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was the only woman in my office and in my district with my broker-dealer. And my male colleagues felt that I wasn’t going to be successful. They were very transactionally based, while I would spend time learning about my clients and their families. My colleagues told me, ‘You’re never going to be successful if you continue to do that. You need to get in there and sell.’

“I felt very out of place — I felt like this, maybe, was not for me. My husband said to me, ‘You are not the only woman in the industry that’s doing this. There are other women you probably should consider talking to and getting their perspective.’

“I Googled ‘women in insurance and finance,’ and up came WIFS. There is a chapter here in Anchorage. I reached out to them and said, ‘I’m a career changer. I’m a little old. I don’t know what the age base is for this chapter, but can I talk to you guys about it?’ And they said, ‘Yes. Why don’t you come to our luncheon?’ I went to the luncheon, and I met the woman who was basically the matriarch of Women in Insurance and Financial Services, Noni Baldwin. She was one of the people who started WIFS decades ago. She asked me what brought me to WIFS, and I said, ‘I needed a little estrogen — I’m the only woman in my office.’

“I credit that group of women and WIFS for keeping me in the business, because I really was disappointed at that time. They helped me understand what our business is all about. I knew it from a client perspective, but I never really understood it from an advisor perspective. I credit them with helping me become successful. So, when I was approached by WIFS to join their national board, I felt that it was my way of giving back to an organization that helped me not only to stay in the industry, but to become successful. And then in 2017, I was elected the national president for Women in Insurance and Financial Services.”

That was followed up in 2022 with Ribuffo being named WIFS Woman of the Year.

“It means a lot to me that I am being recognized by my peers,” said Ribuffo. “There were seven other nominees for Women of the Year, all amazing women with an amazing background and contributions, not only to WIFS, but to the industry. And for my peers to elect me as Woman of the Year is probably — besides being the national president for WIFS — one of the greatest honors that could ever be bestowed upon me.”

Ribuffo has been an active mentor for other women in the industry for the past decade, through WIFS.

“I realized that part of my passion was not only about women clients, but it’s also about women advisors in the industry and holistic approach.

“The onboarding process becomes a challenge because the training is geared to being transactional. I have some mentees who say to me, ‘Angie, I hate it. The fact that I’m in sales.’

“I have to reframe for them. I say to them, ‘Everybody sells. Doctors sell health; teachers sell education. What you are doing is looking at what need someone has and then filling that need. You are not the used car guy. Take that picture out of your head, and let’s look at it from a different perspective.’

“The fact that the work is primarily commission based is a challenge because a lot of times the women are the primary breadwinners, and that’s difficult. Maybe we need to rethink and retool that.” the fact that we need more of them,” she said. “We have a revolving door of women who don’t stay in the industry, and I wanted to understand why they didn’t stay. Come to find out that a lot of them were having issues similar to mine.

There are some female clients who would prefer to work with a female advisor, Ribuffo explained. “So, with more women in the industry, we’re reaching a larger consumer base.

“I currently facilitate that program,” she added, explaining that the mentoring sessions are five months long, though many stay in touch beyond that time. WIFS runs two mentoring sessions per year, with each session usually including about 20 pairs of mentors and mentees.

“If you look statistically at the number of women in the industry, that number hasn’t really changed over the decades,” Ribuffo explained. “A lot of it has to do with the fact that the industry is still controlled by men, typically white men. They don’t understand that there’s a different thought process for women in this industry. Women — and I’m being general when I say this — are relationship driven; we’re not transactionally driven. We understand that there are products and services that we need to provide to our clients, but we’re more interested in a

“When I talk to industry leaders, they often talk to me about recruiting. I say to them, ‘Look, if you kept all the number of women that you recruit each year, we would’ve moved the needle years ago. But the fact that we haven’t tells you that it is not a recruiting issue. It’s a retention issue,” Ribuffo said.

“Of course, in light of diversity, equity and inclusion, we’re looking at it from a much broader spectrum. It’s not just gender now; it is ethnicity. We need more women of color, more people of color. We’re adding the next layer, and, ultimately, having a more diverse industry will help the consumer. Because at the end of the day, that’s what we’re there for,” she said. “We’re there to help the consumer.”

John Forcucci is InsuranceNewsNet editorin-chief. He has had a long career in daily and weekly journalism. Contact him at john.forcucci@ innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnF.

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Life combo products provide more options as LTCi market slows

As the market for long-term care insurance slows, the need for life insurance combination products appears to be increasing, giving agents an opportunity to provide their clients with the LTC coverage they need, according to Alison Salka, senior vice president and head of LIMRA Research.

According to LIMRA research, 1 in 4 consumers are extremely or very likely to consider a life combination product when shopping for life insurance.

In contrast to stand-alone LTCi products, life combination products appear to be on the increase.

According to LIMRA’s 2021 U.S. Individual Life Combination Products Annual Review, total new premium for individual life combination products increased 22% to $4.3 billion, compared with prior-year results, and down slightly from the $4.8 billion in premium generated in 2019.

Combination products represented 20% of total life insurance premium in 2021. And LIMRA research showed that there were nearly 559,000 policies sold in 2021, up 37%, compared with 2020 results.