The self-described “Annuity King” escalated his battle with federal authorities with a lawsuit alleging “rogue, out-of-control, above-the-law” conduct by agents who investigated him.
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Prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was arrested Thursday for his connection with missing settlement funds in the wrongful death lawsuit involving his former housekeeper.
In Arizona, a team of attorneys representing 142 plaintiffs filed a lengthy “statement of facts” in federal bankruptcy court alleging that Shurwest executives were aware of an lucrative IUL sales fraud.
Over the last 10 years, the Social Security COLA has averaged about 1.7% annually as inflation remained low.
Almost half of American workers said their financial situation has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but that impact varies among the four generations who are in the workforce.
The president of the Ford Foundation called for a national mobilization of private capital and public policy to invest in underserved communities and help close the racial wealth gap.
The hybrid workplace is here to stay. Workers want it but leaders fear it. A speaker discussed the common fears that leaders have about flexible work during the American Council of Life Insurers annual conference.
The life insurance sector remains a highly rated sector, a panel from S&P Global Ratings agreed. Ninety-two percent of companies are rated A or higher, and 93% have a stable outlook.
According to the survey, Americans’ top priority for retirement is maintaining a comfortable lifestyle, with just under half of respondents (45%) saying it is most important to them.
A default could be devastating to the American economy, which is still struggling from the pandemic shutdowns, and trigger a recession.
Thinking holistically about your clients’ retirement security and developing and executing a strategy aligned with their goals may help free them to enjoy one of the most rewarding times of their life.
A Washington state Superior Court judge granted a narrow ruling Friday in favor of the insurance industry’s argument against Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s emergency rule temporarily banning the insurers’ use of credit scoring.
With 95% of its employees working remotely during the pandemic, insurance giant Allstate is selling its longtime Northbrook, Ill. headquarters.
The insurance benefit, dubbed the WA Cares Fund, is a first-in-nation public insurance program aimed at helping older residents age in their own homes. The plan, signed into law in 2019 through the Long Term Care Trust Act, will use a 0.58% payroll tax to pay benefits.
Cigna Corp. has struck a $5.75 billion deal to sell its life, accident and supplemental businesses to Swiss insurer Chubb Ltd. Chubb will acquire the Cigna businesses in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan and Thailand and Cigna’ s interest in a joint venture in Turkey.
Eighteen former NBA players have been charged with defrauding the league’s health and welfare benefit plan out of about $4 million, according to an indictment Thursday in New York.
Most employees expect their workplace benefits to play a larger role in their future job selection (68%) and in their household financial decisions (61%), according to a survey by Voya Financial.
Some companies are choosing to shift the burden of those costs from all employees to only those who choose to forego vaccination.
A prolific pension fraud scheme that spread to the insurance industry before being shut down by federal investigators has led to dozens of lawsuits and Chapter 11 bankruptcy for an Arizona IMO.
Non-variable universal life sales for the second quarter were $779.2 million, up 19.9% when compared to the first quarter, Wink reports.
The COVID-19 pandemic did more than give life insurance a boost: It offered a glimpse into what’s possible when the industry dares to think big.
Ochsner Health, the largest non-profit health care system in Louisiana, is adding a $200 charge to employees’ health insurance fees for anyone whose spouse or partner is unvaccinated.
New research from Northwestern Mutual shows that COVID-19 has changed many Americans’ retirement plans, with over one-third saying it has either moved up or pushed back their target retirement age.
Prudential is creating Prudential Retirement Strategies, a new U.S. business that combines annuities and retirement investment products to serve the retirement needs of both individual and institutional customers.
Hispanics are the most likely demographic group (26%) to say they feel “motivated” when thinking about financial planning in the current environment, according to a survey by Lincoln Financial Group.
Forty-five percent of businesses see access to a financial professional as the most useful financial-wellness offering for employees.
In January, Washington state workers will face a new payroll tax to fund the state’s new program, called the WA Cares Fund. Workers will pay a premium of 0.58% of their wages— 58 cents per $100.
Congress is striving to make it easier for U.S. workers to save for retirement, a panel of lawmakers said at this week’s Insured Retirement Institute virtual annual convention.
Six physical therapists and a pair of acupuncturists in New York are facing charges for their roles in a $20 million health care fraud scheme during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When asked if they would prefer an annuity that pays 6% guaranteed income for life, while retaining cash value (until depleted by withdrawals) or a bond portfolio yielding 1.5%, the vast majority of respondents said they would take the annuity.
The persistent low interest rate environment over the past few years prompted the deal, Allianz said in a news release.
The lawyer for the man accused of shooting Alex Murdaugh in a failed insurance fraud scheme says his client is being used as the fall guy.
Women face a number financial planning challenges, led by an income gender gap that leads to a retirement savings gap. Add the caregiving challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and you have a population group at financial risk.
Republican senators blocked a bill that would have kept the government operating and allow more federal borrowing. Democrats aiming to avoid a shutdown pledged to try again this week.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress on Tuesday it faces a hard deadline of Oct. 18 to lift the debt limit and avoid default as Democrats and Republicans bicker about spending on Capitol Hill.
Novant claims the insurer, a U.S. subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Group Ltd., has breached the COVID-19-related insurance policy that the health system took out to cover expected and unexpected expenses and losses.
In the first half of 2021, total annuity sales increased 23% from prior year to $129.2 billion.
Fifty-five percent of consumers don’t know that they can compare treatment or service costs before choosing where to get care, a new survey finds.
An October 2020 JPMorgan Chase report that analyzed the student loan debt of more than 300,000 Chase Bank customers found that “almost 40% of individuals involved in student loan repayment are helping someone else pay off their student loan debt.”
In its 2021 Insurance M&A Outlook, Deloitte noted that the number of insurance deals for 2021 to date is up by 18%, and the aggregate deal value is about four times higher than in 2020.
Biden is prodding Democrats to fully cover the cost of the legislation – by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, negotiating the price of prescription drugs and dialing up other sources of federal revenue.
A combination of a recession, higher unemployment, the Biden Health Care Plan, and the availability of health reimbursement arrangements that workers can use to purchase health benefits through the non-group market could test the resilience of the employment-based health benefits system.
President Biden is leaning into his push to increase taxes on the rich as he seeks to unify Democrats in the House and Senate behind a $3.5 trillion bill that would expand federal efforts to fight climate change, reduce the cost of child care, expand educational access, reduce poverty, and more.
The Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021 contains a variety of measures to boost retirement accounts and is heavily supported by industry.
A new survey finds that nearly three-quarters of Americans admitted they had no clue how 401(k)s, health insurance or HSAs worked when they got their first job.
The non-qualified variable annuity market is growing while the qualified market shrinks. An Insured Retirement Institute panel discussed the state of VAs and whether advisors are selling them.
A recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that last month the preventable costs of treating unvaccinated patients in hospitals totaled $3.7 billion, nearly twice as much as the estimates for June and July combined.
Aetna is suing New York City and a rival health insurers group over a $34 billion Medicare contract it says was awarded to unqualified bidders.
Ongoing negotiations to massively overhaul federal tax-and-spend policies remain impossible to pin down, a Capitol Hill insider told NAIFA members…
A Maryland couple allegedly concealed an elaborate fraud scheme over 25 years to reap more than $20 million in life insurance benefits on behalf of applicants.
Despite a pandemic-fueled recession, the number of uninsured Americans has increased only slightly since 2018, according to Census Bureau health insurance data released Tuesday. Twenty-eight million people, or 8.6% of Americans, were uninsured for all of 2020.
Misconceptions about life insurance can discourage individuals and families from purchasing policies. Here are a few misconceptions – and realities.
As if California needed another crisis, the state’s seemingly perpetual wildfires are forcing millions of homeowners in fire-prone areas to pay skyrocketing premiums for insurance coverage- if, indeed, they can buy it at all.
Americans have trillions in assets and advisors should have plenty of business in the years ahead, according to new projections of consumer wealth.
LinkedIn has evolved tremendously over the past decade. In the past few years, LinkedIn has become more like Facebook – very social and engaging. It is an incredibly powerful platform if you use it correctly. LinkedIn can transform the way you do business development if you’re willing to make the effort.
The forward momentum of the sales cycle rests on salespeople’s ability to build rapport and nurture connections. Especially in life and health insurance, trust and rapport win the day.
The current age to qualify for Medicare is 65, but researchers say that shaving off one or two years could save people in their early 60s who spend a majority of their “disposable income on health care costs” a lot of money.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency released maps that enlarge flood zones, especially in southern Broward County, using new data on hurricanes, sea level, land elevation and storm damage.
Nearly nine in 10 plan sponsors and participants (88%), respectively, agree that income in retirement is vital to financial security, according to the Nationwide Retirement Institute’s 2021 In-Plan Lifetime Income survey.
The Commonwealth Fund said its new international survey highlights gaps in Medicare and social services that must be addressed by national leadership.
