News & Editorials
#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 few current comments on the topic covered. Articles are listed chronologically. If a bunch of articles were on the same…
Survey Responses & TLPR Update
Thanks to those of you who generously took the time to fill out the survey that I sent out earlier this week. The responses have been incredibly insightful. If you haven’t filled it out, please do (click here). Here’s what…
#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 message the role of an insurance agent. The group was naturally drawn to the concept of the life insurance agent…
#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 category, Lincoln VULone and Prudential VUL Protector, I wrote the following about Prudential’s product – “sell the daylights out of…
#239 | Filed: PacLife PDX Class Action Lawsuit
I’ve uploaded the lawsuit and you can read it by clicking here. While working at MetLife, I was struck by how often the notion of “ending up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal” was invoked as a…
#234 | PacLife Reduces Caps, Again
PacLife announced this morning that they are reducing caps to 8.5% in September from 9.0% currently and 9.25% at the beginning of the year. My first instinct was to write a commentary on the rate action, but I kept having…
#225 | Making Sense of MassMutual’s Whole Life Price Increase
A couple of weeks ago, MassMutual announced that it would be increasing premiums on its Legacy 10 and Legacy 12 Pay products by about 10%, on average. The announcement went on to say that: Guaranteed cash values will not change…
#217 | Nothing is Real and Everything is Possible
This July will mark my 13th year in the life insurance industry and, although it’s not the nice, round number that usually gets people thinking about the passage of time, for whatever reason I’ve found myself stopping to think about…
#216 | The Lesson of Theranos and Madoff
Over the past couple of months, I’ve knocked out 4 books that were equal parts fascinating and disturbing. They are windows into the capacity for humans to deceive and, even more importantly, the capacity for humans to believe – even…
#215 | The Fable of the Frog
What’s the best way to boil a frog? According to the fable, a frog tossed into scalding water will immediately leap out of the pan. But a frog placed into comfortably warm water that is gradually heated will eventually be…
