SEATTLE, May 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released the results of its annual comprehensive study of universal life (UL) and indexed universal life (IUL) issues. The 13 annual Milliman study, "Universal Life and Indexed Universal Life Issues," is based on a survey of 30 UL/IUL companies. The report focuses on current topics relative to a range of UL and IUL product types. Key findings of the study include: Total individual UL sales reported by survey participants decreased 31% between 2017 and year-to-date (YTD) 9/30/19 (on an annualized basis). A 16% increase in total individual IUL sales was reported during the same time...
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“What is universal life insurance and is it right for me?” is a question you may ask yourself. Universal Life Insurance differs from term life insurance and whole life insurance. Making sure you know what your current and future financial needs are will help determine which life insurance product is right for you and your loved ones. What Is Universal Life Insurance? Universal life insurance is another type of life insurance product that can play an important role in protecting your family and loved ones. If you need lifetime life insurance coverage, then a universal life (UL) insurance policy may be the ideal insurance product for you. Some people may initially think of a...
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The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content. Global Atlantic Financial Group, a leading U.S.-focused retirement, life insurance and reinsurance company, recently launched its newest indexed universal life policy, Global Accumulator IUL. Issued by Accordia Life and Annuity Company, a subsidiary of Global Atlantic, Global Accumulator is an accumulation-focused IUL product that offers a variety of indexed strategies, including two SMART Buy-Up Add-On options: SMART Buy-Up Secure and SMART Buy-Up Performance. It also offers a fixed term strategy. “Global Accumulator is designed for individuals looking for greater accumulation potential, while maintaining...
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It’s hard to find any good news in the recent spate of premium increases for older universal life (UL) policies. Policyholders face difficult decisions they didn’t anticipate when they bought the insurance. Advisors must explain to clients why their policies are at risk, and seek possible solutions. And, insurers seeking rate hikes are experiencing bad publicity and lawsuits. We asked several advisors and insurance experts how to explain and approach the problem with clients. Multiple moving parts projected investment returns; mortality expectations; and current and anticipated expenses. Additional assumptions include expected policy lapse rates, taxes and reserve requirements, among others...
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HORSHAM, Pa.--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Penn Mutual recently released two new universal life products, expanding on its comprehensive portfolio. The Accumulation Builder Flex Index Universal Life (IUL) and Diversified Advantage Variable Universal Life (VUL) products equip consumers with robust allocation options and propels Penn Mutual forward as a strong competitor in the market with an emphasis on new and unique indexed accounts. The Accumulation Builder Flex IUL presents a tax-efficient, flexible death benefit solution that provides consumers strong upside potential with guaranteed downside protection, including a guarantee of at least 1% interest growth. The new product offers five diverse...
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Why Sell Universal Life (Permanent) Insurance? If death occurs, one of the financial questions usually asked is “How much life insurance did he/she have?” Most times, no one asks if the death benefit was term or permanent insurance or group insurance…or any other kind of insurance…they ask how much insurance. But what is the client lives to retirement? At retirement, the client will likely have more time and less money than ever before. It may be a bad combination unless they have enough money. What percentage of your clients could honestly tell you that they have enough money and enough income to last them for 10, 20, 30 years of retirement? What about Social Security? First, it is less...
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The Universal Life Crisis: A Potential Fix for an Underperforming Policy By Susan J. Bruno, CPA/PFS, CFP, CIC The many advantages and disadvantages of a prolonged low-interest-rate environment affect almost all areas of clients' personal financial plans. For example, low interest rates may be attractive to a young couple applying for a mortgage to buy their first home, but those same low interest rates on bonds and CDs hinder the lifestyles of many retirees on a fixed income. The interest-rate environment can also have a dramatic effect on universal life insurance policies. Universal Life: How It Works Flexible premium adjustable life insurance is the technical name for universal life...
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How Do Universal Life Policies Work? To understand how a universal life policy works, we’ve broken it down in three parts – premiums, cash value, and death benefit. Premiums - Universal life insurance can involve either regular premium payments or a lump sum single premium, but the single premium version is more popular due to the attractiveness of being able to discharge all your obligations from the onset. However, regular payments are usually still involved even with single premium plans, because universal life policies are usually sold hand-in-hand with another product – a bank loan. Cash value - The cash value of the policy depends on the crediting interest rate of the policy. After...
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Drop cash into universal life policies to save on taxes Some people choose to put lump-sum amounts into their universal life (UL) polices. The sum might come from an old cash-value policy that they are rolling over into a new universal life policy because of better terms or conditions than those of older policies. Or it may be money that has been sitting in a certificate of deposit (CD) or a money-market fund. Why would they want to do that? Let's first consider rolling the cash value from an old policy. Older policies generally can have a pretty large amount of cash in them. That cash has been earning interest, and that interest has not been currently taxed. The tax is eventually exacted...
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It was supposed to be the answer to the life insurance industry's ''big debate'': Should people buy whole life policies and build up a savings pool while enjoying fixed premiums their entire lives, or should they buy cheap term insurance and invest the money they save on premiums in something else? It is commonly known as universal life, though it goes by a variety of colorful names, including CompleteLife (E. F. Hutton), The Challenger (Life Insurance Company of Virginia), and T Plan Life (Transamerica Occidental Life). The Hartford Insurance Group is even so bold as to call it The Solution. But is universal life really the answer? For now, at least, probably not. Certainly, the timing for...
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