ThinkAdvisor

  • 2024 0102 - ThinkAdvisor - Regulators lukewarm on illustrations rewrite in 2024, by John Hilton - [link]
    • "Misleading and deceptive practices" is the one barrier regulators could do something about, they say. It starts with addressing misleading illustrations.
    • Birny Birnbaum and Brenda J. Cude urged regulators to tackle that barrier by updating the life insurance illustration regulation
    • Birnbaum provided regulators one sample illustration of a product showing a 20% return as a "worst-case scenario." - <WishList>
    • NAIC regulators are candid about not wanting to reopen the overall illustrations model because it would likely be a years-long process. The current illustrations regulation was adopted in 1997 after a similar process. And that was before indexed universal life insurance even existed.
    • With the exception of Philip Barlow, associate commissioner for insurance with the District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, none of the regulators sought further information from Birnbaum or Cude.
      • "Looking at some of those sample illustrations they seem to be things that are not plausible for somebody who has any level of financial literacy," Barlow said. "That they can be used with people seems to be a big problem."
      • Barlow asked what the NAIC could do to address illustrations but the question went unanswered.
    • It is long overdue to update the life illustrations model regulation, agreed Sheryl Moore, CEO of Wink, Inc. and Moore Market Intelligence.
      • "It is time to nip the illustration gamesmanship by the bud," she said. "Indexed life didn’t exist when the life insurance illustration model regulation was adopted by the states. It’s time to reopen the model reg, and ensure that all cash value life insurance products are being illustrated in a manner that is helpful in ensuring that the consumer understands how the product truly works."
  • 2023 1019 - ThinkAdvisor.com - PHL Variable Sues Its Insurers for Help With Defense Costs, By Allison Bell - [link]
  • 2023 1031 - ThinkAdvisor.com - Ed Slott: Yes, IRA Rollovers Are Advice Under New DOL Fiduciary Rule, By Melanie Waddell - [link]
  • 2023 1110 - ThinkAdvisor.com - The 2 Biggest Fights Brewing Over DOL’s New Fiduciary Rule, By Melanie Waddell - [link]
    • This aspect of the new rule will be challenged in court, Reish and others, including Ed Slott
  • AIG’s defenders have long asserted that the company’s troubles were not insurance-based; they were the work of what amounted to a rogue financial products office in London that vastly overextended its reach on trafficking toxic debt.
    • The fundamentals of the company, or so the conventional wisdom goes, were solid, especially on its insurance operations.
      • ⇒ ... the conventional wisdom on AIG is wrong.

2012 0213 - ThinkAdvisor - Fallout (AIG), By Arthur D. Postal - [link]

  • 2002 0804 - ThinkAdvisor - Class Action Suits Have Weakened State Regulation, ACLI Tells Congress, By Steven Brostoff - [link]
  • 2004 1006 - ThinkAdvisor - UL Policy Design Objectives, By Staff Writer - [link]
  • 2006 - ThinkAdvisor - The Life Long Learner, by By Staff Writer - [link]
    • The Task Force for the Future, an industry-wide coalition charged with identifying and solving major challenges facing the life insurance industry, found that the average age for life insurance agents exceeds 55 years.
  • 2007 0624 - ThinkAdvisor - New Disclosure Documents Seen Aiding Annuity Purchasers, By Jim Connolly - [link]
  • 2009 0324 - ThinkAdvisor - Geithner To Ask For More Powers By Arthur D. Postal - [link]
    • AIG’s problems “highlight the need for a resolution authority with the power to manage the orderly restructuring of a large, complex, non-bank financial institution that poses a threat to the stability of our financial system,” Geithner said.
  • 2012 0213 - ThinkAdvisor - Fallout (AIG), By Arthur D. Postal - [link]
  • 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.
  • 2015 0722 - ThinkAdvisor - Misrepresentation and ignorance: A dangerous blend for ethics, By Brian Anderson - [link]
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  • 2017 0818 - ThinkAdvisor - Your 5 Best Arguments for Life Insurance (Besides the Death Benefit), By Ed Slott - [link]
    1. IRAs are bad assets; life insurance is a good asset.
    2. Life insurance is an investment, not an expense.
    3. Life insurance has lifetime benefits.
    4. You get more control with life insurance.
    5. Leverage is a powerful tool for wealth creation.
  • 2019 0222 - ThinkAdvisor - New York Financial Superintendent Lacewell Warns of Hidden Costs in Universal Life Policies, By Elizabeth Festa - [link]
    • 2019 0221 - New York - Department of Financial Services - Consumer Alert - Acting DFS Superintendent Lacewell Issues Consumer Alert Regarding Universal Life Policies: DFS Urges New Yorkers to Carefully Review Their Policies and All Information Provided by Their Insurer- [link]
  • 2019 1213 - ThinkAdvisor - Whole Life Insurance Critics Aren’t Serious, By David Lewis - [link]
  • 2020 0714 - ThinkAdvisor - Indexed Universal Life Illustration Fight Continues to Boil, By Allison Bell - [link]
  • 2022 0603 - ThinkAdvisor - NAIC Rejects Need for Federal Help With Private Equity-Owned Life Insurers, By Allison Bell - [link]
  • 2022 0512 - ThinkAdvisor - Treasury Secretary Worries About Leverage at Life Insurers, by Allison Bell - [link]
  • 2023 1130 - ThinkAdvisor - Consumer Reps Ask States to Change Annuities' Faces, By Allison Bell - [link]
    • Illustrations, 
    • Birny Birnbaum, Brenda Cude, Bobby Samuelson, Larry Rybka
  • 2023 1130 - ThinkAdvisor - How Life Insurance Policy Reviews Trip Up Fiduciary Advisors, By John Manganaro
    • FPA Report
      • ? - 2020 04 - FPA - Providing Life Insurance Advice under the New CFP Board Practice Standards, By Paul H. Auslander, V. Raymond Ferrara, and Barry D. Flagg - [link]
    • Policy Illustrations Are Particularly Fraught
    • “The NAIC Life Insurance Illustrations Model Regulation generally ignores these risks,” the authors warn, “instead permitting both mortality improvements and operating gains (albeit with disclosures in footnotes not often read by planners or clients), as well as a wide range of interest/earnings assumptions that have too often proven to be unreasonable.”
    • CFP - cfp.net/-/media/files/cfp-board/standards-and-ethics/compliance-resources/naic-comparison-guide.pdf
  • 2024 0102 - ThinkAdvisor - Regulators Lukewarm on Illustrations rRewrite in 2024, by John Hilton - [link]
  • 2024 0111 - ThinkAdvisor -  7 Threats Life and Annuity Commenters See Lurking in DOL Fiduciary Rule Draft, By Allison Bell - [link]
  • Brenda Cude, a NAIC-funded consumer representative and a professor with the University of Georgia in Athens, said the project is important because its developers went right to consumers to ask them what they felt was important.
    • Consumer focus groups gave developers a better sense of what consumers read and what they need, she added. The overall opinion of consumers that assessed the work was that it is readable, she noted.
  • “I think it is admirable that an industry group says, ‘We need help doing a better job,’” Cude said.
    • There are different disclosure templates for variable and fixed annuities, she noted. “This is a requirement, and they’re saying, ‘Why shouldn’t we do the best that we can?’” she added.
  • “In many ways the insurance area is behind the curve, compared with other areas in the financial services industry in finding more effective ways of disclosure,” and this offers a way to catch up, Cude said.

2007 0624 - ThinkAdvisor - New Disclosure Documents Seen Aiding Annuity Purchasers, By Jim Connolly - [link]