Merry Christmas from SBS Insurance!

Drowsy Driving Awareness Week - Nov. 8-14 2010

The AAA Foundation released a new study showing that the tragedy of drowsy driving is more pervasive than shown in previous estimates. Their study shows that drowsy driving involves about one in eight deadly crashes; one in ten crashes resulting in occupant hospitalization, and one in twenty crashes in which a vehicle was towed. These percentages are substantially higher than most previous estimates, suggesting that the contribution of drowsy driving to motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths has not been fully appreciated.

"This should be a wake up call to our legislators and our elected representatives," says David Cloud, CEO of the National Sleep Foundation. "Driving while drowsy seriously affects our safety on the road. More action and education are needed to combat this problem."

According to the Foundation's 2009 Sleep in America poll, about one-third (28%) of Americans admitted that they have fallen asleep behind the wheel within the past year, and more than half (54%) said they have driven while drowsy. The AAA Foundation study shows that more than a quarter of surveyed adults admitted they drove despite being so tired that they had difficulty keeping their eyes open in the previous month.

"It is shocking that so many people admit that they frequently drive in an incapacitated state," says Cloud. "The good news is that fatigue related crashes are preventable. The bad news is that there is a knowledge and awareness gap about the danger of driving when you're too sleepy. Many people think they can will themselves to stay awake no matter how tired they are, but science shows us that simply isn't true."

Sleepiness can impair drivers by causing slower reaction times, vision impairment, lapses in judgment and delays in processing information. In fact, studies show that being awake for more than 20 hours results in an impairment equal to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08%, the legal limit in all states. It is also possible to fall into a 3-4 second microsleep without realizing it. "Drowsy driving is a major traffic safety problem that, unfortunately, is largely unrecognized," said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger. "We need to change the culture so that drivers recognize the dangers, appreciate the consequences and most importantly, stop driving while sleepy."

Feeling sleepy? Stop driving if you exhibit these warning signs.
The following warning signs indicate that it's time to stop driving and find a safe place to pull over and address your condition:

• Difficulty focusing, frequent blinking and/or heavy eyelids
• Difficulty keeping reveries or daydreams at bay
• Trouble keeping your head up
• Drifting from your lane, swerving, tailgating and/or hitting rumble strips
• Inability to clearly remember the last few miles driven
• Missing exits or traffic signs
• Yawning repeatedly
• Feeling restless, irritable, or aggressive
  

Here's what you can do to prevent a fall-asleep crash:

• Get a good night's sleep before you hit the road. You'll want to be alert for the drive, so be sure to get adequate sleep (seven to nine hours) the night before you go.
• Don't be too rushed to arrive at your destination. Many drivers try to maximize time by driving at night or without stopping for breaks. It's better to allow the time to drive alert and arrive alive.
• Use the buddy system. Just as you should not swim alone, avoid driving alone for long distances. A buddy who remains awake for the journey can take a turn behind the wheel and help identify when a driver begins to show the warning signs of fatigue.
• Take a break every 100 miles or 2 hours. Do something to refresh yourself like getting a snack, switching drivers, or going for a short run or walk.
• Take a nap-find a safe place to take a 15 to 20-minute nap, if you think you might fall asleep. Be cautious about excessive drowsiness after waking up.
• Avoid alcohol and medications that cause drowsiness as a side effect.
• Avoid driving at times when you would normally be asleep.
• Consume caffeine. The equivalent of two cups of coffee can increase alertness.

For more information about drowsy driving, visit the National Sleep Foundation's drowsy driving website at www.DrowsyDriving.org.

Information provided by NOYS, National Sleep Foundation, AAA Foundation & Drowsy Driving Prevention Week

Deer Declare Open Season on Vehicles

Avoiding Deer/Vehicle Collisions

As fall has arrived, the deer population is on the move and has declared open season on vehicles! October through December are the months that deer/vehicle accidents are most common. The average cost per insurance claim for collision damage is $2,800, with costs varying depending on the type of vehicle and severity of damage. When you factor in auto claims involving bodily injury, the average rises to $10,000.

Defensive driving tips to avoid hitting a deer.

• Be especially attentive from sunset to midnight and during the hours shortly before and after sunrise. These are the highest risk times for deer-vehicle collisions.
  
• Drive with caution when moving through deer-crossing zones, in areas known to have a large deer population and in areas where roads divide agricultural fields from forestland. Deer seldom run alone. If you see one deer, others may be nearby.
  
• When driving at night, use high beam headlights when there is no oncoming traffic. The high beams will better illuminate the eyes of deer on or near the roadway.
  
• Slow down and blow your horn with one long blast to frighten the deer away.
  
• Brake firmly when you notice a deer in or near your path, but stay in your lane. Many serious crashes occur when drivers swerve to avoid a deer and hit another vehicle or lose control of their cars.
  
• Always wear your seat belt. Most people injured in car/deer crashes were not wearing their seat belt.
  
• Do not rely on devices such as deer whistles, deer fences and reflectors to deter deer. These devices have not been proven to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.

If your vehicle strikes a deer, do not touch the animal. A frightened and wounded deer can hurt you or further injure itself. The best procedure is to get your car off the road, if possible, and call the police. Contact your insurance agent or company representative to report any damage to your car. Collision with an animal is covered under the comprehensive portion of your auto insurance policy.

Information courtesy of the Insurance Information Institute - www.iii.org

SBS INSURANCE AGENCY INCLUDED IN IIABA’S BEST PRACTICES STUDY

SBS Insurance Agency is part of an elite group of independent insurance agencies around the United States participating in the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) “Best Practices” Study Group.

Each year since 1993, IIABA and Reagan Consulting, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm, join forces to study the country’s leading agencies in six revenue categories. The agencies comprising the study groups are selected every third year through a comprehensive nomination and qualifying process and awarded a “Best Practices Agency” designation. The selected “Best Practices” agencies retain their status during the three-year cycle by submitting extensive financial and operational data for review each year.

“We are very pleased with the results of the Best Practices Study of our agency. We use this to measure the strength and stability of SBS Insurance against our peer agencies across the nation,” commented Jim Runnebaum, SBS Insurance Agency president.

More than 1,200 independent agencies throughout the U.S. were nominated to take part in the annual study, but only 224 agencies qualified for the honor. To be chosen, the agency had to be among the 35-40 top-performing agencies in one of six revenue categories.

The agency was nominated by either an IIABA affiliated state association or an insurance company and qualified based on its operational excellence.

The Best Practices Study was initiated by IIABA in 1993 as the foundation for efforts to improve agency performance. The annual survey and study of leading independent insurance agencies documents the business practices of the “best” agencies and urges others to adopt similar practices.

SBS is an independent agency and represents fine companies for your Auto, Home, Farm, Business or Life Insurance.

KANSAS CSR OF THE YEAR

MARIA DRESSMAN NAMED 2010 OUTSTANDING CSR OF THE YEAR IN KANSAS

AUSTIN, TX (July 2010) – The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research has announced that Maria Dressman is the 2010 Outstanding CSR of the Year recipient for the state of Kansas.
To qualify for this top state honor, Maria Dressman submitted the winning essay on the topic, “Many people come to the insurance business by chance and stay by choice.” Additionally, Ms. Dressman was selected for having demonstrated outstanding service and professionalism within the insurance community. Maria is now one of 42 individuals eligible for the national honor.

Maria began her insurance career as a customer service representative in 1999. She has been associated with the Peoples/Commercial Insurance Agency serving as the Senior Commercial Account Manager till in 2008 when she then joined SBS Insurance Agency where she specializes in Commercial and Life Insurance. Dressman attained her CIC designation in 2008.

“Maria Dressman was chosen as a state winner for exemplifying the characteristics and qualifications required to be eligible for the prestigious National Outstanding CSR of the Year Award,” stated Dr. William T. Hold, Ph.D., CIC, CPCU, CLU, President of The National Alliance. “She represents the backbone of the insurance community, those customer service representatives distinguished for providing exceptional service on a daily basis.”

Congratulations Maria on this distinguished honor!

SBS hits the television airwaves!!

We are always looking for new opportunities to reach our current and prospective customers. Most recently this has been through televsion advertising, social media via facebook & this blog. Perhaps you have seen our advertisements on TV over the past few months. SBS made the jump to television advertising around the first of the year and we have enjoyed the feedback.

Below are links to the two ads we have been running,...please check them out!! Our SBS Insurance ad is also available to watch at all times at the bottom of this blog page!!

SBS Insurance ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slwaibpZF78

Allied/SBS Insurance ad:
http://vimeo.com/8075677

SBS Insurance - Hiawatha participates in Spring Tea

The 8th annual Spring Tea was held on April 18, 2010 at the Fischer Center in Hiawatha, KS. The SBS Hiawatha agency was invited to design and decorate a Tea Table for the event that is a fund raiser for the Morrill Public library. Table viewing and a silent action took place before the "afternoon tea" in which hors d'oeuvres and desserts were provided along with the tea.

A separate tea for young children and teens was also provided with specific entertainment at each. There were 31 different tables for a total of 217 places decorated by area businesses, organizations and individuals. This is a fun and creative way for anyone to support the local library and will continue for many years.

Nancy Daeschner and Andrea Groth designed & decorated table "Pinkaliciousness" based off of the book "Pinkalicious". For additional photo's of the other tables and this great fundraiser visit the Morrill Public Library website: http://www.hiawathalibrary.org/.

Kitchen Fire Safety Product

StoveTop FireStop®: Inexpensive, Invisible, Invaluable

Cooking fires remain the number one cause of residential structure fires, with unattended cooking cited as the leading cause of these fires. StoveTop FireStop® automatic fire suppressor is the first line of defense against stovetop fires and is recommended by fire chiefs and fire prevention experts nationwide!

StoveTop FireStop Facts:
A 12-ounce automatic fire suppressor
Mounts using an industrial magnet under the vent hood of a stove
Reacts automatically when flames reach it
Fire suppressing powder automatically releases onto the fire
Alerts with a 146 decibel "POP" sound
Deploys in seconds
Requires no tools to install
Never has to be inspected or repaired
Customers report an average of 99% reduction in fire claims

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), every year cooking-related fires cause an estimated
222,135 reported home structure fire
12,344,000 (55.3%) unreported home fires
7,891 injuries
$362 million in direct property damage

Check out this link for additional information and a short video showing the FireStop in action!

http://www.stovetopfirestop.com/index.php?page=Home

Bern Park Project 2008

The community of Bern donated a week of their time and months of preparation in May of 2008 to build a hometown park called the "Swiss Summit". The park was designed by Leathers and Associates and paid for by local donors. Volunteers worked on the park for six days to create the end product.

Several SBS Insurance employees donated their time to help with this project. The next time you are in Bern, stop by and visit this magnificent structure. You might even learn a little bit about the town of Bern. The structure has many unique details that are a representation of the town's history.

2010 SBS Insurance Annual Crop/Farm Meeting

SBS Insurance Agency hosted the annual spring crop/farm appreciation meetings on Wednesday, March 3rd. The Sabetha meeting was held at noon at the Buzz Café and the Seneca meeting was held at Valentino's in the evening. 131 guests and representatives attended the meetings.

Roy Frey and Bryan Schmitz, SBS Agency Manager's of Sabetha and Seneca respectively, and Jimmy Oliver, Marketing Manager for Rain & Hail, LLC, reviewed changes to the crop insurance program for 2010. The featured speaker for the meeting was Troy Dumler. Troy is a K-State Research and Extension Agricultural Economist in Southwest Kansas. He has developed an extension program centered on farm management and agricultural policy, with his focus on the 2008 Federal Farm Bill. Troy gave an informative talk on the ACRE and SURE options within the 2008 Federal Farm bill.

Guest of the meeting were treated to a smoked pork chop dinner and were the recipients of many door prizes. Congratulations to David Edelman, winner of the grand prize, a Traeger Grill.

SBS at KNZA's Business Expo

SBS Insurance had a booth at the annual KNZA Business Expo in Hiawatha on 2/27/2009. There were a wide variety of businesses and vendors at the expo and it was a beautiful day for people to get out and attend the expo. Nancy Daschner and Andrea Groth from our Hiawatha location as well as Jim Runnebaum from our Seneca location manned the booth throughout the day. 255 people signed up for the 4 prizes and Andrea's children helped pick our winners.

Craig Boeckner of Hiawatha - $25 Gift Certificate to Country Cabin

Patti Pierson of Sabetha - Golf Gift Basket

Esther Miller of Hiawatha - Farm Gift Basket

Shirley Dodds of Falls City - Auto Gift Basket

Many thanks for everyone that stopped by our booth and congratulations to our winners!

Choosing the right type of Life Insurance

How should I choose what type of life insurance to buy?

You should consider term life insurance if:

You need life insurance for a specific period of time. Term life insurance enables you to match the length of the term policy to the length of the need. For example, if you have young children and want to ensure that there will be funds to pay for their college education, you might buy 20-year term life insurance. Or if you want the insurance to repay a debt that will be paid off in a specified time period, buy a term policy for that period.

You need a large amount of life insurance, but have a limited budget. In general, this type of insurance pays only if you die during the term of the policy, so the rate per thousand of death benefit is lower than for permanent forms of life insurance. If you are still alive at the end of the term, coverage stops unless the policy is renewed. Unlike permanent insurance, you will not build equity in the form of cash savings.

If you think your financial needs may change, you may also want to look into “convertible” term policies. These allow you to convert to permanent insurance without a medical examination in exchange for higher premiums.

Keep in mind that premiums are lowest when you are young and increase upon renewal as you age. Some term insurance policies can be renewed when the policy ends, but the premium will generally increase. Some policies require a medical examination at renewal to qualify for the lowest rates.

You should consider permanent life insurance if:

You need life insurance for as long as you live. A permanent policy pays a death benefit whether you die tomorrow or live to be 100.

You want to accumulate a savings element that will grow on a tax-deferred basis and could be a source of borrowed funds for a variety of purposes. The savings element can be used to pay premiums to keep the life insurance in force if you can’t pay them otherwise, or it can be used for any other purpose you choose. You can borrow these funds even if your credit is shaky. The death benefit is collateral for the loan, and if you die before it’s repaid, the insurance company collects what is due the company before determining what’s goes to your beneficiary.

Keep in mind that premiums for permanent policies are generally higher than for term insurance. However, the premium in a permanent policy remains the same no matter how old you are, while term can go up substantially every time you renew it.

There are a number of different types of permanent insurance policies, such as whole (ordinary) life, universal life, variable life, and variable/universal life.

Information courtesy of the Insurance Information Institute - www.iii.org

Basic Types of Life Insurance

Last week we reviewed the why life insurance is important to you and your family. Continuing with our series on life insurance, this week we are looking at the two main types of life insurance.

What are the principal types of life insurance?

There are two major types of life insurance—term and whole life. Whole life is sometimes called permanent life insurance, and it encompasses several subcategories, including traditional whole life, universal life, variable life and variable universal life. In 2003, about 6.4 million individual life insurance policies bought were term and about 7.1 million were whole life.Life insurance products for groups are different from life insurance sold to individuals. The information below focuses on life insurance sold to individuals.

Term

Term Insurance is the simplest form of life insurance. It pays only if death occurs during the term of the policy, which is usually from one to 30 years. Most term policies have no other benefit provisions.There are two basic types of term life insurance policies—level term and decreasing term.

• Level term means that the death benefit stays the same throughout the duration of the policy.


• Decreasing term means that the death benefit drops, usually in one-year increments, over the course of the policy’s term.

In 2003, virtually all (97 percent) of the term life insurance bought was level term.

Whole Life/Permanent

Whole life or permanent insurance pays a death benefit whenever you die—even if you live to 100! There are three major types of whole life or permanent life insurance—traditional whole life, universal life, and variable universal life, and there are variations within each type.

In the case of traditional whole life, both the death benefit and the premium are designed to stay the same (level) throughout the life of the policy. The cost per $1,000 of benefit increases as the insured person ages, and it obviously gets very high when the insured lives to 80 and beyond. The insurance company could charge a premium that increases each year, but that would make it very hard for most people to afford life insurance at advanced ages. So the company keeps the premium level by charging a premium that, in the early years, is higher than what’s needed to pay claims, investing that money, and then using it to supplement the level premium to help pay the cost of life insurance for older people.

By law, when these “overpayments” reach a certain amount, they must be available to the policyholder as a cash value if he or she decides not to continue with the original plan. The cash value is an alternative, not an additional, benefit under the policy.

In the 1970s and 1980s, life insurance companies introduced two variations on the traditional whole life product—universal life insurance and variable universal life insurance.

Information courtesy of the Insurance Information Institute - www.iii.org

Why Life?

During the month of February we will focus our posts on Life Insurance and what it means to you the consumer.

Do you currently have a life insurance policy in place? Whether you do or not, keep reading and find out some of the benefits of life insurance.

Why should I buy life insurance?
Many financial experts consider life insurance to be the cornerstone of sound financial planning. It can be an important tool in the following situations:

1. Replace income for dependents
If people depend on your income, life insurance can replace that income for them if you die. The most commonly recognized case of this is parents with young children. However, it can also apply to couples in which the survivor would be financially stricken by the income lost through the death of a partner, and to dependent adults, such as parents, siblings or adult children who continue to rely on you financially. Insurance to replace your income can be especially useful if the government- or employer-sponsored benefits of your surviving spouse or domestic partner will be reduced after your death.
2. Pay final expenses
Life insurance can pay your funeral and burial costs, probate and other estate administration costs, debts and medical expenses not covered by health insurance.
3. Create an inheritance for your heirs
Even if you have no other assets to pass to your heirs, you can create an inheritance by buying a life insurance policy and naming them as beneficiaries.
4. Pay federal “death” taxes and state “death” taxes
Life insurance benefits can pay estate taxes so that your heirs will not have to liquidate other assets or take a smaller inheritance. Changes in the federal “death” tax rules between now and January 1, 2011 will likely lessen the impact of this tax on some people, but some states are offsetting those federal decreases with increases in their state-level “death” taxes.
5. Make significant charitable contributions
By making a charity the beneficiary of your life insurance, you can make a much larger contribution than if you donated the cash equivalent of the policy’s premiums.
6. Create a source of savings
Some types of life insurance create a cash value that, if not paid out as a death benefit, can be borrowed or withdrawn on the owner’s request. Since most people make paying their life insurance policy premiums a high priority, buying a cash-value type policy can create a kind of “forced” savings plan. Furthermore, the interest credited is tax deferred (and tax exempt if the money is paid as a death claim).

Information courtesy of the Insurance Information Institute - www.iii.org

If you would like to learn more about life insurance or would like a free, no obligation quote please stop by an SBS office and let us help you.