Life Insurance - The Insurance Pro Blog

The Not So Dangerous Truths About Indexed Universal Life Insurance

A week or so ago we received an email from someone who wanted our opinion on a YouTube video put together by an insurance agent. The video, titled The Dangerous Truths about Indexed Universal Life Insurance,

The Life Insurance Loan Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

With COVID-19 shutting down lots of major business activity in the United States, it's no surprise that a lot of people are experiencing fluctuations in cash flow. For many, the exact impact this will

How the Current Market Affects Life Insurance

The U.S. stock market just wrapped up one of its worst weeks ever. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped around 17% this week alone. The S&P 500 finished the week down 13%. And the NASDAQ

Cash Value Life Insurance Is the Original Non-Correlated Asset

With all the recent bad news surrounding pandemics, toilet paper shortages, store shelves devoid of my beloved Ramen noodles and the most volatile stock market we’ve seen in decades, it seems like a

How Indexed Universal Life Insurance Minimizes Sequence of Returns Risk

We started sounding the alarm about the sequence of returns risk way back in 2013. Since that time, others jumped on our train to warn retirement savers that one of the most dangerous risks they face

Should You Borrow Against Your Life Insurance to Buy More Life Insurance?

I appreciate creativity. When I first started selling life insurance, I spent hours studying the product. Prodding it in various ways to see what it did. When I happened upon a few tricks I could

Why Paid-Up Additions Matter

If I had to pick one, and only one, additional feature of whole life insurance, it is hands down the paid-up additions feature. Even if I lose the ability to blend death benefit, if I still have the

Indexed Universal Life Must Be Contained: It’s Getting Out of Hand

According to a recent article penned by Leslie Scism at the Wall Street Journal, “sales of a life-insurance policy tied to the longest bull market in U.S. history are soaring.” There’s a lot to unpack

Indexed Universal Life Insurance Sales Success Myth

Industry chatter about indexed universal life insurance spans a wide spectrum of woohoo! and boohoo! Regardless of your position on the product, the one apparent consensus is: the product is on fire!

The Doomed Index Universal Life Insurance Policy

You don't have to look far on the interwebs to stumble upon a blog post, video, or infographic that throws a little shade at indexed universal life insurance. The product is attacked relentlessly by

Indexed Universal Life: Market Neutral?

The other day I was part of a conversation with another agent about Indexed Universal Life. The conversation was more of a challenge to my position that, like whole life insurance and current

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

3 Steps to Reduce Risk in Your Wealth Building Strategy

When things are going as expected or better than expected – it's human nature to relax a little bit and let the good times roll. I realize nobody likes hanging out with Debbie Downer or Negative

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

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

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

How Do Life Insurance Policy Loans Work?

Can you borrow against life insurance and how do life insurance policy loans actually work? For a lot of life insurance policies out there, the answer is yes. However, there are some types of life insurance

Whole Life Insurance Dividend Options

Whole life insurance dividend options are one of the ways a whole life policy provides the policyholder robust versatility. Understanding these different options is crucial for the proper use of a dividend-paying

Do You Pay Taxes on Life Insurance Payout?

There are so many questions about what taxes one must pay on life insurance proceeds. But one that we get a lot is, do you pay taxes on life insurance payout? The subject can be a bit intimidating for

TEFRA DEFRA TAMRA: How Taxes Effect Life Insurance

Life insurance enjoys some unique tax benefits, but it also faces limits imposed by legislation we know as TEFRA DEFRA and TAMRA. These pieces of legislation established specific guidelines as to what

Indexed Universal Life Insurance Pros and Cons

There are so many questions floating around the internet that center around indexed universal life insurance pros and cons. Indexed universal life insurance is the hottest thing going in the life insurance

BREAKING NEWS: Guardian Life 2018 Dividend

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America announced its plans to pay participating policyholders a total of $911 million in dividends in 2018. This will mark the largest total dividend payout

BREAKING NEWS: MassMutual 2018 Dividend

MassMutual announced its plans to pay participating policy holders a combined $1.6 billion in dividends. This total payout will be

BREAKING NEWS Northwestern Mutual 2018 Dividend Announced

Northwestern Mutual Life announced its plans to pay policyholders an combined $5.3 billion in 2018. This dividend payment will be represent a

Life Insurance a Potential Hedge Against Sequence of Returns Risk

Last week we discussed how sequence of returns affects wealth accumulation. It was the first time we discussed the notion of sequence of returns risk in the light of accumulation rather than spend down

BREAKING NEWS: Penn Mutual Life 2017 Dividend Announced

The Pennsylvania Mutual Life Insurance Company announced its plans to pay participating policy holders a total of $58 million in dividends for 2017. This represents an increase over last year of

2016 Whole Life Insurance Dividend Analysis

You can find the latest Whole Life Insurance Dividend Analysis Here Since 2013, we have published the only public analysis on variation in dividends for major participating whole life insurance

BREAKING NEWS: Guardian Life Announces 2017 Dividend

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of American has announced its plans to pay $847 million in dividends to its participating policy holders. This represents the highest gross dividend payout in the company's

BREAKING NEWS: MassMutual Life Announces 2017 Dividend

The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company announced its intentions to pay $1.6 billion in dividends to policyholders in 2017. This represents a decrease from 2016 of

Category Archives for Life Insurance