Product Analytics
#324 | The True Cost of Engineered Indices
Quick Take For all of their real, purported and back-tested benefits, engineered indices come at a cost in the form of fees that aren't charged on standard indices such as the S&P 500. These fees generally take three forms -…
#322 | Crossover
Earlier this morning, I sent out an email to all past and present subscribers to The Life Product Review asking for candid feedback on the site and how it can improve. The responses so far have been incredibly helpful -…
#320 | Fait Accompli – Prudential and Equitable File Registered Index-Linked ULs
Note: This post uses the term "structured" to describe index-linked crediting strategies with some level of index-linked downside risk, but the specific terms for these types of strategies vary greatly within the industry. The standard industry nomenclature for annuities with…
#318 | The Next Wave of Whole Life
When the changes to 7702 came into effect in 2021, probably the only thing that was immediately obvious to everyone was that every single Whole Life product in the market would have to be repriced before the beginning of 2022.…
#317 | Lincoln drops LifeGuarantee UL
Around this time last year, I wrote in #271 | Cracks Emerge in the Guaranteed VUL Market that the Guaranteed UL market was ending, as T.S. Eliot famously said, “not with a bang but a whimper.” In 2018, Guaranteed UL…
#316 | Follow Up to The Rising Tide of Accumulation VUL
Last weeks article generated probably more questions and comments than I’ve ever gotten. So, in response, I figured it’d be a good idea to cover some of the main topics that folks send my way in a follow up post.…
#315 | The Rising Tide of Accumulation VUL
If you were to look at the industry press releases about 2021 sales, you’d probably pick up one big storyline – both Whole Life and Indexed UL had gangbuster years, each notching 20% growth. Indexed UL saw $600M in increased…
#314 | Engineered Index 5 Year Performance
For most folks in the life insurance industry, it probably feels as though the phenomenon of non-standard indices in Indexed UL products has appeared very quickly, almost out-of-nowhere in the wake of AG 49-A. The reality, however, is that these…
#310 | The Proprietary Index Duration Bomb
The conventional wisdom, at the moment, is that bonds are garbage. In a rising rate environment, bonds are set to deliver the worst of both worlds – sub-optimal yields and capital devaluations. Savers who crave the income and stability of…
#307 | The New Indexed UL Narratives – Part 2
The first two narratives dealt with the narrative for the product generically, but these next two narratives deal with specific product features that could potentially become more common. Attractive Guaranteed Participation Limits A few years ago, Penn Mutual famously offered…
