—President Joe Biden turned to his old boss, former President Barack Obama, on Saturday to help him encourage Americans to sign up for “Obamacare” health care coverage during an expanded special enrollment period in the pandemic.

Barely more than a year after the coronavirus caused the steepest economic fall and job losses on record, the speed of the rebound has been so unexpectedly swift that many companies can’ t fill jobs or acquire enough supplies.

U.S. employers added a modest 559,000 jobs in May, an improvement from April’s sluggish gain but still evidence that many companies are struggling to find enough workers as the economy rapidly recovers from the pandemic recession.

Planning for retirement can be tricky. It requires sacrifice in terms of saving money over many years, shrewdness in investing it and discipline in withdrawing it cautiously.

The silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it sparked a greater interest in employee benefits and products such as life insurance.

Expect even more digital acceleration while keeping empathy and a human touch throughout the life insurance purchase process.

LIMRA CEO David Levenson says record-breaking life applications and strong sales in April indicate that 2021 is poised to turn an outstanding first quarter into a year for the record books.

The pandemic brought a double-barrel shot of pain to the annuity industry in 2020. In addition to the sudden economic wreckage, face-to-face sales were virtually eliminated overnight. As 2021 reaches the midpoint, insurers and producers have recovered lost ground and added gains.

Al Caicedo transitioned his marketing to digital and saw his practice skyrocket.

The weather is getting warmer, our mood is getting brighter and we’re getting ready to spend again. Except we aren’t quite committed just yet. Nagging doubt is setting in.

—With a dozen states rejecting an offer of extra federal money if they expend Medicaid, Georgia’s two Democratic U.S. senators are now pushing for a federal workaround.

Overall, 7 in 10 life insurance carriers — including nine of the top 10 — reported increases in new annualized premium in the first three months of 2021.

Planners and advisors say not many clients are asking about ESG investing, but are becoming interested the more clients learn about them.

Congress has a number of tax and debt related issues to deal with over the summer and fall, members of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors were told at their virtual Congressional Conference.

Ways to make your insurance sales process more efficient while increasing customer satisfaction.

With the end of the 2020 filing season upon us, now is the time to become aware of major changes for 2021. But be prepared, politicians are making noise in preparation for another fun-filled year of late breaking changes.

In an era when regulators are tightening standards around fee transparency and disclosure, it is clear than consumers want clarity and are not finding it, according to the Hearts & Wallets survey.

—The prospects for an ambitious infrastructure deal have been thrown into serious doubt after the White House reduced President Joe Biden’s sweeping proposal to $1.7 trillion but Republican senators rejected the compromise as disappointing.

Legislation known as the “public option” that would have created a state-sponsored insurance plan for small businesses and nonprofits will not be taken up by the General Assembly following opposition from Gov. Ned Lamont.

The U.S. economic recovery is now in full swing. Despite the natural challenges of ramping back up, the recovery still seems capable of providing upside surprises.

With “normal” finally within sight, brokers and their customers are coming to grips with the ripple effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on every aspect of the health care industry — and, in many respects, how America does business.

The Department of Labor is likely to scrutinize sales contests and other incentives under the investment advice rule.

President Joe Biden and progressive Democrats have proposed to lower Medicare’ s eligibility age to 60, to help older adults get affordable coverage. But in Congress the proposal has little support from Republicans.

Institutional investors were already anxious about inflation before the consumer price index popped above 4% for the first time since 2008.

As another hurricane season bears down on the state, more than 50,000 Florida home insurance customers will soon receive notices that their policies have been canceled or won’ t be renewed.

A California insurer claimed its coverage does not include the type of helicopter that crashed on Jan. 26, 2020, killing basketball legend Kobe Bryant and eight others.

People who complained to the Insurance Division or the Iowa Attorney General said they couldn’t get through to Transamerica, an investment, retirement and life insurance company, to check on their investments, make transfers or seek payouts after the death of a loved one.

As many Americans return to post-pandemic normalcy, life insurers are as well, with many companies curtailing or eliminating underwriting restrictions that have been in place since March 2020.

Rumors are rampant that the Biden administration plans to rework exemptions within the Trump administration’s investment advice rule to closer resemble the Obama-era fiduciary rule.

Over the years, Congress expanded the size of the credit and made it available to lower-income people, too. In 2017, the maximum credit was raised to $2,000 and income limits were increased to $200,000 for single filers and $400,000 for married couples.

The pandemic is driving more employers to offer voluntary benefits, with nearly all employers (94%) expecting these employee-pay-all or unsubsidized…

“These behaviors make it clear that to achieve sustained growth, insurers cannot rely on global disasters to boost uptake of life insurance,” according to a Deloitte report.

It’s not uncommon to hear responses like “I’ll think about it,” “I have enough insurance” or even “I don’t like insurance.”

President Joe Biden met Wednesday with the four congressional leaders at the White House for the first time and said he wants to reach a compromise on an infrastructure plan, but expectations for a quick deal remain slim.

Nearly three-fourths (72%) of advisors and financial professionals are very concerned about tax increases over the next four years, according to Nationwide’s Washington Impact Survey.

Here are some of our lessons learned that might be helpful to those already in this business, and to those contemplating entry into it.

Brighthouse continues to broaden distribution and grow life insurance sales, CEO Eric Steigerwalt said on a conference call with analysts this morning.

In the first quarter 2021, total annuity sales were $60.9 billion, a 9% increase from first quarter 2020, according to preliminary results from the Secure Retirement Institute.

Home equity increased to $7.8 trillion for homeowners 62 and older in the third quarter of 2020, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. That’s good news for retirees because their home could provide the key to long-term security.

As taxpayers face a May 17 tax filing deadline, Congress is negotiating the possible expansion or elimination of the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions— an issue of particular significance to residents of high tax states.

The Biden administration announced the allocation of $21.6 billion in emergency rental assistance to help prevent evictions of people who lost jobs during the pandemic. This latest round of aid for renters was included in the $1.9 trillion relief package pushed through Congress in March.

Speaking during a quarterly earnings call, American Equity CEO Anant Bhalla pledges a strong push for fixed index annuities for the rest of 2021.

The U.S. economy is on the brink of a dramatic year of growth as the COVID-19 pandemic fades into the background. But some sectors of the economy are doing better than others, according to Sara Eisen, co-host of CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”

Strong sales of its buffered annuity, FlexGuard, helped Prudential continue its first-quarter shift away from interest rate-sensitive products and underpinned its strong financial showing.

American Financial is trying to figure out what to do with the billions it will have in excess cash after the sale of the Great American Life Insurance Co. in the second quarter.

The House Ways and Means Committee unanimously passed a bill today that would make changes to how U.S. workers save for retirement, making it easier for annuities to find their way into plans.

Total fourth quarter sales for all deferred annuities were $56.3 billion, an increase of nearly 4% when compared to the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 6% when compared to the same period last year.

Concerned that a convicted healthcare mogul freed by then-President Donald Trump might flee the country, Justice Department prosecutors urged a federal judge Tuesday to confine Philip Esformes to his South Florida home with an electronic ankle monitor and impose a $10.5 million bond.

There’s a surprising level of bipartisan agreement on some proposals that could help make long-term care more affordable, according to the late March survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Washington’s insurance commissioner calls on all states to ban credit scores, while industry groups say the ban will punish rather than help consumers.

Indictments charged that former players requested reimbursement for expensive medical equipment that they didn’t actually buy or receive, including hyperbaric oxygen machines and electromagnetic therapy devices designed for use on horses.

The conglomerate said that besides the investment gains, profit also improved at all of its major divisions — including insurance, utility, railroad, manufacturing and retail companies — as the economy continued to recover from the pandemic.

Some economists, notably former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, have warned that the Federal Reserve’s current ultra-low interest rates, along with the Biden administration’ s proposed $4 trillion in new spending, atop about $5 trillion already approved, risk accelerating inflation.

Polls found that Americans are more confident about covering their daily expenses and their ability to handle an emergency, but they also mortgaged some of their future to pay for that security today.

This decision could be appealed to the New York Court of Appeals, which is the state’s highest court. Additionally, the state may request a stay on the Appellate Division’s decision pending an appeal to the state Appeals Court.

Will partisan gridlock always be on the Congressional menu? Or are there some issues on which Democrats and Republicans can work together?

Principal reported higher revenues across most of its business lines, lower expenses and higher assets under management (AUM).

Many wealthy families would be spared in leaving the estate tax exemption as is, but get slammed by the elimination of the step up in basis.

Despite consumers’ widespread adoption of digital channels to engage with insurers, most insurance sales still finalize offline or in-person.