LifeHealthPro

  • 2012 1116 – ThinkAdvisor – 11 ways to sell IUL more ethically, By Bill Coffin – [link]
    • Indexed universal life sales are the fastest-growing segment of the life industry thanks to the protection they provide against market downturns while still giving policyholders the opportunity to invest profitably. But IUL is a complicated product, and those who sell it face the looming possibility of a federal fiduciary standard that would open agents and brokers to serious legal liabilities. This, at a time when clients already have low expectations of ethical behavior from their advisors and agents.
    • To manage the risk of suitability missteps, Richard Weber, president of The Ethical Edge, gave NAILBA 31 attendees a list of best practices brokerage general agencies can adopt to become better advocates for their clients and to manage expectations realistically.
    • https://www.lifehealthpro.com/2012/04/09/indexed-ul-finds-the-sweet-spot-and-stays-there
    • https://www.lifehealthpro.com/2012/10/04/an-uneasy-eye-to-the-future

Hyperfunding

Term Insurance On Funds 

  • 1998 0902 – Chicago Tribune – Preventing Loss with an Expensive Safety Net – [link]
    • All fund investors want to find a way to lock in their winnings and eliminate the potential for loss.
    • To make it happen, the fund industry would have you make a deal with the devil.
    • When you leave this mortal coil and he gets your soul, your heirs max out on your lifetime of winnings.
      • That’s the basis of new insurance products created by three companies for their mutual funds.
    • Essentially, these companies offer funds with a death benefit that safeguards your fund account against market downturns, a concept that intrigues investors and fund companies alike.
    • While only three fund groups offer this type of insurance today, it’s availability could be widespread within 12 months.
      • Prudential Investments unveiled its new PruTector product last week, following SunAmerica and American Skandia into the term-insurance-on-funds business.

Jerome Golden

  • -?- Monarch
  • -?- Equitable
  • 1987-? – Founder – BT Variable, originally named the Golden Financial Group, which he founded in 1987
  • 1999-2005 – Founder – GRR – Golden Retirement Resources, Inc 
  • 2005-? – MassMutual
  • pv – Jerome S. Golden is president of the Income Management Strategies Division of MassMutual Financial Group, which in 2005 acquired Golden Retirement Resources, Inc. (GRR), the company that he founded in 1999.
  • At GRR, Mr. Golden and his team spent six years developing and implementing the patent pending RetireMentor® system and the Flexible Benefits Annuity. RetireMentor is an integrated income-planning and management system that addresses the unique financial issues of retirement, including the need to receive secure lifetime income benefits, maintain purchasing power over time, and adjust to life events.
  • Mr. Golden was previously an executive vice president at the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, the principal insurance subsidiary of AXA Financial.
  • He was also president of BT Variable, originally named the Golden Financial Group, which he founded in 1987.
  • Mr. Golden is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries. He holds a BA from the University of Michigan.

2007 – CFA Institute – The Future of Life-Cycle Saving and Investing – 198p

  • SESSION 4: INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS PANEL – Innovative Retirement Income and Old-Age Insurance Products: Insurance and Income Annuity Solutions, by Jerome S. Golden . .  . . . . . . . . . . 91
  •  – Forbes – 
  • Time for a Tune-Up
    • Consider this a propitious time, then, to fine-tune your retirement plan.
    • “If market volatility forces people to think through their strategy more clearly, it’s a good thing,” says Jerome S. Golden, executive vice president of the Product Management Group of the Equitable Life Insurance Company. “Consider those investors who have a lot of their retirement funds tied up in company stock options,” he says.
    • “Your net worth can fluctuate dramatically. When the market is volatile, then your net worth is even more volatile. Investors are saying, ‘Gee, I cant build my retirement alone on my stock options.’ People may need to rethink some of their basic strategies, or to consider whether they had the proper strategy in the first place.” The downturn of the market means that for investors who have fewer assets than at the beginning or the year, more sophisticated strategizing is called for.
    • “If we have fewer resources than 75 days ago, says Golden, “then we just have to look at ways to increase efficiency. It does not mean that one’s entire financial plan is turned upside down. A downturn in the market often provides investors with an opportunity to formalize new strategies to get maximum growth out of their retirement savings.”

Primerica – The Bear Cave Report

  • Primerica – The Bear Cave Report  —  [BonkNote]
    • 2024 0418 – Report – The Bear Cave – Problems at Primerica (PRI), by Edwin Dorsey – [link]
  • 2024 0418 – Primerica – Press Release – PRIMERICA RESPONDS TO MISINFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPANY – [link]
  • 2024 0418 – Bezinga -Short Seller Targets Primerica Stock Claiming Agents Are Engaged In Deceptive Behavior, Shares Sink, by Adam Eckert  [link]
  • 2024 0422 – ThinkAdvisor – Primerica Clashes With Blogger Over Short Call, By Allison Bell – [link]
  • 2024 0428 – PRNewswire – SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims on Behalf of Investors of Primerica, Inc. – PRI – [link]
    • Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Primerica, Inc. (“Primerica” or the “Company”)
    • The investigation concerns whether Primerica and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.
    • On April 18, 2024, The Bear Cave published a short report on Primerica, which described the Company as “a pyramid scheme”.
      • [Bonk: 2024 0418 – Report – The Bear Cave – Problems at Primerica (PRI), by Edwin Dorsey – [link]
        • Investors believe Primerica’s unique agency recruitment model enables the company to provide much-needed financial advice to low and middle-income households and the company explicitly states it “is not a pyramid scheme.” The Bear Cave sees things differently.
      • [Bonk: primerica.com/public/primerica-misconceptions-faq.html
        • Is Primerica a pyramid scheme?  No, Primerica is not a pyramid scheme.
      • The Bear Cave cited “extensive evidence suggesting that Primerica’s highest producing agents are engaged in misleading, false, or deceptive conduct including:
        • 1) a recorded Zoom presentation from a Senior National Sales Director that alleges crooked conduct, ‘fake numbers,’ and appears to suggest an ongoing internal investigation,
        • 2) a text message recruiting script for new agents that appears to deliberately obfuscate their association with Primerica,
        • 3) agent presentations that emphasize recruiting over serving independent customers and
        • 4) a presentation by a high-producing agent saying ‘it’s normal to be a millionaire.'”
        • The Bear Cave also cited “complaints obtained through public records requests”, which “allege forged signatures on six-figure investment contracts” and “‘institutionalized theft[.]'”
        • Following publication of the Bear Cave report, Primerica’s stock price fell $1.55 per share, or 0.73%, to close at $210.09 per share on April 18, 2024

Always Marco – Index

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Sales Strategies

  • Bob Wright (Virginia) said the Society of Actuaries report referred to the fact that companies said they had no control over what agents did.
  • Chair of the LDWG – Life Disclosure Working Group – (A) – NAIC  —  [BonkNote] 

1994-4, NAIC Proceedings

⇒  1991-1992 – SOA – Final Report* of the Task Force for Research on Life Insurance Sales Illustrations, Society of Actuaries  —  [BonkNote]  —  142p

  • My Correspondence with Lafayette Life
    • On June 21, 2019, I sent a letter by regular mail to Bryan Chalmer Dunn, the president and chief executive officer of Lafayette Life. I asked several questions about the relationship between Yellen and Lafayette Life. I asked for a response by the close of business on June 28.
  • Text of July 2 Email from Planck to Belth
    • Lafayette Life’s products are sold through independent agents and independent marketing organizations.
      • Our role is limited to providing life insurance policies and annuity contracts.
      • We do not endorse or sponsor any selling system nor do we develop, advertise or promote the marketing content or materials for any selling system.
      • We do not inquire about, attempt to determine, or identify in our systems whether any independent agents appointed to sell our products are users of any specific selling system.
    • Please be assured that Lafayette Life makes it clear through our contracts with those selling our products and disclosures to our customers that our life insurance policies and annuity contracts are insurance products.

2019 0712 – Commentary – Joseph Belth – No. 322: Pamela Yellen-Her Unbelievable “Bank-on-Yourself” Wealth-Building Strategy – [link]

  • Speaking from my IMSA experience, there’s a lot of emphasis on internal replacements, replacement activity, trying to meet those definitions, and track that activity, but beyond that, not much is captured in the applications.
  • But at some companies that I’ve talked to, there’s a real concern about funds coming from a lump sum paid out of a 401(k) plan.
  • The concern is that these are qualified monies, and that somehow a broker/dealer/sales agent rolls them into a non-qualified variable annuity.
  • That would really be ripe for some kind of abuse because you’re probably not helping out that customer.
  • So you have to go through a litany of questions with the customer, like:
    • “Is this the right time to buy this annuity?
    • Are you fully funding your 401(k)?
    • Are you in your deferred comp plan at work?”
  • We need to determine the right choice and order of priority for some of those kinds of issues.
  • Regulators make a comparison with the existing insurance program to determine if a company is really looking at the customer’s profile.
  • [Bonk: IMSA = Insurance Marketplace Standards Association]

—  Dana Rudmose, not a member of the sponsoring organizations, is Director of KPMG Peat Marwick in Columbus, OH

1998 – SOA – Market Conduct: A New Actuarial Frontier, Society of Actuaries – 20p 

Qualified Money to Life Insurance

  • 2012 – LC – BERNICE F. BAMBULIS vs. PROTECTIVE LIFE INSURANCE CO.
    • Civil Action No. 11-2256
    • United States District Court, E.D. Louisiana.
    • 2012 1211 – [Google Scholar]
      • This action arose over the termination of a life insurance policy and an alleged misunderstanding over the tax consequences of that closure.
      • On June 20, 1988, Kemper Investors Life Insurance Company (“Kemper”) issued a single-premium life insurance policy to Bambulis. (Rec. Doc. No. 26-1, at 1).
      • Along with the Surrender Form, Plaintiff enclosed a letter to Kemper, indicating her belief that no tax should be owed for the surrender of the Policy because the Policy was purchased with the proceeds of a 401(k).
      • Accordingly, for the reasons stated above, IT IS ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Rec. Doc. No. 26) be GRANTED.

26 Feb 2005, Sat Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Florida) Newspapers.com

Primerica – A.L. Williams – Index

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Spin Life

  • 2006 1216 – NYT – How Spin Life Works – [Infographic] – [link]
  • 2006 1217 – NYT – Late in Life, Finding a Bonanza in Life Insurance, By Charles Duhigg – [link]
    •  ndlegis.gov/files/resource/60-2007/library/sb2268.pdf – p99-
    • Insurance executives, for instance, say transactions like Mr. Margolis’s may cripple their industry and make it harder for the average senior to buy life insurance in the first place. Insurers are worried because they count on many customers canceling their policies before they die, usually because their children grow up and no longer need the financial protection, their pensions kick in or premiums become too expensive. If far more policies result in payouts, the insurance business becomes much less profitable.
    • Indeed, industry analysts say they expect the cost of life insurance to rise as companies prepare to pay out more claims.
    • “If payouts increase, the cost of insuring people is effectively going up, and that will definitely increase the price of policies,” said J. David Cummins, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.