Product Analytics
#465 | Term and Optionality
In #463 | A Tale of Two Term Markets, Kasey Gammons broke down the Term market into two distinct spheres. One of them is based on pure price competitiveness at the expense of features that arguably give Term its greatest…
#463 | A Tale of Two Term Markets
Charles Dickens’ classic novel A Tale of Two Cities begins with the famous refrain: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The contradiction is the point. The way you experience something depends almost entirely on…
#461 | The ECV Angle – Traits and Tradeoffs
One of the core elements of human psychology is that our perceptions are not reality – and yet we act as if they are. Behavioral economics was born out of the insight that people are not rational. We react to…
#456 | VUL Illustration Variance
TLPR UpdateFirst, the bad news. Dan Austin is departing TLPR to re-join OneAmerica, where he previously worked, to take (re-take?) his dream job. I'm excited for him and wish him the best.Now, the great news. Kasey Gammons, formerly the Director…
#455 | The Puzzle of Older Age Pricing
How old is too old to buy life insurance? Most carriers will issue policies until at least age 80, but a handful will issue them all the way up to age 90. John Hancock and MassMutual will even issue Preferred…
#449 | A DIR Proof Point
AI was used to proof-read and cross-reference existing articles. No part of this article was written with the assistance of AI. There is probably no single metric as broadly misunderstood within the industry – and maligned outside of the industry…
#446 | The Express Underwriting Revolution
In the fall of 2013, I found myself at a conference and sitting through a presentation that I would usually have assiduously avoided – the future of underwriting, as seen through the lens of a consultant at Deloitte. The fact…
#440 | The Curious Case of the 4.5% Whole Life
In the immediate aftermath of the changes to Section 7702 that were enacted in early 2021, the story was – understandably – entirely focused on the fact that Section 7702 rates were allowed to drop below 4% for the first…
#437 | Making the Case for Juvenile Policies
When I graduated from college, I was given a participating Principal Whole Life policy. Entirely unbeknownst to me, my grandfather took it out when I was in the single-digits and had been paying the premiums on it ever since. It…
#434 | The Other Kind of Disability Insurance
The very first article in The Life Product Review was, ironically, not about life insurance at all. It was entitled “Insurance as Savings” and I published it in early 2012, not long after I’d bought my first disability insurance policy.…
