Alex Shibicky, CLU, ChFC
Financial Advisor
Region: Central

Making the Northwestern Decision
Prior to becoming a Northwestern Mutual Financial Representative, I had 10 years of experience in the life insurance business and was initially attracted to the quality of products that Northwestern Mutual offered.
 
My greatest reward being with Northwestern Mutual is never having to apologize for the quality of the products that I've sold to my clients and the fact that I have control over my practice, wherein, I work with the people that I want to, I maintain my own schedule and there is unlimited income potential.

The career has its challenges, too, such as having the ultimate responsibility of managing all aspects of a business enterprise. 

And early in the career, it was challenging to find enough of the right type of people to whom I wanted to market my services. Also, it was one of my biggest challenges early on to be financially astute enough and experienced to be able to help them. Unfortunately, we get old too soon and smart too late.

But along the way, I have found that I have a high level of capability to manage complexity.

Making a Difference
I was referred to a single professional man to discuss financial security and his biggest concern was disability insurance. It was my "toughest sale", in as much as he had question after question after question, one of which needed to be resolved by actually calling the Northwestern Mutual disability insurance claims department after which he finally agreed to purchase the insurance. 

After completing the application and informing him that it could be done on a non-medical basis due to age and amount, I asked him to prepay the application to which he resisted. 

After I informed him that it was necessary to put the temporary insurance in force while the underwriting process was completed and that should he change his mind, it would be totally refunded, he saw the wisdom of prepaying the application. 

It was only two days later that I got a call from my new client from a hospital where he had been confined to a bed with full blown AIDS. Keep in mind that the application had not even found its way to the desk of the underwriter and we were for all intents and purposes filing a claim. 

Delving In
Because this claim was being filed during the contestability period of the policy there was a lot of background and research that had to be done by Northwestern Mutual. They researched all of his health records, the department of Social Security, and spoke to my client. 

Additionally, I was interviewed three times and questioned at length as to how we came up with the amount of the insurance that, as it turned out, was just, coincidentally, under the amount of insurance, in terms of amount, that would require a medical exam and blood and urine test. 

With only a 90 day waiting period, it took no time before the benefits were now due and payable to my client and the first thing that Northwestern Mutual did was send him his first check along with a cover letter indicating that they were going to continue to research the claim and should there be any evidence discovered that was not disclosed in the application they would always reserve the right to ask any benefits to be returned to the insurance company. 

In the end, after a comprehensive review it was determined that the policy would have been issued as requested and Northwestern Mutual continued to pay the benefits, in excess of three years, until the day he died. 

Sincere Thanks
Over that period of time, I received a handful of phone calls from my client thanking me profusely for the professional job that I had done and insisting that he paid the premium with the submitted application. 

He went on to say that the mail he would get from Northwestern Mutual would always be the first mail that he would open up because we were the only people that were sending money to him. Everyone else wanted money from him and I felt like Northwestern and I truly did what we promised we would do. Coincidentally, Frank, my client, died on my birthday.

 Looking Forward
Although I have more than 30 years in the life insurance business, 2005 had me celebrating 20 years with Northwestern Mutual and I surpassed over $100 million of life insurance through the Network.

My financial and emotional rewards have been equal to one another over my career and I look forward to being able to continue my work even into semi-retirement as there is no need and/or requirement to quit my own business at any predetermined time in the future.

Career Advice
If you want to get into the financial services business, you might as well build your career with the strongest, most ethical and moral organization in the industry and that would be Northwestern Mutual.

Northwestern Mutual and the Network have never been satisfied with being ordinary. They employ a best-of-breed philosophy and because they are owned by their policy owners, there are no shareholders that are looking to be enriched, whereby, the best value for your dollar is passed along to the policy holders.

Outside of Work
Part of the flexibility of working as a Financial Representative gives me the ability to make my own schedule. 

For the past five-and-a-half years, I devote my Friday afternoons to walking, training and socializing dogs that have found themselves into a no-kill animal shelter that my wife and I support. I have only missed three Fridays and consider it a standing date.

In addition to our own two large dogs and all the shelter dogs with whom I work, I walk on average 2,000 miles a year which allows my volunteer time to also coincide with my exercise time. Additionally and whenever I can fit it in, I enjoy playing golf.  

Alex Shibicky has been a Financial Representative with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network since 1985. Visit his website to learn more about him, or call Alex at 847-663-7777.