Commentary

#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…

close up shot of a crown

#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…

gold coins on top of documents

#387 | Threading the Needle on 7702

This post was authored by Steve Cox at Life Innovators. In #357, “The Multi-Verse of 7702 Rates” (April 2023), we walked through the complicated steps required to sort out projected 7702 rates over the next couple of years. In the…

red thread in a needle

#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…

person smashing pick axe on ground

# 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 turbulence seems to have left life insurers largely unphased. Life insurance looks very much like a safe harbor in a…

round mirror

#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 for American National. First, reinsuring the entire fixed and indexed annuity block to an affiliated offshore reinsurer. Second, stripping out…

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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 to “natural” risk – mortality, morbidity, longevity and disability, among others. These sorts of reinsurance transactions are typically structured so…

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#363 | The Long Reach of Guaranteed UL

Full Article There are a few fantastic scenes in The Lord of the Rings movies that, even after reading the books several times, I think capture the moment in film even better than Tolkein does in writing. Near the top…

#362 | Accordia and the End of an Era

Full Article Yesterday, Global Atlantic announced that “after carefully evaluating our greatest opportunities to provide the most compelling products and value…we have made the strategic decision to sharpen our focus…as a result, effective July 1, 2023, Global Atlantic will be…

game over
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