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#384 | Global Atlantic Axes In-Force Rates

Ask anyone who is fundamentally skeptical about Indexed UL why they feel that way and, invariably, they’ll bring up the issue of non-guaranteed elements. It’s a valid point. Indexed UL product performance ultimately hinges on non-guaranteed elements. But that’s also true of virtually every permanent life insurance product, even Whole…

Product Analytics

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#382 | Protective Gets the Golden PLR

Full Article The running joke on fee-based life insurance and annuity products is that they’ve been the “next big thing”…

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#379 | Whole Life as a Fixed Income Alternative – Part 2

Full Article If we go back through the 5 key tradeoffs and decision points in fixed income investing, Whole Life…

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#375 | Engineered Indices & FIA

Quick Take The worlds of Indexed UL and Fixed Indexed Annuities are increasingly converging and with profound potential implications for…

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#374 | The Missed UL Opportunity

Full Article If there is one overarching trend that has dominated the life insurance and annuity landscape since interest rates…

Product Reviews

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#369 | Brighthouse SmartGuard Plus

Quick Take There is no doubt that Brighthouse SmartGuard Plus is one of the most innovative new products to hit…

#368 | Nationwide Flexes Its Muscles in the Hybrid Life/LTC Market. Again.

This article was written by Steve Cox, Head of Life and Hybrid Products at Life Innovators. Special thanks to Ramona…

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#356 | Northwestern Mutual Enters the 10 Pay Fray

Quick Take At first blush, Northwestern Mutual isn’t a natural fit for the highly competitive and quickly growing 10 Pay…

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#343 | The Original IVUL – Equitable MSO II

Quick Take Equitable was first-to-market with Buffered crediting strategies in VUL with its 2010 release of the Market Stabilizer Option…

News and Editorials

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#345 | 2022 in Review

With 2022 in the rearview mirror, I thought I’d go back through the full list of articles and give a…

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Survey Responses & TLPR Update

Thanks to those of you who generously took the time to fill out the survey that I sent out earlier…

#246 | The Architect Fallacy

Years ago, I was invited as a guest to a meeting of a distributor’s top agents to decide how to…

#242 | Prudential Files a VUL Protector Reprice

At the end of a recent 4-part article series on the two products with a duopoly on the Guaranteed VUL…

Industry Commentary

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#384 | Global Atlantic Axes In-Force Rates

Ask anyone who is fundamentally skeptical about Indexed UL why they feel that way and, invariably, they’ll bring up the…

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# 383 | Mid-Year Insurer Financials Observations

To say that 2023 has been a turbulent year in the financial markets would be an understatement – but that…

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#381 | End Game: Brookfield and American National

Quick Take In quick succession, Brookfield has executed four key elements of what appears to be the end game strategy…

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#364 | Reinsurance and the Remaking of Life Insurance

Full Article At the core of reinsurance is the simple concept of risk transfer. Traditionally, reinsurance risk transfer has pertained…

Episode 21
December 14, 2020

Episode 21

Interview with Mike Pepe and Kris Beck of Proformex about the…

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Episode 20
September 21, 2020

Episode 20

Interview with Jon Mendelsohn, CEO and Founder of Ashar Group,…

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Episode 19
September 7, 2020

Episode 19

Interview with Jim Benson, former CEO of John Hancock, CEO…

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Episode 18
August 24, 2020

Episode 18

Interview with Dick Weber of Ethical Edge Consulting on what…

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