The U.S. population is aging rapidly. Today, 1 out of every 9 Americans is "old" — another individual turns 50 every 8 seconds. Those aged 65 and older now exceed 35 million, a number poised to explode.

In the third quarter of 2010, banks sold $513 million in life insurance premium, more than they had in any other quarter on record.

Occasionally, even the most seasoned agent is surprised by an adverse underwriting decision and must engage a prospect with disappointing news. Sometimes, when an agent explains that a substandard rating is being assessed due to information uncovered during the underwriting process, the prospect isn’t surprised and may even admit that they “forgot” to mention a particular element of health history or avocation.

In a sea of specialized products with increasingly complex rules and fee structures, it might be surprising to know that industry leaders themselves favor a more streamlined approach.

A new LIMRA study finds that a more than a quarter of producers (26%) consider the financial strength of an insurer one of the two most important factors in 2011, compared to just 16 percent in 200

Many tales have been told about this misunderstood industry. The one I Iike best is, “the life settlement industry is dead.” If this were a text message, I would reply in all caps: LOL.

A new type of simplified issue life insurance may enable agents to sell more life policies but it may also cause those agents to take a haircut in their compensation percentage.

A new A.M. Best Co. Statistical Study shows the face amount of life insurance policies issued during 2010 declined 3.1% to $2.87 trillion compared with a year earlier, according to the latest issue of BestWeek U.S./Canada. Term life on a business issued basis marked a steeper descent, falling 11.7% to $1.13 trillion. The five A.M. Best Statistical Studies featured in BestWeek looked at total life issued; ordinary life issued; term life issued; group life issued and credit life issued.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has backed away from the idea of supporting a congressional bill that could exclude insurance agent compensation from medical loss ratio (MLR) calculations.

Term life insurers have been looking for signs of recovery in sales. Instead, last year’s new premium volume saw the largest decline ever reported: a 12 percent drop. The still-sluggish overall economy hasn’t helped, and policy replacement as a source of new premium has been down since the end of the term price wars. Finally, term carriers overall raised prices in 2010. These factors, however, pale in comparison to the impact of the new term-on-a-UL-chassis (or term/UL) designs that began appearing in late 2009.

The effect of health reform on brokers will be monumental. No other social policy change in recent memory has driven as much transformative change in the brokerage business model as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is predicted to.

Life insurers may benefit from this trend if they provide products that meet consumers' demands, according to a Northwestern Mutual Life study.

Similar to New York Life and Nationwide, Allstate says it's hoping to add more agents all across the country.

Total annualized premium revenue from new sales of individual U.S. life insurance was 2% higher in the fourth quarter of 2010 than it was in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Millions of Americans are at risk of entering retirement without the resources necessary to maintain their standard of living and provide the financial security they need for their retirement years. Data from both the Health and Retirement Study and the Retirement Confidence Survey demonstrate that many workers approach retirement with very low amounts of wealth. For the middle class, recent economic trends of rising debt, personal bankruptcies and foreclosures tell a clear story of families struggling just to make ends meet.

Sales of universal life (UL) insurance increased 8% in the third quarter, and sales of whole life rose 6%, according to LIMRA, based on a summary of results from a survey of insurers in the U.S. individual life market.

National health care reform – combined with the empowerment of consumers and today’s accessible, secure technology – is changing how, when, and which benefits are sold. While this is true for all insurance markets, it is particularly true for such voluntary products as disability insurance (DI).

For almost 20 years, I have observed different property/casualty insurance companies try to force, impress, coerce, cram, ram, insist, drag, draft, enforce, require, urge, strong arm, impel, impose and inflict the sale and marketing of life insurance products on their agents.

Many have tried and all have failed. Why?

Voluntary critical illness sales were up in 2009 but cancer sales lagged. In the latest Eastbridge annual U.S. Worksite Sales Report, critical illness sales increased almost 88 percent between 2008 and 2009 as compared to cancer sales which went down almost 8 percent.

In response to the lagging economy and lackluster life sales, many producers are renewing their focus on disability insurance (DI) as an income-bolstering strategy. It’s a good plan because now, more than ever before, American workers understand the serious need for income protection. If you haven’t dipped your toe in the DI pool, now’s the time! If you’re unsure how to get started, here’s a quick rundown on how to choose the perfect DI prospect.

Over half of middle-income women feel dissatisfied with their current financial situation and uncertain about their future financial needs, according to a new survey on reaching women customers.

Furthermore, almost a third of the women didn’t know how to achieve their financial goals, say LIMRA researchers.

After a 26% dive in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, individual life insurance annualized premiums dropped 20% in the second quarter, according to a new survey.

From Bob Pedigo's series discussing the benefits of using the Laser Underwriting Approach, which utilizes an agency-based staff underwriter.

A recent report from LIMRA highlighted the turbulent life insurance market. Ashley Durham, a senior analyst for product research at LIMRA, reported on November 30th that total individual life insurance sales declined 11% in the third quarter of 2009. Total individual annualized premium sales are down 19% year to date in 2009. But not all of the news was disappointing, as whole life grew and term remained flat year-to-date.

U.S. banks sold 32% more life insurance during the first 3 quarters of 2009 than they did during the comparable period in 2008, according to Kehrer-LIMRA.

Kehrer-LIMRA, Windsor, Conn., has published percentage change figures, not figures on the total volume of life insurance products sold. Bank life sales account for just a portion of all U.S. life sales.

But the growth rate for life sales at banks far outpaced the life sales growth rate for the U.S. life insurance industry as a whole, Kehrer-LIMRA reports.

Because the life insurance industry weathered the recession so well, it now has the opportunity to remarket itself to consumers as a reliable and secure place to put their money, says Ted Mathas chairman of New York Life Insurance Company, speaking at the 20th annual executive conference for the life insurance industry in New York.

Agents help prospective athletes insure their future—even before they’re eligible to turn pro.

U.S. life insurers received fewer requests for individual coverage from young applicants in September than they did in September 2007, but activity for older applicants was stronger.

Even this math-challenged editor can define the most famous equation in physics — “energy equals mass times the speed of light squared,” or E=MC2. Did you know that life underwriters operate under a similar principle these days? It’s U=IS2, which stands for “underwriting equals information times the speed of decision-making squared.”

Individual life insurance annualized premiums plunged 20% in the second quarter, according to LIMRA’s U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales report. For the year to date, sales fell by 23%. In a statement, LIMRA senior analyst Ashley Durham called the drop-off the “steepest six-month decline since the second half of 1942.”

A multi-faceted approach is the best way to enhance advisor performance, according to a major new study of distribution in the life insurance industry recently released by LIMRA and McKinsey & Company. The study, conducted in the fall of 2008, surveyed more than 1,200 advisors across a broad range of distribution channels to identify the challenges facing the industry and practical steps that carriers can take to enhance productivity and retention.

More Americans will lose their health insurance as the economy weakens, health care becomes more expensive and fewer employers offer coverage, the U.S. Institute of Medicine said in a report on Tuesday.

When working with an older client in the planning process, the individual’s health may be a critical component of the underwriting equation. Right from the start, there are certain issues that should be taken into consideration.

As life settlements (or viatical settlements), have grown enormously in popularity and use over the past few years, regulation of this secondary market has become a headline issue for many states, garnering a great deal of attention (and controversy) among national organizations such as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL). Consumers, institutional investors, financial advisors, and the “primary market” insurers, as well as regulators and public policy makers are all very interested in the handling of life settlements.