I always used the Kier study guides and never even opened the AICPCU books. Passed all of the tests on the first shot. But that was way back when there were 10 courses required to get the designation. I have taught classes to our CPCU students from the newer AICPCU books and found them to be very ea...

A good resource I have found on RRG's is the Risk Retention Reporter and Risk Retention Group Directory. Both are available by contacting Karen Cutts at at (626) 796-4972. She has done a wonderful job of answer any questions I have come up with for her as well.

Depending on the named insured on the policy (single proprietor v partnership/llc) any auto may also cover his personal vehicles as well as those meant to be included on the policy. If you use symbol "1" to cover a plumber's commercial vans, you may also be covering his antique corvette as...

I took the old 10 course route and never read the books. I just bought the keir guides and made outlines of the educational objectives they had in them. Then I took the sample test in the workbooks to make sure I could answer them. Passed all my tests on the first shot.

I have both designations, but I think I learned more useable info in the CIC. I did learn a lot in the personal lines course because my busines focus is commercial exclusively. The personal lines course was good for my OWN protection. I had a list of about 10 items I needed to address with my agent ...

My ethics depend on whether or not the woman is my ex-wife....it does sound like her....

Y'all are lucky. Back in the day when I took my CPCU exams, there were 10 of them, and there were only two testing periods each year, in January and in June. I refused to test in the summer when I could be playing golf & softball, so I basically took only 1 test each year. It took me nine years ...

My daughter was in college and was a server at Applebees. Because she was a hard worker, was conscientious and personable she was noticed by the HR representative of a large agency. After talking to my daughter about her major and plans after school the HR set up a formal interview and the required ...

Both took me a while. I started my CPCU designation back in 1990, when there was 10 classes and only 2 testing periods each year. I refused to take a test in June, so only completed one each year for 7 years. Then they started additional testing periods. I got my designation in 1999. Now there are f...

I have both CPCU and CIC designations and each has its strengths. I agree with Volstrike in that CIC is better tailored to agency needs. I also liked the CIC because I was able to get other agents' perspectives on issues in the classroom setting. The break-time networking is nice too. CPCU offers a ...

The Risk Retention Reporter also produces a RRG directory that has basic information & financial data for RRG's. It is available at http://www.rrr.com . It does not have ratings, but at least you can see what other options are available as it does summarize RRG's by risk group. I buy it because ...

I was really hoping to get some feedback on this. How do the rest of you feel about insurer ratings? Are they of any value? Do your insureds pay any attention to them?

Telemarketing is now a risky proposition on the personal lines side, as violation of the "do not call" list carries some hefty fines. The only people not signed up for the list are those too unaware or incompetent to do it. Not my preferred customer.

Do insurer ratings really matter? I just saw a study by AM Best that shows that less that 1% of all insurance companies go belly up in a given year. That means 99% of companies fulfill all policyholder obligations, regardless of their rating. An insured really only cares that the insurer will be aro...

I know the CPCU designation is not particularly popular among the producer set, but one of the biggest strengths of CPCU is the ethics component of its program. I know of no other insurance training or organization that stresses professional ethics as much as CPCU does. To find out more, visit http:...