the basics of selling, and LAN followed the trend with a new column called “Selling Points” which compiled sales tips from various home office publications. A typical entry at the time came from Aurora Borealis and was called “The Unemployment Approach”:

“‘It’s time we talked about unemployment insurance, said the agent. ‘Would you consider hiring a man of 65 as a bookkeeper and putting him in the midst of that energetic group of young men?

“‘I would not!’ replied the accountant.

“‘That’s the general attitude,’ the agent agreed, ‘and that’s why I’ve come to see you about buying some unemployment insurance for yourself, which will go into effect when you’re age 65.’”

In addition to selling points, LAN introduced a regular column called “Current Comments from the Field” which served as a forum for discussing life underwriting problems and association activities. The editors also ran a column presenting “The Woman’s Point of View,” which ran columns by women agents focusing on how to sell to women.

1932 Hard Selling in Hard Times
Although there was $110 billion of life insurance in force in the United States in 1932 and NALU’s membership was reaching the 20,000 mark, the reality of the Great Depression was beginning to make its mark on the industry. In response to these hard times LAN continued to publish tips on basic selling for agents that were finding it harder and harder to write policies.

“Hard times create a demand for sales talks that get down to fundamentals and help the agent go out and sell more life insurance in spite of conditions,” observed NALU Managing Director Robert Hull.

However, most in the industry tried to put the best face on the depression. A Western and Southern Life ad published in the October 1931 issue announced “the lowest guaranteed premiums ever.” A cartoon showed a young family trying to balance itself on a flying tape.

“Ticker tape is fragile support for the family,” the caption read. “Don’t trust your family’s support to the ups and downs of the stock market. Play safe and place their future welfare and your own on the solid foundation of life insurance. You can’t lose.”

On a more serious note, Dr. William Bailey, an economist with The Travellers wrote in LAN in 1932 that people’s desire for security is the main door for sales opportunities. “It is this demand that has so greatly increased the sales of single premium life, endowment and annuity policies,” he asserted. Put yourself in the typical buyer’s shoes, he suggested. “While he watched such good stocks as American Telephone and Telegraph slip off from over $300 a share in 1929 to about $120 a share in 1931, he has observed that the cash value of his life insurance has been steadily appreciating during that same period. He used to think that investment in life insurance was all right for those who didn’t know how to invest their own money… Now he’s beginning to realize that he’s a greater success as a doctor, dentist or advertising man than he is as a financial wizard. And now he’s not half so anxious to become a millionaire at 65 as he is to dodge the poorhouse.”

1934 Insurance and the New Deal
After the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the insurance industry began to examine how its services would fit into the New Deal. Many were apprehensive about the proposed Social Security legislation, seeing this as a first step toward government-sponsored insurance that might make private pension programs extinct. Others saw the measure as another consciousness-raiser for the need to plan for one’s last years—a perfect basis for a sale.

Holgar Johnson, chairman of the NALU convention built the program around the theme “Life Insurance: the Cornerstone of Man’s Financial Security."

“These changes will no doubt bring about national recognition of the need for individual old age security,” Johnson told the agents, “and irrespective of the particular direction that such a trend may take, of one thing we can be certain: It will bring about greater national consciousness of the need for personal economic security.

"Furthermore, inasmuch as no system of subsidized aid has provided more than bare necessities, we can also be certain that the high standard of living as well as the ingrained individualism of the American people will express itself, no matter what changes may take place."

LAN followed up on the debate with an article by Merle Thorpe, which took a decidedly anti-New Deal stance. “Americans, since pioneer days, have hated dependency,” he said in the article “Insurance and Social Legislation.” “They have a horror of independence upon relatives, upon charity, upon ‘the country,’ and in its deeper aspects, upon the State.”

1937 Roosevelt Speaks to New Deal Concerns
During this time U.S. presidents sent messages to the NALU convention, and in this one, President Roosevelt praised the industry for its contribution to the economy, while at the same time implying that the industry could do more for the working class.

“The records of life insurance companies, more than any other business, express the relative growth of the spirit of social and economic responsibility for others. The contributions which life insurance companies make toward safeguarding the security of American home life go a long way in protecting our standard of living,” Roosevelt said.

Urging the agents to reach out, he added, “Unless our progress serves to help the underprivileged to safeguard against want and to lighten the weight of the physical and moral degradation among the people, our civilization will fail to meet its needed objectives. The security of the individual and the safety of society are pressing problems for the leaders of our times. They must be met and life insurance companies can and will assist in meeting this challenge.”

1939 NALU Turns 50 and Agents Face Controversy
NALU celebrated its 50th anniversary with a rousing convention in St. Louis. “The entire tenor of the convention was signalized at the opening meeting,” LAN reported. “The great ballroom of the Jefferson was jammed to the doors with every seat occupied, standees lining the corridors and the talks ‘piped’ by microphone to several other meeting rooms crowded with overflow.”

The convention that year also has a patriotic tone. Hitler had just invaded Poland, the nations of Europe were mobilizing and attendees sensed the United States would soon be involved in another great war. The keynote speaker, Ruth Bryan Owen Rhode, the daughter of William Jennings Bryan, focused her address on individual freedom and human rights.

“Through such institutions as yours the American people are not only showing that a pure form of democracy can move smoothly and efficiently, but they have gone a long way in the vitally important appreciation of the real qualities of a functioning democracy,” she said.

Away from the convention, the Temporary National Economic Committee, popularly known as the “monopoly committee” was convened in both houses of Congress to examine the causes of the 1937 recession. President Roosevelt pressured the committee to take a hard look at “the tremendous investment funds controlled by our great insurance companies.” The committee’s focus soon shifted to the distribution methods of life insurance, specifically the functions of the agent. NALU President Charles Zimmerman defused the pressure exerted on the agents by speaking frankly of the problems facing agents, specifically telling the committee that insurance companies refused to provide pensions to their sales staff.

1940 Financially Preparing for War
In 1940 there were 444 life insurance companies in the U.S. with a total of $118 billion in coverage in force. NALU’s 364 affiliates comprised a total of 32,000 members. Dues income that year amounted to $88,000 and LAN’s advertising revenue was nearly $50,000.

While NALU membership continued to rise, the government was preparing for war with increased manpower and financially. The Revenue Act of 1940 included provisions for National Service Life Insurance, making all persons serving in the armed forces eligible to buy policies for up to $10,000 face value. The government would bear the cost of administration and the excess mortality and disability and premium waiver costs resulting from the extra hazards of the war. No doubt recalling the terrific lapses that took place among policies issued in World War I, executives of the life insurance companies offered little comment or criticism.

1941 A Part in National Defense
With war on the horizon, LAN announced the formation of the life underwriters’ Committee for National Defense Savings to give the agents “a vital part in the national defense program by providing the opportunity for them to push the sale of defense bonds in an organized fashion.” The plan was for the agents to “provide the mechanics and assistance for purchases by both individuals and groups.” This meant that agents would encourage people to purchase the defense bonds by helping them schedule salary deductions. After Pearl Harbor, these “defense bonds” became “war bonds” and sales shot up dramatically.

“Association volunteers enroll 8.5 million employees in 46,000 firms to reach the first goal two weeks ahead of schedule,” LAN announced in August 1942. At that point, sales had reached $1 billion. NALU President Grant Taggard devoted much of his time in office to promoting programs involving agents in the war effort. As an extra boost, he made a nationwide broadcast over the CBS network in early 1942.

“The program, which lasted 15 minutes, was under the auspices of the Treasury Department,” LAN reported. “In his talk, president Taggard gave the picture of the united effort of the life insurance industry toward winning the war and urged the life underwriters of America to get behind the Second War Loan Drive.”

1942 Back the Attack!
According to the editors of LAN, an estimated 7,253 career life insurance salespeople had entered the armed services by October 1942, with 1,956 in government service “directly related to the war effort.” There were 18,687 agents volunteering in the war bond salary savings campaign, 683 agents were members of the Selective Service boards, 729 were on War Price and Rationing boards and 18,627 were serving in local defense units as air raid wardens.

1944 A Brigade of Agents
LAN’s associate editor Don Barnes joined the Army late in 1942 and began working with a team of agent recruits for the Army’s Personal Affairs program at their center in New York. The unit was charged with helping men and women in the armed services with financial advice, drawing up wills, insurance purchases and other financial arrangements.

“It sounds like the kind of idea a life underwriter might think up—and it was,” Barnes explained in the August 1944 issue of LAN. “This one started with a single officer in one room in Washington. The officer was John D. Marsh, a former general agent for Lincoln National Life.

“In the beginning the task was clear-cut—to assemble a group of men who could do a sincere, careful job of advising the soldier on the personal matters that perhaps no other section of the Army was equipped to discuss with him. And so John Marsh began to gather assistants from the best source he knew: the life underwriters.”

In fact the National Service Life Insurance program was a booming success, and by January 1944, total applications from members of all branches of the armed forces had topped the $100 billion mark.

“A recent check of men going overseas showed them to be insured to the extent of 98.4 percent of enlisted men and 99 percent of officers,” LAN reported. “In the case of enlisted men, 90 percent own $10,000 maximum, and the average per soldier, including the uninsured, is $9,500. Officers reported 98 percent own the $10,000 maximum and the average per officer is $9,864.

1946 Advising the Veteran
Following WWII, NALU began working closely with the Veterans Administration to help returning GIs conserve their life insurance polices and update their financial plans. John Marsh, now the association’s Veteran’s Affairs Committee chairman, and Don Barnes, NALU’s Director of Veterans’ Affairs teamed up again, conducting some 200 six-hour seminars throughout the country on advising those returning from war. More often then not, they brought along Gen. Omar Bradley, the U.S. Government’s administrator of veteran’s affairs to speak with the agents.

“Despite counseling, speeches and booklets, earlier rates of lapses show that the government alone is limited in its effort to convince veterans of the peacetime advantages of lifetime protection by the insurance they held in service,” Bradley said during a meeting in New York. “Demobilization procedures are not as thorough as the Army and Navy would like to have them. When they get to the separation center they are thinking mostly of two things: to get that little piece of white paper marked ‘Discharge’ across the top and to get home to their families. They don’t listen too carefully to what is said to them.”

To underscore the importance of serving veterans, LAN added a new department to the magazine called “Advising the Veteran.” This column was devoted to keeping everyone informed of the changing laws and regulations affecting veterans and their families.

1947 Awards and Education
As Americans returned to prosperous times and suburban homes, the insurance industry returned its focus to rewarding its sales staff and providing training to ensure future success. In July 1947, LAN announced NALU’s founding of the John Newton Russell Memorial Award. This was to be an annual award honoring someone who had contributed in a remarkable way to the life insurance business. The same year, NALU established the Life Underwriting Training Council, which was an educational program that could give agents practical selling techniques to improve their productivity. It was designed to supplement the more theoretical CLU courses.

1955 NALU Comes to Washington
After several years of fundraising, the association made plans to find a permanent home for NALU. The leadership decided that in view of Manhattan’s real estate prices and the increasing need to keep close to legislative affairs in the nation’s capital, it was time to move to Washington. NALU acquired a large building lot near the Mall on C Street NW in February 1955 for $108,000, hired an architect and approved plans for a modern building. However, the State Department objected to having the association’s offices opposite the diplomatic entrance of their new building and the District of Columbia Building Commission did not approve the plan.

The association took up temporary residences on the 10th and 11th floors of 1800 H Street in 1956. After four years NALU finally found a permanent home at 1922 F Street and dedicated the new headquarters building on September 11, 1960.

1961 The Battle Over Social Security
The Kennedy Administration’s program for federally-subsidized medical care drew battle lines between the government and life insurance agents.

“Prospects for extension of the Social Security system to finance medical care for the aged have been greatly increased by the election of Senator Kennedy to the Presidency,” NALU counsel Taylor Bigbie said in LAN in February 1961. Noting the negative reaction from the medical profession as well as from the insurance industry, Bigbie informed the agents that the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association, among others, had joined the private insurance carriers to “wage an all-out battle against any form of compulsory health insurance.”

1962 Retirement Programs for the Self-Employed
But the Kennedy Administration’s initiatives weren’t all bad news for the insurance industry. In October 1962, the Keogh bill was enacted establishing tax-deferred personal retirement programs, which the association had been supporting for 11 years.

“Through the years, NALU has actively participated in the development of this bill,” NALU’s general counsel Carlyle Dunaway reminded the members in LAN. “In particular, NALU—working in close and constant cooperation with the American Life Convention and the Life Insurance Association of America—has striven to make certain that [Congress] would accord fair recognition to the use of life insurance, endowment and annuity contracts. Our efforts have been successful.”

1965 Celebrating 75
LAN was reaching more than 92,000 readers who belonged to 848 life underwriters’ associations by the time NALU celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1965. When more than 100 company presidents gathered at the University Club in New York City to mark the occasion with a dinner for the organization’s officers, the magazine noted that even though it was a “black tie affair” the evening was relaxed and informal. “For the moment, nagging differences between the field and home officers were forgotten.”

1966 Forming a PAC
With the move to Washington, NALU’s influence over those occupying the halls of power grew. One reason the organization was able to gain access to so many political bigwigs was its formation of a political action committee in 1966. Though almost every interest group in the nation seemed to be organizing a PAC at the time, the idea, like the term, was new, and many members were slow to accept the idea of “buying votes” in such an open manner.

In a letter to the editor of LAN, Jack Hunter of Garden City, N.Y, wrote, “I very strongly resent my professional organization being used to assist in the growth of another organization which will implement what their board of directors deem to be principles and philosophies.”

1970 A Radical Scare
NALU was by no means immune to the pervasive civil unrest of the late 1960 and early 1970s. The 3,200 registrants and guests arriving for the 1970 convention in Minneapolis had a bit of a scare.

“If an when someone ever writes a 100-year history of NALU, he might observe in a footnote that the 81st annual convention’s informal but dominant theme was the possibility of finding a hidden bomb at a meeting site and what to do if one were actually found,” LAN reported in its October issue. “Fortunately, none of the NALU meetings was interrupted by crack-pots placing bombs in obscure places or making phony bomb threats over the telephone.”

1975 Presidential Visit
NALU’s 1975 convention at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, Calif. was marked by an appearance of President Gerald Ford at the Russell Award Dinner.

“In his speech President Ford noted that life underwriters typify the free enterprise system,” LAN reported. “He emphasized that government has a limited capacity to help the economy, but an almost unlimited capacity to harm it, reminding the life underwriters that ‘a government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.’”

1980 New Products for a New Era
After NALU membership peaked in 1979 with 140,000 members, the industry began to explore new hybrid products to compete with mutual funds and the rising interest rates of government bonds and savings accounts. Although the amount of insurance in force totaled $3.2 trillion, there was still a need to find new products.

Responding to this, life companies began developing such investment-oriented hybrids as universal life and variable life insurance. Another new topic for LAN to watch in the 1980s was an explosion of mergers and acquisitions, some involving Dutch, French and Italian purchasers. Many old U.S. companies ceased to operate independently and some familiar names disappeared altogether.

1989 100 Years and Counting
With an operating budget of $11 million and 108 employees at its Washington headquarters, NALU celebrated its 100th convention in Boston in September 1989. That same year saw the publication of Voices from the Field, an elegant 385-page volume written by LAN Associate Editor George Norris. The book, which Norris researched and wrote in an astonishing four years provides a comprehensive and in-depth history of the insurance industry and NALU/NAIFA.

2000 Time to Face the Change
Due to the changing nature of the insurance business, the names National Association of Life Underwriters and Life Association News no longer fully represented their respective membership and readership.

“Insurance men”—and women—were increasingly offering financial planning products and advice alongside of traditional insurance products, NALU changed its name to the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) and LAN became the much more inclusive Advisor Today.

2002 Exploring Cyberspace
After close to 100 years in print, Advisor Today made tentative steps in cyberspace with a low-tech website that simply posted a sampling of its editorial content on the Internet. However, in June 2002, the magazine unveiled a new AdvisorToday.com, with a fresh easy-to-use design and a variety of Web-exclusive content. In addition to sales articles, profiles of top advisors and advice on practice management, the site capitalized on the magazine’s long history of serving the industry by republishing Voices from the Field, and articles from the past that provide sound advice for the future.

AT Redux

LAN Redux (1945)

LAN Redux (1964)

LAN Redux (1984)

Open Book

Voices from the Field

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