A local couple’s recent decision to part with the insurance side of their business doesn’t mean they won’t be showing up for work any time soon.
Fred and Karen Pollert’s decision to sell Pollerts’ Inc. to Friendship Financial Services, however, is one that makes sense as the couple near retirement, Fred Pollert said.
Friendship Financial took over the insurance part of Pollerts’ Inc. on Jan. 1.
Pollerts’ Inc. started in 1958 when Fred Pollert’s father, Milton Pollert, opened Milt Pollert Real Estate. At that time, the business was located at 317 N. Walnut St. in Seymour. In 1966, Milton moved the business to 404 N. Chestnut St.
In 1980, Fred Pollert joined his father, and the two went out and earned their insurance licenses during the fall of that year and early winter of the next year. In January 1982, the two added a full line of insurance products.
In 1999, Milton Pollert died.
Fred Pollert said Friendship Financial officials first contacted him about selling the insurance part of the business in September 2015.
At that time, he said he wasn’t interested in selling because he thought he had at least three years until he was 65 and would even begin thinking about retirement.
A decision by a key employee to leave, the decision of a potential employee to not come to work for Pollerts’ Inc. and the loss of a key piece of business led him to rethink his decision, Fred Pollert said.
“I thought maybe God is trying to tell me something,” he said.
Karen Pollert said Friendship Financial is a very good fit for Pollerts’ Inc. because it already has agencies in Dillsboro, Milan, Lawrenceburg and Versailles.
She said she believes Friendship Financial just wanted to branch out into the Seymour area, and that’s the main reason why the company purchased the insurance side of Pollerts’ Inc.
The Pollerts still own the real estate and auction parts of Pollerts’ Inc., but Friendship Financial wanted the office at Fourth and Chestnut streets, the employees and the personal property for the insurance business, Karen Pollert said.
“They wanted everything to stay the same,” she said. “We’re not going anywhere.”
Fred Pollert agreed.
“We are employees now of Friendship Insurance,” he said.
The name will be Pollerts’ Insurance for at least one year. At that point, Friendship Financial may change the name or negotiate with the Pollerts to keep it for another year, Fred Pollert said.
Karen Pollert said the lack of a family member willing to take over the business also played a role in the decision to sell.
“The next generation — our son — is not going to step in and take our place,” she said. “He’s a golf pro, and he loves his life. So we were going to sell sooner or later.”
Friendship State Bank was founded in 1912 in Friendship, and the bank acquired Friendship Insurance Agency in 2000. The bank now has insurance offices in banking centers in Dillsboro, Rising Sun, Versailles, Vevay, Batesville and Lawrenceburg. Friendship State Bank also is planning to open an office in Madison.