The IA Risky Business

Wow!! What a fast year! Yes I know it had the same number of days and hours as the rest (barring leap years) but this just seemed to go like a runaway train! There really was little chance to gain some breath this year as we went through a period of dramatic growth and handled a difficult year for our clients in regards to claims. Let's look back at an eventful 2013. After a few weeks off and a very mild Christmas period we walked straight into the tail of a cyclone here on The Mid North Coast. The region as far south as The Hunter Region was hammered by cyclonic winds and rain that went "up" the walls of peoples homes. Yes we had a number of clients suffer damage from rain being pushed back up under Roof eaves and into sealant under window sils.  The Insurer response on the whole to the 2 major events was rapid and well managed. For our part over 20% of our clients suffered some form of damage and lodged claims. Some clients had multiple and a handful of those ...

We highlighted this in a blog last year but thought it important to bring it back to the surface. We live in a very litigious society and one of the largest growth areas for claims is not Fires or storms, but in the sector we call Management Liability. This is a re hash yes but we have done a number of speaking engagements and meetings with clients on the importance of a good Management Liability in your business protection program. Events like staff Christmas parties are an example of when such a product would be important to have. Read on and let us know if you would like to discuss further. Only 2 weeks till Christmas which means we are deep in party mode. Time to tackle Work Christmas Parties. Yes they are everywhere at the moment and local restaurants and clubs are cashing in while they can. We love it! It's a great chance to relax after a hard year and forget office politics for a night. However these same office politics put on hold can surface during the night........

As we work our way through the final days of Spring it's fair to say the warning signs for a difficult summer have been ever present. Winter kind of just ended early August and we went straight into a hot spell for a couple of months. Hot and Dry conditions meant the earth became tinder box dry and ready to ignite. As we know, ignite, it did. As areas of NSW burned in some of the worst fires on record little did we know what was around the corner. Water tanks were running dry and the earth - where not burnt - looked & Felt like a straw mat. Our fears were that more fires were to come, but this lil ol planet of ours did it's usual thing and produced the opposite. November has been awash with rain and destructive hail storms throughout most of the area. Port Macquarie and then Coffs Harbour both received significant hail storms. The Hunter Valley and New England also copped a pounding, whilst some flooding occurred in the lower Barrington region. This is just The Mid ...

Each year Insurance Advisernet (IAA) Authorised Representatives from all over Australia & New Zealand come together for our annual conference. For us this was our 2nd year as delegates after previously attending about 4 IAA conferences representing one of Australia's largest Insurance Companies. Having been to a number of Insurance conferences the IAA event is always one we looked forward to. The word 'family' gets bandied about quite freely but reality is family is the best way to sum up the IAA group. Even if you haven't seen someone for a year (generally since last conference) you start talking like it was just yesterday. The level of support for each other is evident in all discussions and just the general ambiance of the conference. This year the conference was effectively on our home ground; The Hunter Valley. Yep, Hunter Valley! Okay so Day one we eased into it with a 34 degree day. What better way to spend a 34 degree day then winery hopping! We jo...

30th September 2011 and after a month of preparing and relaxing we turned on the lights of The Manning Valleys' newest Service Provider. 2 years ago today the business began with so much flare and fan fare that everyone missed it. In fact aside from some family the only person who knew we were open was Photography by Linda's Linda Bryant as we were booked in for mug shots.  Whilst 30th September was the official opening day the origins of the company go way back. We looked at options about 4 years earlier and came close to starting the company on The Gold Coast where we were living. We loved The Coast and had some good friends there. From a business perspective there's an Insurance broker in just about every suburb so it didn't make sense to us to try and make a sustainable business in a saturated market. Nikki's family have been long term residents of The Manning Valley on The NSW Mid North Coast. We would visit a couple of times a year and as the years we...

'It wont happen to me!' Short and sweet. 5 little words that either directly or said in the same context that we hear at least once or twice a week. 'My building is tilt slab concrete, it cant burn.' There's nothing in my warehouse that can ignite.' 'I keep my house clean nothing will ever happen!' These are comments that we regularly hear from clients or prospective clients. Well, surely the past week in Australia should change everyone's minds about fires in the home or in businesses. Every week without fail there is a large fire in the news. Scrolling back through news sites we've counted over 18 fires in Australia since August of some description. This actually excludes Bush fires! However last week it was basically every night. Let's see if we can recap the last week in Ozzie news. 1. Tuesday 17th September: A Norlane (Victoria) home is found alight. Allegations of resident starting fire deliberately. 2. Wednesday 18th Septemb...