Record of Society of Actuaries

2026 - IAIS - Consultation - Customers Receiving Value From Insurance Products

  • value
  • fair outcomes
  • intangible
  • complex
  • Understanding
  • pricing structures
  • informed choices
  •  
  • Summary - 1p - iais.org/uploads/2026/04/Summary_Draft-Issues-Paper-on-customers-receiving-value-from-insurance-products.pdf
    • However, insurance products do not always deliver a compelling value proposition to their customers which can lead to poor customer outcomes and, in some cases, a broader erosion of consumer trust.
    • The Issues Paper aims to enhance understanding of the importance of insurance products delivering meaningful value to customers and of ways to achieve this. The paper suggests that depending entirely on a “buyer beware” approach, which places the full responsibility on consumers to avoid low-value insurance products, may not be fair or effective.
    • ICP 19.0.2 reinforces this perspective by highlighting that fair treatment of customers extends beyond only information provision to include, amongst other outcomes, minimising the risk of sales that do not align with customers’ interests and needs.
  • 1961 – Book – Modern Life Insurance, by Robert I. Mehr
    • (p1) … in gaining a life insurance education, one problem does present itself… the basic question is where to begin. 
  • 1993-4, NAIC Proceedings - LDWG - Life Disclosure Working Group - NAIC
    • (p655) - William Koenig (Northwestern Mutual) suggested that the parties all needed a common understanding of the terms used in their discussion.
  • 1991 - SOA - Illustrations, rsa91v17n4a18 - Society of Actuaries  ---  [BonkNote] 
    • (p16) - Walter Miller, [Prudential] - The educational task is huge, and it's not just with the customers; it's with our agents also.
    • I would say to all of you that if you think that you don't have any customers or any agents who fail to understand what a nonguaranteed illustration really means, you're kidding yourself.
  • 2025 1110 - InsuranceNewsNet - Kyle Busch Case: A day of reckoning for indexed universal life?, by John Hilton  ---  [BonkNote]  ---  [link]
    • Lawsuits by disgruntled customers unhappy with the performance of their indexed universal life policy are nothing new. 
    • But a new complaint from race car driver Kyle Busch and his wife, Samantha, is something else entirely.
  • 2009 - LC - Blumenthal v. New York Life  ---  [BonkNote]
    • 2010 0302 - LC - Blumenthal v. New York Life - Deposition of Irving Blumenthal - 85-1 and 85-7 - Exh 1 and 6 - 61p
      • (p91) – [Defense Attorney - Phillip E. Stano] - Q - Are you blaming Mr. Marlin for your voluntary signing of this piece of paper?
      • [Policyholder - Plaintiff] - A - I would actually say that Mr. Marlow [sic] had – I don't know why I signed it. I have no idea. He had – he had to do something to allow me to sign it, that I didn't know what I -
      • [Defense Attorney - Phillip E. Stano] - Q - Do you believe in the philosophy of accepting personal responsibility for your actions?
      • [Plaintiff Attorney - MS. EMMONS] - Objection.
      • [Policyholder - Plaintiff] - A - THE WITNESS: I don't see what that has to do with this policy, period.

Lapse-Based Insurance

  • 2023 1130 - NAIC - Proceedings - NAIC/Consumer Liaison Committee - https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/national_meeting/31_MinutesPacket-Consumer.pdf
    • 9. Heard a Presentation on How Much Life Insurance Purchased in the U.S. Becomes a Death Claim
      Richard Weber (Consumer Representative) provided a presentation based on the paper Lapse-Based Insurance,
      published in 2016 and updated in 2021. The paper was written by David Gottlieb (London School of Economics
      and Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania) and Kent Smetters (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania).
      Weber said most individual life insurance policies lapse before expiration. Weber said over 70% of U.S. families
      own life insurance, and annual premiums exceed $110 billion. Weber said between 1990 and 2010, there were
      $30.8 trillion in life insurance issued and $24 trillion in life insurance lapses. Weber said 25% of permanent
      insurance policyholders lapse within just three years of first purchasing their policies, and 40% lapse within 10
      years. Weber said nearly 88% of universal life policies ultimately do not terminate with a death-benefit claim, and
      almost 85% of term policies fail to pay a death claim.
  • 2016 – AP – Lapse-Based Insurance, by Daniel Gottlieb and Kent Smetters – 83p
    • This paper was previously titled “Narrow Framing and Life Insurance.”
  • 2021 (Update) – AP – Lapse-Based Insurance.  American Economic Review, 111 (8): 2377-2416, by Daniel Gottlieb and Kent Smetters – 101p
    • 1996 - SOA - A Long-Term-Care Status Transition Model -1996 Bowles Symposium by Jim Robinson, the-old-age-crisis-actuarial-opportunities-the-1996-bowles, Society of Actuaries - 8p
    • 1998 - SOA - Current Issues in Product Pricing, rsa98v24n3133pd - Society of Actuaries - 20p
      • 24(3): 1 - 20 - Mark F. Mahoney, A. Micheal McMahon, and A. David Pelletier
    • Howard, Kevin, 2006. “Pricing Lapse Supported Products: Secondary Guarantee Universal Life,” Presentation to the October 2006 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, session titled “Pricing Lapse Supported / Lapse-Sensitive Product
    • LeBel, Dominique, 2006. “Pricing Lapse Supported / Lapse-Sensitive Products.” Presentation to the October 2006 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, session titled “Pricing Lapse Supported / Lapse-Sensitive Products.”

1979 1213 - NP - The Atlanta Journal - Football Coach Becomes Insurance 'Maverick' - [Art Williams] 

  • 1979 1213 - NP - The Atlanta Journal - Football Coach Becomes Insurance 'Maverick' - [Art Williams]  ---  [BonkNote]

13 Dec 1979, Thu The Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia) Newspapers.com

13 Dec 1979, Thu The Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia) Newspapers.com

13 Dec 1979, Thu The Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia) Newspapers.com

Bad Links

  • Year-? - Common Sense - Split Funding - A.L. Williams - 3p - <Bad Link>
  • Year-? - A.L. Williams Is a Management Company - 4p - <Bad Link>
  •  X - 2016 0719 - Seeking Alpha - Ackman Targeted The Wrong MLM: Primerica Will Collapse Before Herbalife - [link]
  • 2025 – Primerica Review (2025): Main Street Company or Sesame Street MLM? – ecosecretariat.org/primerica-mlm-review/ – <Bad Link>
    • as of 2025 0124 – 112,758 VIEWS
  • 1987 0601 - CNN / Money - The Mess Called Multi-Level Marketing With celebrities setting the bait, hundreds of pyramid-style sales companies are raking in millions, often taking in the gullible, (MONEY Magazine), By Richard Eisenberg - [link] - https://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1987/06/01/83883/index.htm
    • Speaking at a recent A.L. Williams satellite hookup, national sales director Bill Anderton shunned discussion of recruiting. ''It has the multilevel marketing image I don't feel comfortable with,'' he said. ''We call it associate development."
  • http://forbes.com/advisor/life-insurance/premium-financing-problems/
  • 2018 1218 - Insurance Compact - Insurance Compact Product Standards Committee, Member Call Summary - 4p
    • Th PSC reviewed the ACLI comments under Benefit Provisions in §3A (1) and agreed it would add clarity to include requirements for adjustable life and whole life separately:

Tom Gober

  • 2009 0317 - MG - Newsweek - Hirsh: The Next AIG Scandal? - newsweek.com/hirsh-next-aig-scandal-76395
    • Christian Milton, AIG's vice president of reinsurance from 1982 to 2005, was convicted last year in federal district court of conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud and making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
    • But if Gober is right, the implications are almost too awful to contemplate.
  • The risky assets include collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), which resemble the collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) at the center of the 2008 financial crisis.
  • But the NAIC sees no cause for alarm.
    • "However, while the relative size of this asset class for the sector has been growing, it represents only 2.6% of total cash and invested assets at year-end 2020, and most of the investments held by the industry are of a higher quality.
    • The NAIC has performed multi-scenario stress tests on industry CLO portfolios and closely monitors their performance."
  • But some followers of these matters were rankled by what they perceived as the letter's "nothing to see here" tone.
    • "The response is certainly no surprise," said Tom Gober, a Virginia-based forensic accountant who has documented the tens of billions of dollars of annuity liabilities that a handful of PE-led annuity issuers have reinsured offshore, often with affiliated reinsurers.
      • "The NAIC's leaders apparently huddled around and threw a bunch of points at Brown that, in a vacuum, sound fine.
        • But when you are familiar with the details, the letter is mainly fluff, and grossly inadequate.

2022 0603 - Retirement Income Journal - NAIC Reassures Congress on Private Equity-Led Insurers, By Kerry Pechter  ---  [BonkNote]  ---  [link]

Annuities - Lawsuits

  • 1980s - Baldwin-United – Lawsuits  ---  [BonkNote] 
  • Yokoyama v. Midland National Life Ins. Co., 594 F.3d 1087 (9th Cir. 2010)
    • https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-casd-3_08-md-01988/pdf/USCOURTS-casd-3_08-md-01988-4.pdf
      • IN RE: COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL CORP. MORTGAGE MARKETING AND SALES PRACTICES LITIGATION,
      • First, she relies
        on Yokoyama v. Midland National Life Ins. Co., 594 F.3d 1087 (9th Cir. 2010). That case involved
        a claim under Hawaii’s Deceptive Practices Act, a counterpart to California’s UCL. There, the
        plaintiffs alleged that representations in the defendant’s sales and marketing brochures were
        misleading and deceptive in that the defendant “represents that its annuities protect its clients from the risks of the stock market and that Midland fails to include in its documentation facts necessary to
        inform prospective purchasers of the true risks, possible detriments, and unsuitability of Midland’s
        long-term annuities for seniors.” Id. at 1090. The district court denied class certification on the
        ground that individual issues of reliance would predominate over any common issues. The Ninth
        Circuit disagreed with the district court’s interpretation of Hawaii law, and instead found that reliance
        could be shown by an objective, reasonable person standard. Id. at 1093. In light of that legal error,
        the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of class certification.
        Plaintiff likens her case to Yokoyama, specifically that portion of the case that describes the
        plaintiff’s claim as one that relies exclusively on written materials. However, there is a critical
        distinction between the facts of Yokoyama and the facts of this case: In Yokoyama, the defendant
        “obligate[d] its brokers, with respect to each sale, ... to certify that nothing was said that is inconsistent
        with Midland’s brochures and disclosure forms.” Id. at 1090. In contrast, Defendants here imposed
        no such obligation on their loan officers or the independent brokers. On the contrary, Defendants
        assert their brokers and loan officers “provided the supposedly omitted information to each borrower
        in oral communications or in other loan documents that varied from borrower to borrower.” (Opp’n
        to Mot. at 11) (citations omitted).

2026 0331 - NAIC - LIAIWG - Call - Life Insurance and Annuities Illustrations Working Group - (A) 

  • 2026 0331 - NAIC - LIAIWG - Call - Life Insurance and Annuities Illustrations Working Group - (A)  ---  [BonkNote]
    • Agenda
    • Materials
    • 2026 0331 - NAIC - LIAIWG - Letters - Life Insurance and Annuities Illustrations Working Group - (A)  ---  [BonkNote]
  • 1- Ben Slutsker, Chair Minnesota
    • NAIC Spring National Meeting
      • Presentation / Observations - Annuity and Life Insurance Illustrations - LIAC - Life Insurance (A) Committee 
      • Double Digit Returns - 20+%
      • <WishList> - Presentation
  • 5 - Donna Megregian, AAA - American Academy of Actuaries - From Letter
    • The LPrC observed the lack of adoption of the amended Model 245 and would benefit from understanding why it has not been adopted by a majority of the states. We were also curious whether the variations in disclosures and illustrations gathered by the Working Group were observed within states that had adopted the amended Model 245 versus those that had not adopted the amended Model 245. If the adoption of the amended Model 245 mitigates the concerns raised regarding the amount and the range of annual returns disclosed or illustrated, we would suggest that the Working Group focus on education by encouraging nationwide adoption.
    • Illustrations are not predictions of performance and, based on our understanding, were never intended to be.
    • Recognizing that consumers learn in various ways, we encourage collaboration with consumer groups to explore how visuals and other media might be leveraged to understand the volatile and variable nature of returns from product features.
    • Can't call illustrations "projection"
  • Richard Weber, NAIC Consumer Rep, LICAC, Life Insurance Consumer Advocacy Center
    •