Commentary
#285 | The Lesson of the Cares Act
To quote the great Yogi Berra, “in theory, there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is.” That’s certainly the case with the Washington Cares Act, a well-intentioned law designed to provide a backstop for the growing…
#284 | Brookfield Buys American National
This article makes a lot of references to financial data about both Brookfield and American National. All of the data comes from public sources, specifically statutory filings and 10-Ks. You can find all of the information at the SEC website…
#278 | Principal Completes its Strategic Review
Yesterday morning, Principal announced the conclusions of the strategic review that had been brought on by activist investor Elliott Investment Management’s increased stake in the company earlier this year and their demands that Principal take a hard look at its…
#275 | Permanent Insurance Goes Direct(ish)
If you were to just read the industry headlines, you’d think that the only revolution happening right now in the life insurance space is the explosion in growth and investment in online insurance marketing firms. That’s why I wrote last…
#274 | The Online Life Insurance Gamble
Last week, the insurance world was rocked by news that Ethos Life had secured an additional $200 million in funding at a whopping $2 billion valuation, placing the firm at roughly half the size of Brighthouse Financial, two-thirds the size…
#268 | Constellation Buys Ohio National
A few days ago, Ohio National announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Constellation Insurance Holdings, a de-novo insurance holding company without even a website that is owned by two Canadian pension plans. The transaction is styled as…
#265 | A Strategic Review at Principal
Last week, Principal announced that it is “initiating a strategic review of its business mix, capital management and capital deployment options” as a result of activist fund Elliott Management taking a 10% stake in the company. Immediately – and understandably…
#263 | 7702 Update – Symetra Moves First
Nearly 2 months after the fact, we finally have our first retail product illustrations that reflect the new 7702-2% (as opposed to the old, 7702-4%) rates. The results are in-line with what I wrote about in previous articles, but I…
#262 | Inflation & Life Insurance
The picture for this post is a meme that has apparently been floating around the Reddit forums that have been instigating the surges in trading and prices of stocks, digital currencies and other commodities. Usually it's accompanied by the caption…
#259 | Section 7702 Q&A
The Section 7702 Christmas Miracle Update It’s been a whirlwind start to the year for the life insurance industry. Since publishing The Section 7702 Christmas Miracle on January 5th, it has amassed an unbelievable 16,000 reads – a testament to…
