An analysis of disability claims found that more employers offered long-term disability (LTD) insurance benefit plans last year as compared with 2012, but that fewer employees were insured by such plans last year as compared with 2012…
In a world where financial advisors routinely hear the praises of specialization — either by developing a tax specialty, digging deep into estate planning minutiae or developing a long-term care planning shop — it’s easy to overlook the advantages of diversification…
For variable annuities (VAs) sold through the bank channel, it has been a tough few quarters as insurance carriers cut back on VAs and as interest rate spreads favored fixed annuities over bank certificates of deposits…
Nontraditional families are more likely than traditional families to talk to their children about personal financial issues, yet nontraditional households are also less likely to rely on professional help to build a financial plan, a new Allianz survey shows…
Top-selling fixed index annuity (FIA) writer Allianz Life turned in some jaw-dropping sales numbers for first quarter. Here’s a look behind the numbers…
The single most persistent challenge advisors face is conversion, the concept of consistently getting new prospects to agree to that first real appointment…
The goal of using data to gain a better perspective on an individual’s health status, and what consumers are doing (or not doing), is one of the most significant challenges facing the insurance industry…
A poll of financial advisors reveals that 76 percent believe U.S. economic growth this year will be between zero and 10 percent, and an additional 17 percent think growth will come in at between 11 percent and 20 percent…
Expansion into the middle market represents an important change for MetLife, which has traditionally been the go-to supplier of insurance and benefits products for many of the nation’s largest companies…
The Society for Annuity Facts & Education (SAFE), a nonprofit with the aim of educating consumers about annuities, has joined with an industry coalition to declare June as Annuity Awareness Month…
The different approaches are highlighted in a new survey of 283 sponsors of 401(k) plans…
The increase in takeover sales was due to more group insurance carriers selling voluntary products and benefit brokers being responsible for a higher percentage of voluntary product sales…
With a distribution force of 125,000 brokers and advisors, more than 25,000 institutional clients and 30 million individual customers, how Prudential chooses to sell life and annuities yields clues about market trends…
The National Association of Independent Public Finance Advisors (NAIPFA) is feuding against the Bond Dealers of America (BDA) over new rules proposed earlier this year by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB)…
The most successful advisors adapt the quickest to communicating with clients through an array of channels, according to a new study…
A psychologist probes how successful, stalwart professionals sometimes end up sliding down the slippery slope of ethical or criminal misdeeds that eventually get them in trouble with the law…
Clients looking for guarantees may be receptive to a discussion about annuities, a speaker at the Million Dollar Round Table’s annual meeting said…
The coverage gap in 2013 was measured at $320,000, an increase of $30,622 compared to the gap that existed in 2008…
By knowing the right questions to ask — and how to ask them — advisors can bring family members together to discuss important but sensitive financial topics…
