Annuities face an uncertain future but, for the class known as income annuities, demand may be growing…
If the past is any indicator of what is to come, the recent burst of new annuity products and the debut of more deals between annuity carriers will be followed by closed block announcements…
More than three decades after it severed the relationship, Texas Farm Bureau Insurance has teamed with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas to provide health care coverage to its members…
Richard Drazien thought he knew life insurance after 50 years in and around the business. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that he learned about a company selling a product that allowed policyholders to access a portion of the death benefit while alive, at no extra cost…
Health plans in Minnesota paid nearly $19 billion for medical care on behalf of their members in 2012, an increase of $1.3 billion, or 7 percent, over the previous year…
Employees who use online calculators and retirement advisors are more likely to exhibit higher levels of retirement confidence, according to new research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)…
Employees who use advisory services offered to them in their 401(k) plan have a more positive outlook about their future retirement compared with employees who ignore such services..
For women seeking long-term care insurance, April 2013 marks the beginning of higher premiums based on their gender…
Richard Drazien thought he knew life insurance after 50 years in and around the business. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that he learned about a company selling a product that allowed policyholders to access a portion of the death benefit while alive, at no extra cost…
The average cost for health care per active employee working for large employers is expected to reach $12,136 in 2013. This is a 5.1 percent increase from 2012 as companies manage health care costs and work to make employees more accountable…
Nearly one in two financial advisors (48 percent) interact daily with clients through social media, a sign that advisors view social media as a critical tool to help them grow their business and stay in touch with clients…
For financial advisors, it’s time to face facts. Sales strategies developed around face-to-face interactions with older, higher-net-worth customers may not translate well to changes taking place in the consumer landscape and among contemporary families…
Long-term care insurance (LTCi) is affected by a peculiar paradox. It’s the kind of insurance millions of Americans say they want, yet LTCi is also a product that for many is out of reach…
The possibility that the very popular guaranteed living benefit (GLB) features in annuities could one day become a so-yesterday item is difficult for today’s annuity professionals to fathom…
The difference between assets and expected liabilities of the 100 largest U.S. corporate pension plans ballooned by $61.1 billion to $388.8 billion last year due to record low interest rates, according to a new study…
Monica J. Lindeen, vice president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), has testified in support of the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act, known as NARAB II…
Year-end individual annuity sales results provide plenty for annuity aficionados to ponder. There were some sorry-looking numbers, for sure, but also some intriguing surprises. Some would say the carriers were doing a dance, or at least a shuffle…
As the calls to codify the financial advisor profession grow louder in the wake of multimillion-dollar frauds, Canadian insurance carriers are rethinking their mix of captive and independent agents to distribute products and services…
Paying out a one-time lump-sum to retirees to trim the risk of defined benefit pension plans – a move known as “de-risking” — is growing in favor in 2013 as companies look to shrink liabilities…
