Update News for January 2024
Here is a quick run-down on what you will find in this bulletin:
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Zip Code Renewals Must Be Paid By
January 5, 2024 -
Zip Codes Available At 12 Noon EST
January 8, 2024 -
Do Some Preparation In Advance
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Happy New Year
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Data Entry Changes NOW Completed
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One More Programming Detour
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Our Current Programming Plans for 2024
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These topics will be dealt with in more detail throughout this bulletin.
January 5, 2024
IMPORTANT: If your payment has not been received by the end of business on January 5, 2024, the additional listings that you have will LAPSE and be made available to other subscribers at noon on January 8, 2024.
If you believe that you did not get sufficient email contacts (as per the warranty) and that we will need to make a warranty adjustment to your invoice, please contact us ASAP. We’ll review your results.
Every year I end up having to call a small group of those who have NOT made their payments, and who have given us NO indication, one way or the other, if they want to renew. The calls are time consuming and I regret it when I have to make them.
LAST WARNING: Once we release the zip codes back from your account, ANYONE can buy your zip code. If that happens, you can only purchase the zip code back if it becomes AVAILABLE.
January 8, 2024
As it is every year, the second Monday in January, at 12 noon EST, is the best and busiest zip code purchasing time of the year. The zip codes of those who did not renew their previous listings will become available on a first come, first served basis.
To keep this equal for all, we have a HARD starting date and time to ensure fairness. Every year someone complains because someone else beat them to a zip code that they wanted.
IMPORTANT: Do NOT call or email zip code purchase instructions before 12pm EST on January 8th. If you do, your email will be ignored and we may not have time to respond. If you call early to buy zip codes, and get through, you will be told to call later. Because the phone lines will likely be busy that day it is BEST to do your homework in advance and email your instructions for new purchases or changes as soon after 12 noon as possible. If you have questions then call or email us the week before.
NOTE: You have two basic options for acquiring new zip codes. You can either pay for and ADD zip codes to your current list, or you can trade/exchange zip codes that you already have for zip codes that you think are better. There are limits to the number you can obtain, and you can call to discuss that if you need to.
Available zip codes (ANY zip code with less than 3 agents listed) will be available on a first come, first serve basis. The new list will be published on January 8th early that morning. You can review available zip codes here at that time:
If you are switching zip codes for better zip codes we will need specific instructions. Tell us what zip code that you want to add and which zip code that you are giving up in exchange for it. If you don’t know what zip codes you have email us at service@compulife.com and ask for a list of those zip codes ASAP.
IMPORTANT TIP: You can use the column titles to sort the list of zip codes.
Typically, when I am assisting subscribers in finding great zip codes, I will sort by the 4th column: “Zip Code Income (Millions)”. The number in that column is a result of multiplying column 5 times column 6 (Number of Households times Income Per Household). You will need to click that column heading twice. The first time you click it sorts from smallest number to the largest. The second time you click it sorts from largest to the smallest.
TIP: In densely populated, urban areas, increase the “Number of Listed Zip Codes” from the default number of 100. This will enlarge the area of the state that you are looking at.
Once you have the list that you want, print that list. I would then highlight the zip codes that you would really like to get. Once again, make sure that list is done in advance of the 8th.
On the morning of the 8th you will want to replicate the list again, doing the same search and sort. Check your old list with the new list to see if zip codes that previously had 3 subscribers listed now have 2 or less. If that happens, and it’s one of the zip codes that you want, fire off your email at 12pm to:
Make sure that we have your name and phone number in the email. Once we get to you in time order, we will call you and ask for your credit card information.
IMPORTANT: Compulife keeps no credit card records for subscribers. If we don’t have your credit card number, they can’t be stolen from us. Every purchase by credit card, requires the credit card again.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a healthy and prosperous New Year. Our focus in 2024 will be on helping you with the prosperous part. If we can help you make money, then we think that remains our best strategy for job security here at Compulife. 2024 will be our 42nd year in business, so we must be doing something right.
NOTE: June 2024 will be our 500th monthly update since starting the company in Canada in October 1982. In those days we shipped boxes of 5 1/4″ diskettes. Things have changed a bit since then.
HAPPY 2024!
The biggest data entry job with that new software are the renewal rate tables for term products. At one time all the renewal tables were attached directly the initial premium data files. Given that MANY products SHARE the same renewal tables, we decided to break those out into a separate data file that can be shared with multiple term variants (10, 20, 30 year, etc.). There are two benefits do doing this. First, to remove duplication, they are now shared by the different term plans that use them. Second, we only look up renewals when you DRILL into a specific product to either display the renewals in a single product window, or when you file the products into Pick 12.
By getting the renewals out of the main initial rate files, those file became MUCH smaller, and that means that comparisons are MUCH faster. In truth that is NOT that important anymore because most people have REALLY fast computers and REALLY big internal memory, and so you don’t really see that big a change in performance. But those life insurance companies who use our Batch Analyzer option, where they products LITERALLY thousand of quotes per minute, certainly benefit from that performance enhancement.
And the recent changes we have made, to manage those renewal files, have sped up the data entry work that we do. As files get larger, they take longer to enter and maintain. It’s the difference in time to save a 50K spreadsheet versus a 10 megabyte spreadsheet.
The changes to our data entry have come just in time for the Canadian market, which continues to move to YRT renewals AFTER the initial level period.
Our American subscribers will wonder why we are talking about this, because they have had YRT renewals for decades. Traditionally Canadian companies had 10 year level renewal premiums if the product has a 10 year initial level premium. The move to YRT renewals has been a slow evolution in Canada that was initially met with a lot of agent/broker resistance over the years. Companies like Reliable Life (which was the Old Republic in the US) offered American style product in Canada but agents hated the YRT renewals. Even though the U.S. products were much less expensive (initially), agents would sell against them. Following Reliable you had both Primerica and CNA offer YRT renewals as they did in the U.S. Again, those products were met with resistance by agents/brokers who sold AGAINST them.
However, in more recent times, Canadian companies like Canada Life and RBC have been moving to YRT renewals. We now have another Canadian company about to do the same in February. I predict the dam is now breaking, and this will happen more and more as we move forward. Companies that use YRT renewals can price initial premiums lower and more competitively because they have to build in less anti-selection at renewal time.
The challenge with these product in Canada, versus those in the U.S., is that Canadian companies have gone wild with multiple tables of renewals rates. These make the U.S. company renewal tables look tiny because they are tiny by comparison. For example, in the U.S., where we have 5 times the number of companies, our renewal file is ONLY 1/4 of a megabyte in size. In Canada, where the minority of companies have YRT renewals, our renewal file will be OVER 4 megabytes in February. That is 16 times the size of the U.S. even though we are dealing with 20% of the number of companies, and most Canadian products do not yet have YRT renewals. I would sum this up as Canadian actuaries have too much time on their hands.
Fortunately our work on the data entry program came into play at EXACTLY the right moment. Entering the new YRT rates is now MUCH easier and MUCH FASTER with the improvements that we have made. And as I said before, this work was work we were going to have to do anyway once we came to the new data format conversion for the initial rate tables, which is the work that will follow the introduction of the new CQS.EXE.
It is tempting to keep using the old compiler with GOWIN.EXE, because GOWIN.EXE will eventually be replaced by the new CQS.EXE. Even so, we have decided that it is better to let our programmer use the new compiler for all his work, external and internal. Therefore, we will get this done before returning to CQS.EXE.
Sorry for the delay, but while you can’t see it, we are making some VERY serious progress in our development.
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- Introduction of New PC Version: CQS.EXE
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- Overhaul Of Current Product Data Files
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- Introduction of Compulife Mobile* Plus (with Pick 12)
Anyone with questions about any of these upcoming projects can call Bob Barney to discuss:
Please don’t email me essay questions, just call. If I’m not in, email me your phone number, I’ll call you.
These planned objectives will easily consume our programming time during the balance of this year and throughout 2024. The good news is that once the product data files have been converted, and we have introduced the new CQS.EXE, and upgraded our internet engine to use the new data files, Compulife will be turning it’s full attention to our web based, Compulife Mobile software. The long term goal is to have a web based product that does everything our PC based software does.
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