March is Women’s History Month. As such, it’s the perfect time to celebrate the historic women who paved the way for all of the women currently working in the financial services industry by acknowledging the triumphs and obstacles they faced and sharing their stories.

The lower tax rates set by the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act means income taxes are “on sale,” says Deborah A. Miner, a tax expert and executive with Western & Southern Financial Group Distributors. Clients and advisors who take proactive advantage could see their retirement nest eggs expand significantly.

Six insurance industry professional associations and four life insurance carriers have joined forces to address issues that affect the industry. The leadership teams of the associations have been meeting regularly since 2016 to discuss “what we might be able to do in the spirit of better communication, collaboration and ultimately perhaps even consolidation,” said Warren May of Principal Financial.

Long-term care insurance sold well in 2018, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance reports. According to the association, of the roughly 350,000 individuals who purchased coverage, roughly 16 percent opted for traditional health-based long-term care insurance.

House Democrats are set to announce their version of a health care bill, according to an advisory from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The proposal comes as more than 100 House Democrats support a “Medicare For All” bill introduced in February by Progressive Caucus co-chair Representative Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.

As the 2018 income tax filing season heads down its final stretch, many Americans are finding themselves with surprise tax bills. One area that can lead to unwanted surprises come tax season is required minimum distributions.

For the first time since 2007, AIG Companies has taken over as the top seller of annuities according to LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. In addition, there are two new companies in this year’s top five compared to 2017 sales.

Prospects are good at putting up smokescreens. For advisors, that means we need sales tools to address these half-truths and white lies when we talk to prospects. Here is how you get to the truth.

The Federal Reserve did the expected today and is holding interest rates to the current range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent. The central bank’s new theme of patience and flexibility reflects its calming response since the start of the year to slow economic growth at home and abroad, a nervous stock market and persistently mild inflation.

Annuity sales rebounded in a big way throughout 2018, Wink reports. For example, total non-variable deferred annuities sales were $113.6 billion, an increase of 29.1 percent over 2017. Non-variable deferred annuities include the indexed annuity, traditional fixed annuity, and MYGA product lines.

Indexed life sales for the fourth quarter were $617.4 million, up more than 16.8 percent compared with the third quarter, and up more than 7.2 percent compared to the fourth quarter 2018. Annual indexed life sales were over $2.1 billion.

Deloitte’s annual M&A Outlook recorded 681 transactions in 2018 across the insurance sector, up from 621 deals in 2017. That robust M&A activity should continue this year, the report says. The appetite for insurtech capability is one of the “five buckets” that Deloitte authors separate potential 2019 M&A drivers.

The LIMRA study reported fourth-quarter new premium was flat, compared with fourth quarter 2017. Policy count was flat in the fourth quarter and for the year. This is the third consecutive quarter of flat policy count and the second consecutive year without policy growth.

A new lawsuit was field Monday challenging Ohio National’s decision to stop paying trail commissions on certain variable annuity contracts. Stephen K. Cook, an investment advisor representative with Triad Advisors, a Dallas, Texas broker-dealer, filed the class-action lawsuit in the Southern District of Ohio court.