Semantics

  • Pursuing this thought further brings to light the fact that our nomenclature in this field is not only poor semantics but also far from precise. 

--  Ralph E. Edward

1955 -  SOA - Analysis of Approximate Valuation Methods, Society of Actuaries - 16p

  • Jesse M. Schwartz:  Why are people so reluctant to call Total Life permanent insurance?
  • Myron H. Margolin:  Universal Life type products are, I suppose, permanent.
    • It is a semantic question whether they are permanent life or not, but clearly they are not the traditional cash value products as we have known them...

1981 - SOA - The Future of Permanent Life Insurance (rsa81v7n36), Society of Actuaries - 22p

  • There are semantic problems here.
    • Adjustable life used to apply to the specific product that Bankers of Iowa and Minnesota Mutual had. 
    • That product had many characteristics of the traditional cash value policy.
    • Some use the expression "adjustable life" to apply to Universal Life products.
    • I do not know whether you meant to apply adjustable life to those.

--  Myron H. Margolin

1981 - SOA - The Future of Permanent Life Insurance, Society of Actuaries - 22p

  • THE TOWER OF BABEL REVISITED
  • The individuals involved in drafting the investment law come from a variety of professional backgrounds, with attorneys predominating among industry representatives.
    • In contrast, few regulators have a legal background.
  • Some of the issues have been bitterly disputed.
  • The differences seem to lie mostly in semantics.
    • A clear example of this problem was the continued arguments regarding the use of fiduciary and the directors' accountability standard.
  • Regulators believed that insurance company directors had a fiduciary responsibility to policyholders, a view that even most participants believed conceptually correct, but industry attorneys were highly concerned about potential legal ramifications that might occur if the actual word was used explicitly in the MIL.  [NAIC Model Investment Law]
  • These linguistic differences compounded the already difficult development process.

--   Arthur Fliegelman (Vice President of the Bond Portfolio Analysis Group for Salomon Brothers in New York, NY.)

1995 - SOA - NAIC Model Investment Law, Society of Actuaries - 20p

  • First, he will find that the usual notions of lapse, select mortality, maintenance expenses and the like begin to lose their meaning when applied to the ALI "class."
    • Is reduction of premium a partial lapse?
    • What about reduction of face amount, or reduction of the coverage period? 
    • ⇒ [Bonk: ALI = Adjustable Life Insurance]

--  J. Peter Duran

1979 - SOA - The Adjustable Life Decisions, Society of Actuaries - 18p