Although there have been, and always will be, individuals in this business who are short on character and take an elastic approach to ethics, it is far more typical for producers to get themselves and their organizations into trouble simply because they don't know any better. As often as not, market conduct problems are less a matter of deliberate malfeasance than they are the result of inexperience, lack of professional education, or carelessness.

In an editorial entitled, "Be Careful Out There," Life Association News Editor, Ian Mackenzie, observed, "Life insurance companies are taking a beating because of the sales practices of a few firms and some isolated mistakes by a handful of companies ... I believe that most disputes between advisers and clients are misunderstandings, not intentional deceit on the part of either."

Ignorance of the law is no excuse, of course, but it is a shame that, when producers shoot themselves in the foot (inadvertently or otherwise), innocent clients, policyholders, and insurance companies get hit by stray shots — and the rest of the industry has to fight to get its good reputation back.

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