Commentary
#409 | Who Killed Columbian?
About 3 weeks ago, the New York Department of Financial Services moved to place Columbian Mutual Life Insurance Company into rehabilitation. Crucially, the petition to rehabilitate Columbian Mutual did not include a moratorium that blocks the ability for policyholders to…
#408 | Reliastar Raises Base Charges
8/27/24 Update - I just received an email from a subscriber about another Reliastar policy with charge increases, this time affecting both the base charges as described below in this policy and the premium load, which jumped from 0% to…
#407 | Beyond Term
If you were to put any random person in our industry up on stage and ask them to start explaining life insurance, they’d probably start by explaining the difference between Term and permanent insurance. Dividing the life insurance world into…
#405 | Lincoln VULone and the End of an Era
In the pre-dawn hours of October 31st, 2018, you would have found me sitting in my chair with my computer in my lap writing an article about Voya formally ceasing to write new life insurance business at the end of…
#404 | Who Killed PHL Variable?
Introduction I have to start this article with an admission. When I first saw the news about PHL Variable Insurance Company (PHLVIC) being put under administration and then rehabilitation by the State of Connecticut, I didn’t think much of it.…
#403 | The Double Edged Sword – Assets
Writing insurance is a double-edged sword. One side of the blade are the risks covered by the insurance policies themselves – the liability structure. The other side of the blade are the assets that support those liabilities. Successfully managing an…
#401 | Assurance IQ and the End of an Era
Prudential’s first quarter earnings release held a simultaneously shocking and yet completely predictable announcement – Assurance IQ is being formally shut down. It’s completely predictable because Prudential had already booked hundreds of millions in operating losses on Assurance IQ, pivoted…
#393 | The Other IUL Market
Back in June of last year, I published #365 | The Other Whole Life Marketabout the stunning rise of Final Expense Whole Life, a non-participating policy sold with small face amounts and big commissions on a simplified underwriting platform to…
#392 | The Crown Jewel
2/13/24 Update - An astute reader shot me a note with a couple of additional comments with considering. First, he pointed out that many of the large independent BDs have insurance legacies. LPL was owned by Crown Life, Cetera was…
#389 | VUL & The Tax Cost Ratio
Full Article Life insurance is often – and often problematically – characterized as being “tax free.” That isn’t strictly true. The cash value itself is taxable upon sale. That’s consistent with other financial instruments. If you own a stock that…
