Illustration – Descriptions

  • From the Floor: Hal, do you really think that it’s reasonable to get an insurance community to agree on a single definition of an illustration?
  • Mr. Phillips: I’m very hopeful that we could agree. Actuaries should agree first, of course. If we can’t agree and move forward, then I’m really discouraged. Then we’re going to have problems forever in the whole business of illustrations. 
  • A life insurance policy illustration is a mathematical calculation of benefits and values over time under specific, simplified, and generally static assumptions. (p141)
  • Appendix II – Illustration Examples
  • In my opinion, illustrations are just a sales aid, almost like an advertisement in the newspaper.

—  Mahir Dugentas

  • In one sense, any sales illustration is a form of an actuarial report to a potential reader, whether it be a consumer or someone else.

–  BRUCE E. NICKERSON

  • A policy illustration is meant to provide an example,
    based on certain assumptions, of how a policy’s costs and benefits may develop over time-including, but not limited to, premium amounts owed, cash values, and death benefits.
  • Commissioner Wilcox responded that the definition of illustration included more than a ledger.

1994-3, NAIC Proceedings

  • Illustrations, as everyone in this profession knows, are merely a projection of what policy values would develop under one set of assumptions.

—  JUDY FAUCETT