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Scott Reynolds

“So, Just How Safe is Life Insurance?”

May 26, 2009

With investing being more uncertain today because of banks closing, businesses shutting their doors forever, and despicable investors like Bernie Madoff no wonder one of the most asked questions we get is, “How safe is life insurance?”

Even insurance giant AIG has given the insurance industry a black eye. Insurance is the backbone of our financial system. But don’t take our word for it.

We could go on and on about the merits and safety of life insurance. Instead, click on the articles below for third party comments and praises…

Time Magazine, How Safe is Your Insurance Company?

Financial Advisor Magazine, Insurance As An Investment

The Street.com, What You Need to Know About Your Insurer

CNBC, Investing in Life Insurance

San Francisco Chronicle, How safe is your insurance policy?

The Columbus Dispatch, Insurance safety net backed by companies

Set up an appointment with one of our advisors to find out more how you can keep your money safe! If you already have an advisor tell them to contact us to find out how they can make your money safer than ever before! Call Toll-free 888-987-5665.

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Andrew Family Retreat w/ a Purpose Day #5

April 15, 2009

Tuesday

This morning Adrea and I started off with a discussion about multiplying your talents.  We started off by talking about the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:14-30.

We talked about how important it is not only to multiply your talents but to share them with others as well. Use your talents to talk with other people, help other people, and really utilize those skills and talents that you’ve been given in life to benefit everyone around you.

Then Adrea shared a personal story about when we moved into our old neighborhood she didn’t want anybody to know that she played piano, mainly because she was worried that she would get a church calling that would require her to play the piano and wasn’t confident in her ability to play.

Finally, a friend told our bishop that Adrea played the piano, and of course shortly after she received a calling playing the piano, and of course she absolutely loved every moment of it. She really loved doing it but the other benefit was that many people told her how well she played.

She never would have been given the opportunity to serve others and improve her talents had somebody not spoken up for her. We should always share our talents whenever given the opportunity.

Afterwards we played a game with the family.  Or immediate family plays the game in the car when we go on long trips. Everyone is dealt a few cards, and one person starts with the words “Once Upon a Time” and then incorporates their cards into a story that they make up as they go.

Then on to the next person as everyone continues the story making up their part with their cards. We all had a great time as everyone from a 5 year old to others in their 50′s turned the story into a wild fairy tale!

Doug then shared with us the importance of utilizing the D.O.S., which stands for Dangers, Opportunities, and Strengths.  Any time we are faced with an important decision we should always evaluate what dangers we may encounter, what opportunities we will face, and what strengths we have to help us through.

It’s an important process Doug learned from Dan Sullivan and has implemented it religiously in everything he does.

After lunch everyone split up and went their separate ways. A lot of people went to Lahiana to go shopping or sightseeing. Our family, Scott, Adrea and our kids, went whale watching.

This time of year, the humpback whales are in Maui giving birth and breeding and they’re all over the place. We saw a bunch of whales. We saw them breaching out of the water. We saw them all over.

As we were coming back from whale watching we were lucky enough to encounter a large pod of dolphins that came right next to the boat and were jumping out of the water right next to us. We were literally five feet away from a hundred dolphins.

Our kids really had a great time and it was an experience they will never forget.

Afterwards, we came back for a great dinner and were taught by Justin and Ashley on the importance of family meals from The Intentional Family.

First thing first when it comes to family dinner don’t be too lax but don’t be too rigid. Family dinner is one of the best and important times that you can spend with your children, just sitting back, relaxing, and talking.

But if you make it too lax, then it doesn’t become a ritual, but if it’s too rigid, then the kids will not like it and have a bad experience. Other important lessons we learned were that everyone should help in some form or another like some people should help set the table, some people help cook, always open with a prayer, take care to not introduce conflict into dinners, make sure that when you have dinner it’s a great experience.

Clean up is part of the ritual as well. Other things to consider is who’s planning the meal or the menu, are the meals predictable?  If it’s at a certain time every day, then it becomes predictable and everybody and it becomes a ritual more easily.

Doug then talked about the concepts of the Future-Based Self vs. the Past-Based Self a series of Goal Cultivator lessons also taught by Dan Sullivan.

To finish the night up Dan and Mailee shared some experiences or what we call “I Remember When’s.”  Dan shared experiences regarding his phobia of feet.

The short version goes that one night he was having a dream about his feet and they were cold and he would keep rubbing them but he couldn’t feel them and they felt so cold in his hands and then he woke up realizing that he was hold feet but they were not his they were his brothers whose feet he always hated and thought they were the worst feet of all.

Mailee shared experiences from when she was growing up and how her mother made the wackiest and frankly not very tasty school lunches, they were so bad that nobody ever wanted to trade with them because of their strange lunches.

What a great experience to be able to do this with the whole family in Hawaii sharing all these experiences, learning and being educated from some of the greatest teachers around.

Hang Loose!

Scott and Adrea

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Company Canning Service Project

March 19, 2009

As we sat down as a company between Christmas and New Years at the end of 2008 to set our company goals for 2009, one specific objective we wanted to reach was to give back to the community.

Our first of several service projects for 09 was accomplished last week as we had the opportunity to help some of the local food banks can spaghetti sauce.  We closed up shop for a half a day  (sorry if you got voice mail) and ran down to a local facility here in the Salt Lake City area to get our hands dirty.

missed fortune canning 150x150 Company Canning Service Project

Here is a picture of some of the staff putting lids on the spaghetti sauce.

missed fortune staff 150x150 Company Canning Service Project

Don’t they all look good.  We’ve been thinking about changing our dress code around the office.

missed fortune scott 300x225 Company Canning Service Project

And then there is Scott.

Everything we all hear right now from the media is how bad things are.  It’s amazing how good things can be, especially when we look for ways to give.  And right now, there are a lot of opportunities.  Just look for them.

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Andrew Family Retreat w/ a Purpose Day #4

March 16, 2009

We began our day with Emron & Harmony’s devotional on family communication and cultivating relationships.

We filled out our worksheets on which relationships we would like to make stronger and how we can do that.

Then we moved on to “communication” and each took turns sharing how and when we best communicate and how we least like to communicate (which inevitably caused us all to pipe up about certain “people” or “situations” within the family communication that are less than savory to us….all in good fun of course ).

After we all got a few good laughs in, the discussion got a bit more focused and we all benefited (as usual) from the discussion.

Most of the clan headed to Fleming beach (the favorite beach for boogie boarding) while Doug and Heather went to scope out Honolua Bay for snorkeling conditions.  It looked pretty good aside from the surf break out on the mouth of the bay so we hiked down and gave it a whirl.

Despite the beautiful weather and the seemingly clear water, the water was actually super murky and we saw only a couple turtles and a few fish.

So we headed back to Flemings Beach to meet up with the rest of the family to catch some waves…which were sooooo big and most people were just being tossed around and gulping salt water!  But the weather was beautiful so we sun bathed and chatted a while.

That evening, we went to Roy’s for dinner (our absolute favorite place) and enjoyed a wonderful dinner followed by the absolutely decadent chocolate soufflé that only Roy’s can whip up!!!  We dive into those so fast it gets brutal.

Aaron & Heather discussed the chapter from The Intentional Family: Simple Rituals to Strengthen Family Ties Andrew Family Retreat w/ a Purpose Day #4, titled “Going Out, and Going Away”  in which we led a discussion on the importance of creating family rituals in going out for little treats or dinner on a somewhat regular basis to create traditions or rituals that members of the family all look forward to, and is a time to come together and bond/ strengthen our relationships with each other.

The Andrew family has several established family rituals of “Going Away” or going on a family trip where much time is devoted to spending time with the family, and strengthening family ties.

This book, The Intentional Family: Simple Rituals to Strengthen Family Ties Andrew Family Retreat w/ a Purpose Day #4, is great and continually discusses the importance of creating rituals within the family, which are meant solely to bring the family closer together rather than further apart as is more often the case as children and family are distracted with sports, clubs, friends, obligations, and interests outside the home that do not involve the whole family.

I have enjoyed reading and discussing the book, and value the importance of these rituals, and would recommend this book to anyone!

Mahalo,

Aaron and Heather

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Andrew Family Retreat w/ a Purpose Day #2

March 9, 2009

Day 2

Morning

Aaron and Heather gave a lesson about what kinds of rituals Developing Spirituality and activities we as couples and individuals can implement to grow spiritually. After a short group discussion, we collectively created a list of things that each individual or couple does to cultivate their spiritual health.

Some of these included: daily personal and couple scripture study, reading about the history of the religious leaders of our faith, singing hymns, making an effort to arrive to weekly church meetings early, nightly family prayer, and researching family history.

This meeting was a great brainstorm session where everyone was able to bounce ideas off each other and gain additional insights into how we can all better develop and maintain spirituality. Everyone made a goal to try something new and implement a different spiritual ritual for the coming month.

Daily Activities

It turned out to be a beautiful day with none of the typical Hawaiian climate rainstorms. Following morning meetings a group left to try the snorkeling at Black Rock while others stayed back with some of the kids and played cards. The snorkeling didn’t turn out as well as hoped but they did see a pretty big turtle. Everyone reunited at the Hula Grill for some lunch. This is one of our favorite places to eat in Maui.

Evening Meetings

Scott and Adrea gave a stirring lesson about the rituals associated with “rising and retiring, coming and going.” This lesson discussed how to transform daily routines with spouses and children into positive, meaningful rituals. They also discussed their own personal experience of how to positively approach their own kids in the morning/afternoon and how to always focus on the positive.

Doug then took the stage to lead the discussion about the power of goal setting in relation to their “strategic by-products.” Strategic by-products of a goal are secondary benefits of achieving a set, primary goal. For example, some strategic by-products of the goal to run a marathon would be increased endurance, improved heart health, and weight loss. Each individual was able to take one of their 1 year goals and brainstorm possible strategic by-products that could be realized from the achievement of that goal.

Through this exercise, each participant was able to realize the widespread benefit of achieving the meaningful goals which were recorded during previous sessions.

Enjoy!

Ashley and Justin

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Andrew Family Retreat w/ a Purpose Day #1

March 6, 2009

Andrew Family Empowered Retreat – Maui, Hawaii – 2009

Aloha! My wife, Sharee, along with our family of six children with spouses, started a tradition several years ago of having a family retreat with a specific purpose (or theme) every six months. Sometimes these retreats are just held in Salt Lake City at our home and other times we meet in Park City, Utah, at our cabin or one of our favorite camping sites.

About 10 years ago, the children voted to hold every fourth retreat (the odd years) during February (to coincide with Sharee our wedding anniversary) in Maui, Hawaii.

The children immediately assumed the responsibility to put the date in their calendars two years in advance and arrange to be off work or miss school so they could attend. They are also accountable to save up (or accumulate air miles or points) to get themselves to Maui each retreat.

Everyone also pitched in and bought three fixed-week time shares at Kahana Falls resort (in additional to the one Sharee and I had purchased more than twenty years ago) for the odd years during the last week of February.

We were able to get the time shares on the resale market inexpensively after conducting a discussion on an earlier retreat about how to purchase time shares on the resale market.  Anyway, we are here in Maui right now with all of our children and grandchildren (except Mindy and Brian and their just-born-baby, Chloe) enjoying our fourth bi-annual Maui Andrew Family Retreat with a Purpose at Kahana Falls.

Inasmuch as many of you have wanted to know what we do on such a retreat, we assigned a member of the family to make a blog entry each day during this week-long excursion. The primary purpose for this retreat is, “To learn how to become an intentional family and lift where you stand.”  The secondary purpose is to, “Learn how to transform disappointing situations in life to positive outcomes and cultivate worthy goals and future vision.”

Our theme this year is: “Faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify us for the work we need to do.” In order to help us with these purposes, we selected the following books for reading and study: The Intentional Family: Simple Rituals to Strengthen Family Ties Andrew Family Retreat w/ a Purpose Day #1 by William J. Doherty, and The Majesty of Calmness Andrew Family Retreat w/ a Purpose Day #1 by William George Jordan.

Daily activities include: Snorkeling, zip-lining, biking, hiking, walking/running, body surfing, golfing, activities on the beach, swimming, touring and shopping, sun bathing, racquetball, wally ball (volleyball played in a racquet-ball court), and as always: loving, learning, giving and earning.

Our health goal this year is for everyone to wear Walk-O-Meters (pedometers) and work on increasing our motion to at least 10,000 steps a day, and reducing our calorie intake.

Anyone interested in exercising together gathers together between 6:30 and 7:00 am. Breakfast is eaten by 9:00 am. Then we gather together at 9:00 am for an hour or so for a morning devotional. After family prayer, we spend about 20 minutes discussing one of the core assets in the human quadrant (the northwest quadrant under quadrant living as explained in all of the Missed Fortune books).

Then I (Doug) take about 20 minutes and teach a principle or concept. This year I am taking my family through the 7-Step Process that I call the “Negative Experience Transformer”-how to turn disappointing situations we experience in life into positive outcomes-in other words-turning sad situations into glad situations. Because we have five grandchildren attending this year (ages 9, 8, 5, 18 months, and 12 months), we also spend about 20 minutes doing a children’s game during the family devotional.

We play all day long-usually coordinated together-and then meet at 5:30 for dinner. This year each couple was assigned a dinner to prepare and we decided this year to only eat out one evening.

One of the traditions we started 8 years ago is for each family member to bring three “I Remember When” memories on a jump drive and share them verbally on “their day” at dinnertime. We are compiling these treasured memories (that we always have talked about, but heretofore did not take the time to write down) in our family record of memories. After dinner from 7:00 to 8:00 PM we meet again for an hour for a “family home evening”.  For twenty minutes I teach a segment on family vision and goal cultivation. Then each couple in the family was assigned to teach concepts from a particular chapter in the book, The Intentional Family: Simple Rituals to Strengthen Family Ties Andrew Family Retreat w/ a Purpose Day #1. And we end the meeting with a story for the small children and some dessert.

Sharee and I, and Ashley and her boyfriend, Justin, flew to Maui a day early and had the chance to get some things organized. The remaining family, Mailee and her daughter, Aspen and her friend, Dan; Adrea and Scott and their three children, Avalee, Sadie and Boede; Emron and Harmony and their little boy, Ethan; and Aaron and Heather all arrived last night.

Today was our first “official” full day on Maui. At morning devotional we had some great discussions led by Justin and Ashley about maintaining good health. I took about 30 minutes and talked about the importance of having an attitude of gratitude even when things may go wrong at times. We all took a few minutes and wrote down five positive accomplishments in different areas of our lives that have occurred during the last two years since we last met in Maui. We then orally reported on these positive accomplishments and what we intended to do further with these goals. We then played a great game with the kids and got ready to play for the day. Some went body surfing on Fleming Beach with some unusually large swells, while the rest stayed and relaxed at the pool, exercised and did some turtle and whale watching.

For dinner, Scott and Adrea barbequed some wonderful filet mignon, chicken and fish for and prepared some tasty veggies. After dinner from 7:00 to 8:00 PM we met again and talked about how to become an intentional family by cultivating family rituals and traditions. Mailee and Dan conducted a great discussion on how single parents can create intentional family rituals amid the challenges that face a divorced or widowed parent. We also talked about why goals are more than just a destination and everyone took a few minutes to write down five of their goals for the next two years and then shared them verbally with everyone. It was very enlightening and inspiring to hear what everyone was going to work on during the next year. Mailee and Dan ended the evening with a “story round” involving the children where one person starts a story, builds it to a point and then passes it to the next person. Each person puts their own twist on the story however they wish. With seventeen of us, the story took some pretty wild turns. Day one ended at about 10:00 pm and we were all pretty tuckered out-I think everyone was still on Utah time, so it seemed like 1:00 am. It’s pretty tough trying to doze off with the ocean breeze blowing through the condo and palm trees rustling outside the window, but we managed to lull ourselves to sleep within minutes.

From our Family to yours,

Doug and Sharee

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My REMEMBER WHEN, a taste of our call Thursday!

December 5, 2008

Thursday we will be sharing a very special presentation with you about something we do regularly as a family.

I was lucky enough to marry into the Andrew family and be a part of “Family Retreats with a Purpose.” And next week we will give you a taste of that so you can duplicate it with your family as you gather together this Christmas Season! One of our favorite parts is sharing our “I Remember When” experiences. Before each trip we all have the responsibility to write down three things we remember most within the family. Here is a sample of one I wrote down a few years ago as we gathered in Hawaii, even now I laugh as I read it. Please enjoy and I encourage you all to do something similar in just a few short weeks! Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/454828174

I remember when I first experienced the Andrew Family Christmas tree extravaganza. Most families that I know dig out a few boxes from the basement and take the sheet off of the Christmas Tree. Not the Andrew family! Putting the tree in its place is a full 42-step process.

By the time most families are done decorating the tree, putting up a garland and hanging up a few wall decorations the Andrew family would still be debating the best angle to get the oversized tree out of the coat closet, a closet which normally would be a prime piece of property in most homes. But since the tree is to fragile to even sneeze around it must only be moved a short distance, thus making a prime closet’s life reduced to only being opened twice a year. After the tree’s angle has been agreed upon, by way of default, six to eight people gather round as if to perform surgery. One person crawls under the tree like a car service repairman.  Two others grab the tree in various grips and locations, making sure that they grab a spot that will not fall apart on them as the tree is relocated. Yet another person is assigned the task, or better yet promoted to “Chief Cloth Scooter.” His objective is to make sure that the over weight tree doesn’t scoot off of the cloth that it has been stored on, preventing any scratches on the wood floor. The other one to three people are in charge of catching the miscellaneous animals, heads and other body parts that fling off the tree as it is literally ripped from the closet. The last person in this laborious tree removal is not just any generic person. This person has to be MaMa Andew! It is essential that MaMa Andrew be involved because no one can shout out phrases of paranoia like her. These phrases consist of “watch out,” “you’re gonna break…,” “slow down,” “my tree!” And she does this all while hopping around and flapping her arms. Once the tree finally pops out it is then quickly hefted over to the only spot it has ever known. At this spot it is then leveled with the right books so that its lopsidedness doesn’t make it tip over. Then “Voila” you’re done with the tree which is 5% of the whole Andrew Family Christmas experience.

Merry Remembering!!!

Scott Reynolds

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