TBA's Life Linked
Business & Finance
About
Life Linked is an advisor-focused podcast built for professionals who want to grow their life insurance and planning strategies with clarity and confidence. Each episode delivers practical concepts, real advisor stories, and expert insight from advanced markets specialists and carrier leaders without the fluff or sales pitch.We cover what advisors actually need: term and permanent life insurance strategies, underwriting and case design, marketing and client acquisition, estate equalization, succession planning, annuities, and hybrid long-term care solutions. Whether you're refining your process, navigating a changing market, or looking for better ways to serve clients, Life Linked is designed to give you takeaways you can use immediately.If you work with families, business owners, or high-net-worth clients, and want to turn planning conversations into lasting relationships, this show is for you.For more information on TBA: https://www.tba.com/
Episodes
- The Advisor Experience: Turning Life Insurance into a Responsibility
Veteran advisor Ed Steffens shares with Chad Preston how a client tragedy reshaped his view of life insurance, making it a professional responsibility. The episode offers practical strategies for advisors to introduce life insurance natura…
- Estate Equalization: A Smarter Way to Guide Business Owner Clients
This episode of TBA's Life Linked features Ron Lee discussing estate equalization for business owners. Advisors will learn how to structure fair outcomes when a business cannot be divided among heirs, preventing potential family conflict a…
- Finding Hidden Growth in Your Book of Business
This episode features Niko Kantouros of Proformex discussing how advisors can leverage their existing client book to find growth opportunities. The conversation covers identifying coverage gaps, cross-selling, and improving client retentio…
- The Evolving Role of Life Insurance in a Shifting Market
Zach Gosselin joins TBA's Life Linked to discuss the evolving role of life insurance. He emphasizes leading conversations with risk and outcomes, identifies common gaps like weak positioning and stalled underwriting, and explains the appro…
- Looking Ahead: Opportunities for Advisors in 2026
John Felton and Zach Gosselin of TBA's Life Linked analyze year-end planning for advisors, identifying 2026 growth opportunities. The episode covers industry trends, life solutions, annuities, employee retention benefits, and TBA's support…
- TBA Awareness Month
In this episode, we sit down with John Felton, President of Tennessee Brokerage Agency, to break down what TBA Awareness Month is all about and why it matters for advisors. John walks through how TBA stands out as a true partner: offering…
- How Advisors Can Win with Annuities in Today's Market
In this episode, we sit down with Kathryn Kinnanne, TBA's in-house annuity specialist, for a practical, straight-forward look at what's happening in the annuity world right now. Kathryn breaks down why fixed annuities are seeing some of th…
- Business Owner Insights: Turning 2025's Key Findings into Advisor Strategies
In this episode, Morgan sits down with Mark Householder - SVP of Business Solutions at Principal Financial Group - to unpack the biggest takeaways from the 2025 Principal Business Owner Insights Study. From business protection and successi…
- Permanent Life Insurance: Beyond the Death Benefit
Permanent life insurance is often misunderstood as just a death benefit, but it's so much more than that. In this episode, TBA Vice President Zach Gosselin breaks down what advisors really need to know to position permanent life insurance…
- Modern Long-Term Care: Protecting Families, Not Just Finances
In this powerful episode, Kevin Riley of One America joins Tennessee Brokerage Agency to tackle one of today's most urgent financial and emotional challenges: the caregiver crisis. Riley reframes the long-term care (LTC) conversation — shi…
- Speed, Simplicity & Trust: How Symetra's Swift Platform is Changing Life Insurance
Life insurance doesn't have to be slow or complicated. In this episode, we sit down with Daneyelle Schneider, Senior Underwriting Manager & Brad Mills, Regional Vice President at Symetra, to talk about the Swift platform and how it's resha…
- Succession Planning Made Simple: Protecting Business Value
Small-business succession planning is often ignored until it's too late. John Fitzpatrick and Mark Berry of John Hancock share real-life stories, key insights from the Connelly case, and practical tools like the BOSS framework to help advi…
- Back to Business: Mid-Year Planning Moves that Drive Revenue
August isn't downtime - it's go time. In this episode, John Felton & Zach Gosselin break down why now is the perfect moment for advisors to reconnect with clients, spot life changes, and spark meaningful conversations that lead to real pla…
- An Advisor's Journey with Vive
In this episode, we sit down with Grant James, a property and casualty advisor, who shares their firsthand experience navigating the life insurance application process through Vive. The conversation dives into the day-to-day efficiencies g…
- Why DI & How to Offer it
In recognition of Disability Insurance Awareness Month, this episode dives into the importance of disability insurance and how advisors can better serve clients by including it in their planning conversations. The discussion covers key tar…
- Better Offers, More Approvals: Insider Tips from our new Underwriting Consultant
In this episode, we're thrilled to introduce Heather Sprague, our new Underwriting Consultant with LIBRA and a true game-changer for your life insurance business. Heather brings years of experience navigating the ins and outs of underwriti…
- Help Clients Plan for Retirement with IUL
We all know that you can't time the market and when a client is entering the distribution phase of their retirement planning, this becomes an increased concern. In this episode, we take a deep dive into how utilizing an IUL allows your cli…
- How RGA Benefits Advisors
Through its partnership with LIBRA Insurance Partners, TBA has access to resources that make securing offers for its advisors and their clients even easier. RGA – a reinsurer – is one of those resources that TBA leans out for specific impa…
- The Sales & Marketing Missteps Advisors Make
As advisors prepare to take on a new year, chances are you are in the middle of planning out your goals and strategies. That's why we brought on Award-Winning Marketing Strategist, Tiffany Markarian, who is also the Managing Director of Ad…
- TBA Awareness Month
Every December, we take the time to bring awareness to all the resources available for advisors at TBA and what advisors should be aware of and focus on as we move into a new year. John Felton hopped on to discuss the following: Refresher…
- Estate Planning: Plan Now, Gift Now, Insure Now
As we embark on the possibility of estate tax regulations changing at the end of 2025, which may or may not happen with the recent election results, we brought in an expert on all things estate planning – Brett Berg from Prudential. He is…
- Business Solutions: Buy Sell Opportunities
We're closing out our Business Solutions Series with Principal's business solutions team - Mark Householder & Tom Bates. After bringing them in to discuss all things Key Person Coverage , we brought them back to discuss all things Buy-Sell…
- LIAM 2024: New Trends in Life Insurance
This September is the 20th Anniversary of Life Insurance Awareness Month! To celebrate, we brought our LIBRA Relationship Director – Michele Leeming – on the podcast to discuss the biggest changes that have happened in life insurance in th…
- The True Cost of Long-Term Care
We've brought the expert on all things long-term care (LTC) back for the third and final episode in our LTC series. Kevin Riley joins us to answer all the questions about the true cost of long-term care: What's the cost of your client's do…
- LTC Access & Control
When talking to your clients about long-term care are you focusing too much on the technical aspects of your client's LTC options, instead of how it serves them? Kevin Riley, Regional Director at OneAmerica, has been helping advisors focus…
- Business Solutions: Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance
Did you know that most Americans are taking advantage of life insurance offered through their employer? There is a new guaranteed life insurance offering for business owners to offer their employees with payroll deductions. Katie Landers,…
- Business Solutions: Key Person Coverage
We're continuing our Business Solutions Series with Principal's business solutions team - Mark Householder & Tom Bates. After bringing them in to discuss all things Guaranteed Issue Term for Groups , we brought them back to discuss all thi…
- Having an Effective Conversation about LTC
The chances are high that at some point your client will need long-term care, but having the conversation about it requires a different approach than a life insurance proposal. Kevin Riley, Regional Director at OneAmerica, has been helping…
- DI Solutions: Medical Professionals
Disability Income is crucial for many professionals, but one industry where it isn't a hard sell because they are educated about it's importance from the beginning is any medical field. We brought in our resident DI expert - Kathryn Kinnan…
- Business Solutions: Guaranteed Issue Term for Groups
When it comes to business solutions - specifically guaranteed issue insurance for groups - the options can feel daunting. That's why we brought in two experts from Principal's business solutions team - Mark Householder & Tom Bates - to tal…
- Underwriting Dilemma: Heart Issues
Our in-house impaired risk specialist sat down to provide insights on what underwriting can look like for clients with heart issues that include: Heart attack history Heart murmurs Pace Makers High Blood Pressure & more In this episode, sh…
- 3 New Trends in Life Insurance
A new year brings new opportunities for life insurance advisors. What trends can you expect this year when it comes to life insurance? Michele Leeming, Relationship Director with LIBRA, discusses what advisors can expect when it comes to t…
- Charitable Giving with Life Insurance
'Tis the season for giving, and that's why we have our vice president, Zach Gosselin, walk us through if your client can provide a charitable gift with life insurance, what the different options are, if there are tax implications, and what…
- What is TBA Awareness Month?
Every December we celebrate TBA Awareness Month! John Felton sits down with Morgan Mynatt to talk about how TBA Awareness Month came to be, what three things advisors are most unaware of about TBA, and what is the #1 thing advisors should…
- Underwriting Dilemma: Diabetes
Over 11%, or more than 37 million Americans, have diabetes, and that number continues to climb. With the increasing number of those affected by this, we brought in our impaired risk specialist Jennifer Stanifer, to discuss all things diabe…
- Long-Term Care 101
Long-term care is likely one of the few topics clients come to their advisors about. With November being LTC Awareness Month, we brought on OneAmerica's Kevin Riley, Regional Account Director, to provide perspective on why this coverage is…
- Estate Planning: Who It's For & How to Offer It
With the potential for the current estate tax cuts to sunset in January 2026, it has created more awareness around the importance of estate planning for many Americans. Zach Gosselin, who works closely with our advisors and our estate plan…
- Funding Retirement with Life Insurance
Many associate life insurance with death benefit, but what many fail to see is all the other possibilities available through life insurance - including helping fund retirement. John Felton discusses the various living benefits available th…
- The Current State of Life Insurance
The Life Insurance industry took a more prevalent role in clients' lives largely due to the pandemic, but is that still the case? Michele Leeming, LIBRA's Relationship Director, discusses the current state of the industry, what products cl…
- Term Conversions 101
Term conversions have been mentioned several times on the podcast, but we thought it was important to touch on some of the most commonly asked questions and misconceptions about providing this service to your clients. This episode covers:…
- Policy Review Refresher
You've heard policy review mentioned many times in our episodes, but John and Zach take this opportunity to focus solely on policy review and: Why it matters How to offer it When it makes sense What policies should be reviewed For access t…
- 3 Ways to Serve the Emotional Needs of Clients
When it comes to effectively engaging clients – it can be a challenge in any industry. However, the pandemic has created a new filter in the life insurance industry of what clients are looking for in their advisor, and that is, "who is rea…
- Business Owner Solutions: 5 Questions You Should Be Asking
We are approached consistently by advisors about what questions they should be asking their business owner clients when it comes to succession planning in order to mitigate risk and provide comprehensive solutions. John and Zach sit down t…
- How to Get Better Impaired Risk Offers
John Felton sits down with Dr. Robert Frank, Medical Director for LIBRA Insurance Partners , to get Dr. Frank's expertise and insight on the following when it comes to impaired risk cases in life insurance: How does Dr. Frank help advisors…
- The Basics of Life Settlements
In this episode, Vice President of Welcome Funds, Dan Ohman and TBA's John Felton discuss the basics of life settlements, the tax implications, the overall process, and the sweet spot policies that make the most sense for pursuing a life s…
- Business Owner Solutions: Buy-Sell vs Key Person
It's a question we hear time and time again: "Do I recommend buy-sell or key person for this business owner client?" In this episode, John Felton and Zach Gosselin break it down: The key differences between key person vs buy-sell What scen…
- Life Insurance Solutions in a Bear Market
Steven Sitton, a leading insurance producer at the biggest independent insurance agency in Tennessee - TIS Insurance Services, sits down to discuss what life insurance solutions make the most sense in the current economic market. Beyond pe…
- 3 Unexpected Life Insurance Target Markets
The 2023 LIMRA/Life Happens Life Insurance Barometer Study has just been released. TBA's Marketing Manager, Morgan Mynatt, highlights the three surprising new target markets for life insurance that are highlighted in the study & most impor…
- Top 4 Market Trends in Life Insurance
What are the top market trends we're seeing in the life insurance space right now? Zach Gosselin and John Felton sit down to highlight the top 4 and why you should be pursuing these planning solutions for your clients. In addition, they sh…
- The Living Benefit Buy-Sell
What if business owners were the owners of their own policies and could fund them to build cash as they thought appropriate? That's what Mutual of Omaha calls the Living Benefit Buy-Sell because it is designed to produce living benefits in…