Brandon Roberts | The Insurance Pro Blog

The Incredible Flexibility of Blended Whole Life Insurance

Today I want to talk about a subject that comes up every time we discuss whole life insurance with someone. The flexibility of whole life insurance is a major concern among our clients and prospective

Life Insurers Focus on Safety Not Risky Returns

It's no secret that interest rates are not in a place that life insurers favor. With interest rates so low, one might think that life insurers will move to more exotic investment ideas to recoup

Likely Changes Coming to Indexed Universal Life Insurance Illustrations: Actuarial Guideline 49 Updates

In 2015, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners's (NAIC) Life Actuarial Task Force (LATF) codified new rules for life insurance illustrations with indexing features. Actuarial Guideline

Mutual Life Insurers Investment Income Vs. Obligations Analysis

I often field questions about what financial metrics I hold most important when analyzing life insurance companies. While my answer can be a tad complex, I do have a short list of key metrics on which

Comparing Permanent Life Insurance Policies: The Linton Yield Method

There are numerous ways to compare cash value life insurance policies. Some of them are pretty well recognized though of relatively little use like the Net Cost Surrender Index. Others are known within

New York Best Interest Rule Regulation 187 Everything you Need to Know

Earlier this year, New York State amended Regulation 187 to establish what we're all calling the “Best Interest Rule.” After taking some careful time to pick through the entire amended regulation,

The End of the Insurance Pro Blog Podcast

We started podcasting seven years ago. It seems a little crazy to me to write that. But our first foray into the podcasting began in early September 2012 with the Financial Procast. Here's the

Is the Cash Surrender Value of Life Insurance Taxable?

The taxability of life insurance cash surrender value causes much confusion. Agents often extol the tax free nature of life insurance. But the marketing brochures often have numerous footnotes on the

Does Whole Life Insurance Cost More than Term Life Insurance?

You might have heard that whole life insurance cost more than term life insurance. This very statement is the foundation of many arguments suggesting that term life insurance is simply a smarter financial

Penn Mutual Suspends Sale of Life Insurance and Annuities in New York

In a statement made by CEO Eileen McDonnell and President Dave O'Malley, Penn Mutual announced it will suspend the sale of its life insurance and annuity contracts in the state of New York. The

Please Don’t Compare Whole Life Dividends to Universal Life Interest

It's hard to figure out what life insurance policy is best. When it comes to purchases focusing on cash value, we want an easy way to compare policies and declare a winner. A naturally obvious way

IUL Bonuses Pay You Double Digits?

We're no strangers to voicing our concerns about lofty indexed universal life insurance assumptions. In fact, we were an early voice seeking to temper the returns on IUL as the product began picking

Return of Premium Life Insurance Strategies

For most agents, return of premium life insurance likely conjures up thoughts about term life insurance. This comes from the marketing hurrah over return of premium term life insurance now over a decade

The Ultimate Guide to Whole Life Insurance Companies

Whole life insurance companies or life insurance companies that offer whole life insurance comprise a much smaller pool of insurers versus universal life insurance. However, a lot of these companies

Independent Life Insurance Broker Myth

Being an independent life insurance broker sounds like a lot of fun. You don't work for any specific company. You have no quotas to worry about. Instead, you work independently and make unbiased

Northwestern Mutual’s Dishonest Sales Tactic

Northwestern Mutual is a huge mutual life insurance company in the United States. The company boasts an impressive policyholder count, an extremely large asset pool, and enviable profitability. These

Advantages and Disadvantages of Life Insurance

Life insurance comes with great benefits and a few disadvantages. For the average person out there looking to gain a better understanding of life insurance, we put together this list of the top three

Life Insurance Ladder, Bogus Way to Save Money?

The world of personal finance contains no shortage of tips and tricks. Many seek out slick nuances to highlight some “cool” idea that promises to “save you a bundle.” The

Life Insurance for Parents

Life Insurance for Parents! It's a snazzy tagline used by a certain insurance industry periodical that I won't publicly shame for such a terrible grab at attention. The idea is straight forward and

What Happened to Single Premium Life Insurance?

Single premium life insurance functions just like it sounds. You pay one single premium and the policy remains in force forever. In somewhat more technical insurance-speak, it only takes one premium

Whole Life Insurance Guarantees Improve Over Time

Whole life insurance guarantees serve as a constant source for discussion about life insurance and other personal finance related matters. Some might suggest that the whole life insurance guarantees

When Shopping for Life Insurance The Best Strategy Is to…

When shopping for life insurance, the best strategy is first to understand your objective in buying life insurance and then focus on the products best suited to meet that goal. This statement might sound

Paid-Up Universal Life Insurance?

One of the niftiest features of whole life insurance is the option to make it paid-up at any point in your lifetime. The reduce paid-up feature for whole life allows you to electively stop paying premiums

How We Evaluate Life Insurance Companies

How to evaluate life insurance companies is a question that plagues both consumers and industry professionals. Many companies love to market on ratings or a single financial metric at which they excel. But

The Life Insurance Retirement Plan

The life insurance retirement plan isn't necessarily a specific “plan” that accomplishes a specific goal related to retirement planning. Instead, it's a “tip of the hat” to the

Should You Cancel Your Bad Whole Life Insurance?

The decision to cancel whole life insurance is not always an easy one. We understand this. We've discussed this subject with numerous people. The biggest concern is still the money already paid to

Paid-Up Life Insurance

Paid-up life insurance is a term that confuses a lot of people. The idea seems straight forward, but what makes a life insurance policy paid-up? Also, how does paid-up life insurance differ from other

Endowment Life Insurance Policy: It Was a Sure Thing

We don't often talk about the endowment life insurance policy. This is largely due to the fact that they are no longer a thing in the United States. But just because you won't find them for sale doesn't

Life Insurance Illustration: Basic vs. Supplemental Ledger

A life insurance illustration is a tool that agents use to detail the various features of a proposed life insurance policy. These rather lengthy documents contain a lot of information and sometimes delineate

Should I Buy Whole Life Insurance?

Should I buy whole life insurance if I'm young and have no dependents? This is a question that we field more often than you might think, so today we want to address this question for those who might

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