50 year celebration cake I thought I would work there for a few months and then return to grad school. I would tell my friends the insurance business was on six months' probation. (Photo: Shutterstock)

As you read this column, I will have been in the insurance business for 50 years. I interviewed for a job at an insurance company on the day Richard Nixon was elected for his first term. I was subsequently hired by Unity Mutual Life in Syracuse as an actuarial trainee. I thought I would work there for a few months and then return to grad school. I would tell my friends the insurance business was on six months' probation. Fifty years later, the probation has not ended.

I have learned many valuable lessons over those 50 years. This month I will share a handful of them.

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