Hvac Subcontractor Agreement: Fill & Download for Free

This answer assumes you already have the lot and are looking for ways to build a high end house without cost overruns and controlling the unpleasant surprises that often come with construction:1. Plan, plan and make sure you have planned for what will be the final project so you do not have any change orders. This includes complete architectural, engineering, HVAC, electrical, structural plans and very detailed specifications. You need to either specify every detail including brands, colors, location of electrical outlets, etc or have a cost allowance for the items that are not specified. This is probably the number one cost saver as change orders are a budget killer.2. Make sure you have an agreement with the contractor that is rock solid and enforceable. I personally recommend having a Cost Plus Contract with a Guaranteed Maximum Price with the option for the owner to audit the books and records of the contractor. Some of the terms that should be incorporated into your contract include:a. Cost savings splits with incentives for the contractor to save money. If they perform well both parties benefit.b. The contractor and owner agree upon a bidders list for all major subcontracts. That way you can control cost by making sure qualified subcontractors who are price competitive get the opportunity to bid. This prevents the three competitive bid game - when all three bids are from the contractor's buddies.c. The right, as the project owner, to reject any subcontractor for any reason/requiring subcontractors to be mutually acceptable. This will prevent the contractor from hiring his favored uncle to perform work that you can get done from another reputable firm for much less.d. The right to approve all major material suppliers/requiring all major suppliers to be mutually acceptable. This also helps prevent shenanigans.e. Prohibit the contractor from self performing any major work or hiring subcontractors that he has an interest in or a close relationship with, such as family members.e. Have milestone and completion dates with financial penalties and/or triggers for when the contractor has to pay overtime to get back on schedule without the owner being billed for the additional cost.f. Have an arbitration clause for all minor disputes (such as change orders, additional charges, overtime) that are winner take all. This can be limited to a dollar amount or type of claim but is much faster and cheaper to resolve and winner takes all helps prevent frivolous disputes.g. Require a completion and performance bond that is provided by a 3rd party insurance company that will guarantee the performance of the contractor/guarantee completion of the work if the contractor goes belly up. This will add to the cost but if you are building a high end home - it is pennies for a rock solid guarantee.h. Make sure who pays what for under general conditions is spelled out clearly. For example, who is paying for the Builder's Risk Insurance policy? Is it paid as part of the contract or outside the contract. Who pays for the utilities used during construction - the contractor or you? Same goes for permits, failed inspection fees, development fees, meter fees, workmen's comp insurance, trash disposal, utility tap fees, and so on. This can easily total into the thousands and come as a nasty surprise if not taken into consideration.i. Make sure lien release requirements are spelled out in the agreement with the ability for the owner to issue two party checks - checks payable to both the contract and subcontractor. This prevents you from having to pay for the work twice - once to the contractor and again to the subcontractor who never got paid from the contractor because he pocketed the money.j. Have someone, like your architect or designer, who is the authorized person to accept or reject the quality of the work. This way it does not become personal, one sided or cause endless disputes. If the architect declares the work to be inferior and not meeting specifications, then the contractor is obligated to rectify the problem - period. If the architect says this is within normal tolerances (nothing is perfect) then the owner lives with it.k. Make sure the contract allows for you to have 10% retainage on all payments until a TCO is obtained at which point you would release 1/2 of the retainage with the final half being released upon CofO and completion of the punch list items. Many contractors will complain that the retainage should not be held for punch list items, which may be valid if the retainage amount is very high, but always make sure you have at least 4 X the highest estimate for completing the punch list in retainage until they are all completed. Do this and you will be amazed how fast the punch list items get fixed:-).l. Have a clause that details each phase of construction that you will be allowed to inspect before they move on to the next phase of construction. These may include:Foundation form inspection to make sure the house is being built in the correct position on the lot.Pre-pour inspection to insure all underground systems and foundation reinforced are per the plansFraming inspection to insure all walls and framing is done according to plansPre-insulation inspection to insure all mechanical systems are in place and per plansPre-drywall inspection to make sure the insulation was done correctlyPost drywall inspection to insure the drywall was installed correctly and nothing was accidently covered.Various finish inspections based upon the amount trim and finish work that is being installed.3. Make sure you have the construction inspected by a 3rd party architect, engineer or professional inspector who works for you (not the contractor). They need to be there during every major phase detailed above and correct the errors before they become very hard or impossible to correct.4. The other item that can save you money and/or help you get a better overall finished product is to locate and purchase the major finishes yourself. For example, the cost of light fixtures varies greatly. If you were to spend the time finding these yourself you can save a lot of money or spend the same amount but getter much better fixtures. Same with flooring and other items like cabinets. That being said, you need to be able to devote the time to find the items and if there is a problem - it becomes your problem. Many times when I have done this when the box with the light fixtures is opened something is missing or wrong. You will now be responsible to correct this and quickly so it does not affect the schedule/completion by the contractor.5. Another way to possibly save money is to directly contract out the landscaping, swimming pool and other items not directly connected to the house. That being said, please let the main contractor do the driveway and final grading and anything directly connected to the home construction. Just be careful as this is one of those times that being penny wise can turn into thousands of dollars foolish.This may have been a little more of an answer than you expected but there are so many things that can affect the cost and quality of the work that I felt a little more was better than not enough.I hope this helps!

I apologize in advance for the length of my answer. This is the first time I have ever written this down, and it is quite a saga.In 2014, I was working for a commercial general contractor from Southern Maine as a Project Manager. I had been with the company for 2 years when the owner let me go. Here comes the background.Anyone who works in the commercial construction industry knows that it is a very difficult, cutthroat environment. It seemed like Maine was only just starting to come of the housing market recession at that time. In April 2013, we were awarded a two building, 48 unit senior housing project for $5.1M. It was assigned to me to manage. Right out of the gate I found that it was a loser. The estimate was full of money holes, but I did my best to make it up. But, as anybody knows, it is impossible to shine a piece of shit into a diamond. The best you can do is turn it from diarrhea (which it was), into a semi-hard turd.This project was so bad financially, that I immediately took it to the company owner and explained it all to him before he signed the contract.I'm sure I'm missing something, but you'll get the gist of it. Bear in mind that the company wasn't doing very well either. Remember also, that I stated the project was for TWO buildings (this is very important).The plumbing and heating (P&H) number we carried was $650k. After reading the proposal from the subcontractor I realized that it said that the price was for ONE building. The actual low bid on the job for P&H was $780K.The buildings were wood framed buildings. 2X6 walls, wood floor trusses, and 3/4″ Advantech (structural wood sheathing) subflooring. The price for the Advantech was $22/sheet. The buildings were 8000 sf per floor with the first floor being a slab-on-grade. I only had 16,000 sf (ONE building) worth of Advantech carried in my budget. That's a loss of $12,500.Exterior of the buildings were to be clad with Hardi-Panel and Hardi-Plank siding. $68k in budget (ONE building) - actual cost was $132K.Framing contractor that we carried was a very small carpentry contractor, that had a hard time building small buildings for us in the past. So estimating carried him to build TWO buildings that were 10x larger than he had ever built before. His price was $280k. Included in his price was to frame the building shells (exterior walls, floor framing and subfloor, erect and sheath roof trusses, lay roofing; install all windows; build to common area decks; erect pergolas on first floor patios; and install all siding and exterior trim. It was a labor only price. A week after the bid, he backed out. My next price was for $255k for only the shells, and windows. We had to pay $40k for the roofing install, $15k for the decks and pergolas, and $90k for the siding install. I as the PM didn't want to use the second choice for the framing either because of a bad previous track record. Total hit: $150kAt the end of the job, we had to get the roofs redone because they were installed incorrectly (remember how I said I didn't want to use the second choice….), and then had a legal battle with the subcontractor. Cost to strip and redo both roofs - $68,000.The profit included in the job was a whopping $120k…The company owner wanted to get in with the developer doing the project, and if he had bailed on it, he would have lost a lot of credibility in the local construction market. So, I drove my heels in the ground and did my job the best I could. I'll come back to this.In September of 2013, I was given a second project to manage. A 17,000 sf classroom and lab building for a community college. Bid price $4.7M. This project was scheduled to break ground in mid September. Just in case anyone doesn't know, in Maine it snows in the winter and gets really cold. When you bid public work for winter construction, you are required to take care of any costs for winter conditions. I had $15K in my budget for it. This is only about 1/4 of what I should have had, if the winter was mild.This one had fairly decent subcontractor/supplier coverage. And I was able to do some nice things with buyout to secure some additional profit/funds. Turns out I would need it.On every building project there there are major subcontractors that you rely on - electricians, plumbers, HVAC, framing, drywall, site work, etc. Estimating, i.e. “the bane of my existence”, carried a P&H contractor for the mechanical contract for $600k that only had a crew of 3 guys including the owner of the company. Now, I love this guy. We'll call him “Joe.” He is one of the nicest people i have ever met. He is willing to go the extra mile, he owns up to his mistakes, does his warranty calls, etc. But there is absolutely, no way that he can handle this project from a mechanical standpoint. So I go to the owner of our company and tell him that if continue the project with Joe, we are going to have problems. During the buyout, I captured funds that could have allowed me to use a 50-man mechanical sub with the horsepower to keep the mechanical scope running smoothly. My boss tells me that we carried Joe for the project and it was my job to manage him. This is not good.Turns out that the Architect was a disaster. The drawings and specs were so bad that they delayed me and I got and extension of 8 weeks. This got a lot of the winter conditions paid for as well as additional profit for the company.Over the course of the project, I received an additional $400k in change orders due to architectural/engineering mistakes. Markup on change orders on state projects is 10% on subcontracted work and 20% on labor and materials provided by the general contractor. About 75% of the changes were subcontractor, so i made $50k in pure profit.Now, this community college wanted the building to be open for spring of 2015. Which meant that they needed to be staffing and furnishing in the fall of 2014. This means my subs need to be on top of it. And for the most part they were. And we continued to find design errors that continuously delayed us and should have been able to get more time and/or money for increased labor. The school held fast and said that the building needed to be opened for classes for spring of 2015.Back up a bit. We struggled through the winter, got the foundation in, put up the structural steel, trusses, exterior walls, and had it closed in by early April. We get ready to start underground utilities, and realize we have a problem with our plumber. Remember how I foresaw this 7 months earlier?Contractors are required to make submissions of products they intend to use to the Architect. These submittals come from the subs and suppliers. My P&H sub never finished his. I figured out why later.We started interior underground utilities and Joe was too busy to get to the job to do his portion, which was pretty much all of it. Now remember that I said that I really liked this guy. This is the part of the job that I hate - because I was being backed into the corner by the owner on schedule, after multiple attempts to settle this out peacefully with him, I pulled out his subcontract and began to threaten him if he didn't get to the project and get his underground done. His response - I quit.Now, contractually he can't just quit. But he knows that we aren't going to do anything, because my boss is a pussy when it comes to conflict. So, now I'm in a position where I have to find a mechanical contractor to take the reins of this thing and do it.So, I go talk to sub that I wanted to use in the first place, and start negotiating. This is all me, my boss wanted nothing to do with it (probably because he didn't want to admit to me that I was right from the beginning). I negotiated their price to $640K. Their original price was $680K. Here's the absolute best thing, my plumber quit on Wednesday, I negotiated with them on Thursday, they had a 5 man underground crew on site on Friday.One big problem, though - heat pumps. Joe never finished his submittals, because the heat pumps he carried didn't meet the job performance spec's. My new sub had to get these moving, because they had a 12 WEEK lead time (remember how I said I wanted to use them from the beginning?). Now I'm royally screwed. I need to have the building occupiable by September, it's now April and I won't have my heat pumps for three months. These things are supposed to go up above the suspended ceilings, meaning that I can't finish my spaces until we have them. Plus there is about 3 weeks worth of work to tie them into the whole mechanical system. We ended up having to do things way out of sequence to accommodate these things. Which worked out OK, but made other tasks take a bit longer. But it worked out in the end.Couple months go by, things are progressing, more fights with the Architect, more changes, schedule moving along. My boss pays me a visit and is disappointed by how the financials on the job are looking. I'm stunned because he had 300K in profit worked in, and I have made him an additional 150K from buy-outs and changes. He is concerned that my new mechanical sub is taking advantage of us because Joe quit and he was losing 40 grand in mechanical. I was at a loss for words, so I said: “If manning the job with no less than 10 guys for two months; pushing the job and doing more for us in two months than Joe had done in eight; as well as doing the project for $40K less than he bid the job for; I guess they're taking advantage.”August comes, and my boss hires a new PM and sends him to my job to “help” me. I'm not stupid, I know this guy is coming to the job to replace me. After a couple of weeks, he admits to me that he was supposed to take the job over, but had told our boss that he wouldn't do that because, in his opinion, I was doing the best job that anyone could possibly do in the situation we were in. FYI, he quit 6 months later.Beginning of September - the project is roughly 95% complete. Remaining work includes: tile in corridor, elevator inspection (only two inspectors for the entire state), finish lecture hall, and landscaping. Life Safety is complete. I have a gentleman's agreement with the school that if I get a temporary certificate of occupancy, there will be no penalties, even though penalties would never hold up in court because of all the owner and architect delays, and that I have documented everything that so well the company would be in a great position, but it's always better to work with someone rather than let groups of lawyers fight about it later. I do a walkthrough with the code enforcement officer and fire chief, and lo and behold I walk away with a temporary C of O. The school is now allowed to occupy the building with staff.After 12 months of complete hell, I finally catch a break. I'm feeling great, nothing can knock the pedestal out from under me, right? Wrong. I send an email out to all parties with the good news. I get responses from the president of the school, the school's PM, the Architect's PM and construction manager, and my boss. Everyone congratulates me and says job well done, except for one person - my boss. His email response is:“Ben - confirm that the temporary office trailer is scheduled to be picked up on Monday.”I'm floored! I have just spent 12 months of my life managing not one piece of shit project for him, but two. I just pulled off a miracle and everyone involved in the project knows it, except him. I'm so done.Two weeks go by, we're wrapping things up, and he comes up. He waits until the end of the day and comes in the classroom that I am using as an office, and says he is letting me go. I ask why, and he says that my last two projects didn't go very well financially. I said how do you figure, I made $150K more on this one! He says but he lost $68K of his own money on the housing project.I proceeded to outline the losses on the job.Losses of $130K for mechanical, $12.5K for advantech, $68K for siding, and $150K for carpentry, $68K to re-roof the buildings. Total losses (without the new roofing) $428K. Profit on the job was only $120K. Net loss $308K.I then asked him how he ONLY lost $68K. He was dumbfounded. I told him it was because I did my job, and was creative on how I bought things, and used some different subs to make up for shortfalls. I stated further that it shouldn't be me being let go, it should be the estimator who screwed the pooch.He went on that he thought i made mountains out of molehills at the school. I asked “How so?” He said that I exaggerated everything and it embarrassed him. He thought that there were certain things that I should have just done, and not charged for. Now I'm confused because one minute I'm not making enough money, and the next I'm making TOO much? The design and owner issues were so bad that it could fill a book with them. I told him that I pushed everything with the owner and architect so hard to make him a beautiful case, so that if it needed to go to a legal battle it would be a slam dunk (like tossing a basketball into a pool). I just couldn't believe that I could do so much for someone and have him just throw me under the bus like this. I haven't even told you all about the first 4 projects I did for him that were almost as bad as these. I felt as if I had experienced a lifetime of Project Mangement horrors in two years.He started to act like he would change his mind. But I grabbed the termination letter he brought with him and signed it. I got up, packed up MY laptop, and walked out the door.I then called the owners of both of those jobs and explained that I had been let go. They were stunned. They couldn't believe that he actually fired ME. Both of these owners really liked me, and I still talk to them both to this day.After this I went to work for an electrical contractor friend of mine, who had gotten himself into financial trouble. He hired me as his operations manager. I had him fixed, within 6 months, but he was in too deep and had to declare.So as I was sending out resumes to the same old commercial contractors that I always had, I had an epiphany. I decided to take my company to the next level. That was in 2015, I am broke as hell, but I have never been happier.When I was a kid, I used to play with army men in the driveway with toothpicks and popsicle sticks. These guys could build anything. At NO TIME was there ever one of them with a white hat running around screaming that they were behind schedule, or that they were losing money. I have never wanted to do anything except build, problem is, when you get to that level, it's more like being an attorney, than a builder.

Right now, because implementation of the rule was delayed until July 1, 2019, there is no fiduciary responsibility from an insurance producer with regards to product recommendations.There is one exception and that is if the insurance producer is also a fee-based adviser. Fee based advisers have been subject to a fiduciary standard for a long time. If the fee based adviser is working with a client for whom s/he doesn’t have a fee based arrangement, the fiduciary standard does not apply at this time.A Fiduciary Standard requires that the producer act in the best interest of the client even if it contradicts what is in the producer’s best interest.A Suitability Standard is a lower threshold and requires that the product is suitable for the client based on industry best practices.Most individuals do not hold themselves to a Fiduciary Standard. When you buy a new car, do you hold yourself to a Fiduciary Standard?:Understanding the difference:Make sure it is the best possible car choice for your needs?Consider your future needs in the determination of whether it is the best car for you?For example, my neighbor has three sons. She bought a cute little Mini-Cooper right before her eldest son had his growth spurt. The car didn’t last two years before it was traded in for a mini van.Consider your potential future needs in the determination of whether it is the best car for you?This could include things such as whether you might become disabled at some point, you might have a baby, you might marry someone who has children, etc.Evaluate what the sales person will be paid for each vehicle you consider?Or, do you use a Suitability Standard?Find a car that you like and can afford?Learn about the:Safety ratingsGas milleageOptionsThen purchase a car that meets your criteria for the above?When you buy a home, do you:Make sure it is the best possible home for your needs?Consider your future needs in the determination of whether it is the best home for you?Consider your potential future needs in the determination of whether it is the best home for you?I do see some people consider how wide doors need to be for a wheel chair and in a house I’ve designed, I included a place where an elevator could be added if needed.Look up projected growth in the area where you are buying the home?Many people do not know that these types of statistics are available. The statistics are generally behind a paywall.Look up crime statistics in the area where you are buying the home?Look up school statistics in the area where you are buying the home?Look up historic resale values in the area where you are buying the home?Look-up, evaluate, and consider future maintenance costs?Compare it to hundreds of other potential homes?Investigate the builder of the home?Investigate subcontractors who worked for the builder of the home at the time the home was built?Or, do you use a Suitability Standard when you buy a home?Find a house that you like and can afford?Learn about the:Loan termsIf new construction, builder incentivesOptionsSchools (in general)Crime stats (in general, not projections)Allow yourself to be heavily influenced by emotion and, often, guided by Happy Wife, Happy LifeEvaluate the commute to your current job—not necessarily potential future jobsHave an inspector evaluate the house (roof, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems)?Then purchase a home that meets your criteria for the above?Who is subject to What, When?Who is subject to what depends on the type of product they are soliciting and whether the solicitation involves an investment component or a retirement plan.Insurance Producer Advising Retirement Plan or IRA OwnerAs of July 1, 2019, producers advising clients about investments in retirement plans will be subject to a fiduciary standard. Life insurance is not a product that can be purchased by an IRA. The popularity of purchasing annuities in retirement plans has grown during the past 10 - 15 years.The Department of Labor (DOL) will be responsible for enforcement. Retirement Plans are subject to Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). When a trust purchases insurance policies, the trustee who purchased the policy is held to the fiduciary standard. Investments in trusts prohibit an adviser from earning a commission on transactions beyond the fee paid to administer the trust. This is one thing that makes trusts expensive and, for many people, too expensive to use.Side note: My personal opinion is that annuities were usually not suitable in retirement plans but this was not an opinion shared by my employers who lauded the lifetime income guarantees. Immediate annuities can be purchased that guarantee lifetime income without exposing clients to the fees associated with deferred annuities. My personal opinion is that the general public does not educate themselves as much as they should about matters that have significant influences on their financial well-being. This lack of attention to personal finances leaves the door open for abuse with complicated products that contain features that are of dubious real value to most clients. Insurance companies paid high commissions on these Products. My personal moral compass has always leaned toward holding myself to a fiduciary standard that I characterized with this statement, “Is this what you would do for your own mother assuming you like her and you are not in financial straights?” This recognizes that people sometimes make bad decisions when they are stressed.Additional Information:Top Takeaways from the DOL's Fiduciary Rule FAQsDOL Fiduciary Rule: Everything You Need to KnowInsurance Producer Advising Client about Variable Life, Variable Annuities, and Possibly, Indexed-AnnuitiesAs of July 1, 2019, producers advising clients about investments with an at-risk investment component such as these products will be subject to a fiduciary standard.Side note: I’ve seen Indexed-Annuities that consumed large portions of the assets invested with fees. I fought against allowing them (and won) when I was the Director of Compliance and Risk Management. Our broker-dealer allowed them but I convinced my boss that they weren’t a good deal for clients. We fired one agent because we learned he had contracted with someone outside our organization to sell these policies (a violation of his employment agreement). When I looked at what he had been selling it made me sick to my stomach that he would do that to clients. He was a good ‘ole boy and a lot of people trusted him. He wasn’t in the South, but his demeanor and mannerisms are what we’d call a good ‘ole boy. He was anything but that to his clients.Variable Life and Variable Annuities can be suitable but they require sophisticated investors, which takes me back to people having a personal responsibility to themselves to learn about managing money.Additional Information:Impact of the DOL Fiduciary Rule on Independent Insurance AgentsInsurance Producer advising Client about non-investment productsTerm insurance, disability income, health insurance, long-term care insurance, auto, home, boat, apartment, motorcycle, and umbrella policies will continue to be subject to a suitability standard. The rule is unclear about permanent life insurance without an investment component:The DOL did offer the following information regarding life insurance when the final rule was initially released: “It was not the intent of the proposal to treat as fiduciary investment advice, advice as to the purchase of health, disability, and term life insurance policies to provide benefits to plan participants or IRA owners if the policies do not have an investment component.” However, the DOL did not address permanent life insurance, which has left this product in all its forms in a gray area.[1][1][1][1] (September 2, 2016)The abuses did not occur with whole life. I’ve seen participating whole life policies that performed very well many times. Participating means the client earns an annual dividend (if declared by the Board of Directors). Although the DOL has left whole life policies in a grey area, I do not expect a fiduciary level of care will be imposed since there are few moving parts and everything except the dividends are fixed at the time of purchase. Premiums don’t fluctuate, if the death benefit changes, it is known up front.Universal Life insurance which made its entree into the market during the President Jimmy Carter era of high interest rates (i.e. prime rate of 18% when I purchased my first home). These policies fluctuate based on the interest declared by the insurance company. Early policies often estimated double digit interest rates and few illustrated below 8%. There was a surge of replacements that replaced whole life policies with their guarantees for speculative policies based on continued high interest rates. In the early days, which often seemed like the wild west, sales staff were paid high commissions if they replaced policies issued by other companies but lower commissions if they replaced whole life policies issued by the same company that was issuing the new policy. Most of these policies blew up after President Reagan was in office and interest rates dropped. Disclosure requirements were implemented using standard requirements suggested by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).Interest rates can and do fluctuate. I wouldn’t be surprised to see greater regulation of Universal Life policies.Additional Information:The Fiduciary Rule and Life Insurance: Use CautionGrey AreaIRA’s require minimum distributions from the plan beginning at age 70½, beneficiaries are required to take a MRD (minimum required distribution) or face stiff tax penalties (50%). One way insurance producers propose to fund policies and annuities is to us the required MRD to pay the premium (life insurance) or contribution (annuity). Once the MRD is paid to the beneficiary, it is no longer a plan asset.As long as the insurance producer is not the one who determines how much to take and the client co-mingles the funds with their other assets by depositing the check (or having it direct-deposited into their account), this should continue to be a relatively safe practice. I would exercise caution not to sell a product that will consume all of the MRD if it is likely the client will need it for income in the future unless the policy will be okay without the premium or contribution. This should consider factors such as poor performance by other investments, loss of a pension due to the death of a spouse, etc. It should also consider whether the policy is the product that best meets the needs of the client and whether potential surrender penalties would make the funds unavailable for unexpected needs pertaining to health and well-being.One reason I like annuities for seniors, especially vulnerable seniors, is that it affords some protection of their assets and income from unscrupulous actors. Jeanine Joy's answer to What measures can be put in place to prevent legal guardians stealing from the elderly?More on the Horizon:SEC Working on a Fiduciary RuleThe insurance industry has attempted to police itself.The Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society (IRES), a non-profit, was created to:[2][2][2][2]To establish a high code of professional standards for members engaged in the regulation of the insurance industry.To promote uniform ethical standards that will engender employer and public confidence to the degree that those interested can identify professionally qualified practitioners.To promote and enforce minimum requirements of conduct, training and expertise for members.To develop educational and training programs on a continuing basis modeled toward the specialized field of insurance regulation.To obtain and provide nationwide recognition and respect for members upon whom the Society has bestowed the title of Accredited Insurance Examiner (AIE®), Certified Insurance Examiner (CIE®), Market Conduct Management (MCM®), or Certified Insurance Consumer Service Representative (CICSR®).To inform the public of the value of highly trained and professional insurance regulators who hold the AIE®, CIE®, MCM® or CICSR® designations.To provide mutual benefits usually available to a large organization whose members have common interests.To actively promote the general and specific interests of all members.To perform such other acts and to carry on such other lawful activities as may be incident to, or as may be necessary or convenient to effectuate the foregoing purposes and objectives.To help achieve these objectives, IRES adopted a Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics on July 9, 1990.Other organizations have also created designations to increase professional standards and achieve a high level of knowledge, such as my Associate, Insurance Regulatory Compliance (AIRC) which I earned by taking nine college level courses through the Life Office Management Association (LOMA).There is some legitimacy to the argument that a fiduciary standard increases costs which can price some lower income individuals out of the market where they will receive advice.The volume of work that will be devoted to compliance is enormous. My experience is that the vast majority of consumers do not and will not, even when it is free, take the time to educate themselves to the extent they should about managing money and investments. They will even make poor financial decisions when a close friend or family member is an expert in the field, including irrevocable decisions that negatively effect their or their family’s futures, without seeking the expert’s advice.My first father-in-law was disabled when I met my first husband. He was bedridden with heart disease. He surrendered a life insurance policy to get the money when he could have taken a policy loan and received almost the same amount. His premiums were being paid by a waiver of premium for disability clause. His widow could have really used those funds. I was already a FLMI (Fellow, Life Management Institute) and could have easily advised him about his alternatives, but he didn’t ask. He did, frequently, ask me about auto insurance which was not my specialty. We didn’t learn what he had done until he was deceased. I implemented a safeguard for surrender requests in the department I managed after that to advise anyone whose policy was on waiver of premium for a permanent disability to be advised of alternatives before they surrendered a contract. It was the right thing to do. In another situation, a friend and her husband invested heavily in annuities when their marriage was on the rocks. The annuity tied up their cash and put access behind a steep surrender charge. It’s not a good decision to invest the bulk of your liquid assets in annuities when a divorce is likely.Lack of knowledge is a serious problem. High school is too young to go into all the intricacies but it is a good time to impress on young people that learning doesn’t stop with a diploma and that continued learning will make their life better. It is also a good time to let them know that learning about money management and taxes is an important life skill. A basic checklist of common life events that would make specific types of products something they should consider could help them be aware of what they don’t know. When you don’t know that you don’t know something, you don’t seek more information about it.Footnotes[1] The Fiduciary Rule and Life Insurance: Use Caution [1] The Fiduciary Rule and Life Insurance: Use Caution [1] The Fiduciary Rule and Life Insurance: Use Caution [1] The Fiduciary Rule and Life Insurance: Use Caution [2] Mission & History[2] Mission & History[2] Mission & History[2] Mission & History