People who aren’t yet retired are worried about running out of money after they do retire. But they aren’t communicating that fear to their financial advisors, an Allianz Life study revealed.
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Employers are in crisis management mode and facing uncertainty as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to record high numbers of jobless as well as concerns over business reopening. At a time like this, it’s easy to wonder whether employers will quit offering health benefits to their workers.
A National Council of Insurance Legislators resolution today revealed a rift with state insurance commissioners that threatens efforts to address systemic racism in insurance. NCOIL members say they just want to keep lawmaking decisions in the hands of lawmakers.
How are you adapting your business and systems to deliver an extraordinary client experience in the new business reality? Clients are scared and looking for a lot from their financial advisor.
A new LIMRA survey find companies have growing interest in modifying their benefits packages, enrollment strategies and their relationships with their carriers. About 25% of employers say COVID-19 has made them more interested in making changes to their insurance benefit programs within the next 18 months.
Congress and the Federal Reserve have pumped nearly $3 trillion into the U.S. economy to combat the damage caused by the coronavirus, and are currently considering a fresh relief package. But new research finds that it is not helping businesses unable to convert to work-from-home activities.
Our personal and professional lives have merged into an endless to-do list. Here are some tips for boosting your productivity while settling your mind.
The Department of Labor issued its new fiduciary rule one workday after a federal court upheld the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Best Interest standard, which the DOL rule was designed to harmonize with.
Days after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to scrap the Affordable Care Act, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would see it expanded.
The court’s decision means that Reg BI, which which establishes a new advice standard for brokers, can take effect as planned on Tuesday.
The Trump administration doesn’t expect to release a detailed health care plan until the Supreme Court rules on the legality of the Affordable Care Act, said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
A webinar presented by the National African American Insurance Association explores how individuals and companies can go beyond the promises and bring on real change .
Amid the coronavirus pandemic that has sickened more than 2.4 million Americans, the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, arguing the individual mandate has been made unconstitutional due to recent tax legislation.
The results are part of Gallup’s online coronavirus tracking survey, which found Republicans are most likely to view the economy as expanding. Still, the unemployment rate remains high and the National Bureau of Economic Research recently announced the U.S. was officially in a recession.
Selling life insurance products in a pandemic is difficult, but longtime life insurance pro Marv Feldman reminds agents not to abandon the important techniques that connect them with clients. And there may be new opportunities to get life insurance to people who need it.
Flicking a dismissive jab at President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a plan Wednesday to expand the Obama-era health law, even as Trump’s administration is about to file arguments in a Supreme Court case to strike down “Obamacare.”
The measure includes Democratic priorities such as expanding the ACA’s subsidies to make premiums more affordable and encouraging states to expand Medicaid by increasing federal Medicaid funding. It also would do away with Trump administration policies such as expanding the availability of short-term plans that compete with ACA coverage.
Fifteen Minor League Baseball teams are partners in a federal lawsuit against insurance providers for breach-of-contract. The suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, comes after the provider denied the clubs’ claims for business-interruption insurance due to the pandemic.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar called the decision in federal court in Washington, D.C., “a resounding victory “for President Donald Trump’s efforts to open up the convoluted world of health care pricing so patients and families can make better-informed decisions about their care.
In its March quarterly forecast, the UCLA Anderson Forecast revised its outlook for the U.S. economy downward because of the expected impact of COVID-19, which was then still being referred to as an epidemic. Its new forecast predicts that the economy will not rebound until 2023.
The chief global strategist for J.P. Morgan Asset Management said we are not finished with the COVID-19 pandemic yet, and the economic situation will remain “uncomfortable” until we are.
Signum Global Advisors is warning clients in a new alert to be ready for a blue wave in November that gives Democrats control of government. The research firm has previously maintained that at least the Senate will remain in Republican control.
Confirming predictions that the easing of state lockdowns over the past month and a half would lead to a comeback by the virus, cases surpassed 100,000 in Florida, hospitalizations are rising dramatically in Houston and Georgia, and a startling 1 in 5 of those tested in Arizona are proving to be infected.
On Saturday, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman was abruptly fired by President Donald Trump after defying U.S. Attorney General William Barr’s request for him to resign. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton is the president’s choice to succeed Berman, but N.Y. senators might have something to say about it.
According to a poll recently conducted by The Harris Poll, many Americans are planning to change their financial habits in light of recent events. Roughly 2 in 5 citizens say they are saving more money now than they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has provided an unexpected boon to millennial and Generation Z finances, according to a national survey of more than 2,000 U.S adults. The survey found that two out of three millennials say the pandemic had a positive effect on their finances, with 69% spending less money overall.
As Congress grapples with the need to enact even more spending to counteract the economic devastation of the novel coronavirus pandemic, it must face the fact that this is not the same crisis the country faced when the housing market collapsed in 2007, and the remedies employed then do not apply now.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman announced he would leave his post, ending increasingly nasty exchanges between Barr and Berman. This episode has raised new questions about political interference in the Justice Department, particularly given that Berman was investigating Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
The Center for Economic Justice today challenged insurers and insurance regulators to match their public statements condemning systemic bias and inherent racism with concrete actions to address inherent racism in insurance.
The Florida Legislature sent a bill to the governor’s desk Wednesday that would prohibit insurers from using customers’ genetic information in changing, denying or canceling policies. It is not known if Gov. Ron DeSantis, R, will sign the bill, which is generally opposed by the insurance industry.
The reopening of businesses shut due to the coronavirus pandemic is fueling optimism on Wall Street that the U.S. economy is on the path to recovery. For an up-to-the-minute read on consumer behavior, Wall Street is monitoring the number of people moving through airport security checkpoints, restaurants, etc.
Athene Holding, a leading provider of retirement savings products, agreed to fully reinsure $27.6 billion of Jackson’s in-force book of fixed and fixed index annuity liabilities in exchange for approximately $1.25 billion in ceding commission.
Reversing his Republican predecessor, Kentucky’s Democratic governor announced plans to bring back a health insurance program his father started that was credited with signing up hundreds of thousands of people for coverage before it was dismantled.
When the coronavirus flared in China this week, the country canceled flights, suspended reopenings and described the situation as “extremely grave.” But with cases rising in some U.S. states, local officials have balked at even requiring people to wear masks.
The lawsuit focuses on a 10-year, $500,000 term life policy issued in 1999 to Kelly Douglas Couch, who hid his HIV-positive status and died in June 2005. Later in 1999, Couch transferred ownership of his policy to an investor in viatical settlements.
Jerome Powell said the the Fed would continue to deploy all its financial tools to help “get back as quickly as we can to a tight labor market.” And he reiterated his belief that Congress must avoid withdrawing its own rescue efforts too quickly or else the most disadvantaged households would disproportionately suffer.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered ultra-low interest rates, extreme market volatility and record-high unemployment — conditions that generally are unfavorable for annuity sales. The good news is annuity sales should bounce back strong in 2021 and 2022, the Secure Retirement Institute reports.
—U.S. officials say they expect health insurance companies will cover vaccines for COVID-19 without charging copays, once those vaccines are developed and become available. The White House has launched an initiative to quickly manufacture millions of doses of COVID vaccines, once the Food and Drug Administration approves one or more formulations.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, low- and middle-class Americans were less prepared to deal with the death of a main breadwinner, according to a survey taken in January.
When the COVID-19 pandemic chased everyone indoors an insurance industry that relies on face-to-face contact suddenly had to change course. What happened is insurers, middlemen and agents all learned they can rely on technology to forge a new way of selling insurance products.
Your clients still have time to realize better tax breaks this year because the tax filing deadline has been extended to July 15.
Despite the economic craziness — or maybe because of it — Americans are trusting insurance agents and companies more than ever, according to LIMRA data.
Layoffs are slowing, unemployment is declining and hiring is gradually rising, suggesting a steady rebound in the U.S. job market. The outlook is so opaque that at a news conference last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell used the words “uncertain” or “uncertainty” seven times to describe the outlook for economy.
The Federal Reserve said Monday that it will begin purchasing corporate bonds as part of a previously-announced plan to ensure companies can borrow through the bond market during the pandemic. The Dow Jones rose 0.8% in afternoon trading.
According to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Insurance Digital Experience Study, insurers have made across-the-board improvements in clarity of information, but many still struggle with the balance of too much information and a minimalist approach.
COVID-19 has helped move a traditionally slow-to-evolve industry in a more chameleon-like way. Insurance carriers have made multiple changes to their underwriting guidelines and product portfolios. Products may have slightly different features or requirements, but they still blend seamlessly into individuals’ financial and retirement plans.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday the U.S. economy, the world’ s largest, is“ now in a recovery stage” from the debilitating effects of the coronavirus pandemic that closed thousands of businesses, even as forecasters say unemployment figures will remain high for months.
While the COVID-19 pandemic will likely impact the claims side of the insurance industry, it is also affecting another component: insurance company investment portfolios. The past decade’s historically low interest rates led insurers further into generally higher yielding assets, including IG corporate bonds.
In its semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress, the central bank said Friday that the COVID-19 outbreak was causing “tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world.”
As states reopen, understanding the paid leave laws currently in place and having a holistic paid leave strategy will be instrumental for many employers. Here are ways benefits brokers can help.
When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered businesses across the country this spring, it may have shut the doors on some of your clients’ benefits enrollments, too. Many employees were no longer at the workplace to enroll, and even for businesses with essential workers, large gatherings to talk about benefits weren’t possible.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Thursday suggested that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell could stand to “lighten up a little” after Mr. Powell warned this week that the nascent economic recovery from the coronavirus-related shutdowns could end up being long and slow.
MetLife Inc. has agreed to pay $84 million to settle an eight-year-old class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders who claim the insurer underreported its liabilities via claims to deceased policyholders. Plaintiffs claim that MetLife failed to include data from the Social Security Administration’s “Death Master File” in tabulating its reserves.
The Fed has cut its benchmark short-term rate to near zero. Keeping its rate ultra-low for more than two more years could make it easier for consumers and businesses to borrow and spend enough to sustain an economy depressed by still-widespread business shutdowns from the coronavirus.
On a year-over-year basis, May 2020 index was up 5.2% with two less business days than in the 2019 comparative period. As carriers and agents adjust to the new normal and society returns, MIB cautioned against identifying any trends given the impact of the COVID-19 exogenous event.
Chairman Jerome Powell faces a challenging task Wednesday: He’ll need to make a convincing case that the Federal Reserve is committed to using all its tools to bolster an economy gripped by recession— without making any policy changes to show it.
Despite growing attention to COVID-19 in the run up to the March stock market crash, the sixth annual Guaranteed Lifetime Income Study finds that few clients or advisors believed a market downturn was very likely in 2020.
COVID-19 may add to your client’s fear of moving to a nursing home someday. Here are ways that long-term care insurance can enable your client to receive care at home.
A new LIMRA study finds just 21% of Americans have a favorable view of the economy, down from 25% in March 2020 and falling to less than half of the 56% reported in January 2020. The ongoing pandemic is chipping away at jobs and spending as millions remain unemployed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the already serious retirement savings gap. With so many families entering retirement with little money saved, reliance on Social Security is at an all-time high, even as the Social Security trust fund is being depleted.
