Indexed life and annuities are some of the bestselling products on the market. That isn’t likely to change, despite some headwinds in the forecast.
PAGE 16
Demystifying the index marketplace with Sheryl Moore
PAGE 10
Surprise your clients with the sheer power of life insurance
PAGE 32 Stop annuity ‘myths’ in their tracks PAGE 36
Named 2024 Insurtech of the Year
Steve Fletcher President, Quility
8,500+ Agents and Growing Digital-first. Human-powered. Built by agents. For agents.
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Illustration
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Quility Switchboard® Funnel™ transforms the sales pipeline into a guided path, matching leads with curated messaging and next-step logic to help agents convert smarter.
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This isn’t just insurtech. It’s innovation — at scale. Discover how on page 4 .
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Demystifying the index marketplace
Sheryl Moore, CEO of Wink Inc., is obsessed with everything concerning indexed life and annuity products and believes agents and advisors should think in simpler terms about these life-changing products.
By John Hilton
Indexed products continue to dominate sales, innovation and regulatory discussions.
26 The GOAT of advice
By Susan Rupe
Alyson Burkett used a familiar farm animal to inspire a practice built on providing advice in a nonthreatening atmosphere.
36 Don’t let annuity ‘myths’ block their adoption
By Timothy Pitney
Why many employers and their workers struggle with “annuity fluency.”
40 How to overcome longterm care talk avoidance
By Don Connelly
Too many clients and advisors shy away from discussing future health care needs.
44 What CROPS are you sowing?
By Alan C. Kifer
How to identify niche markets and distinct prospect demographics along with unique methods to serve them.
46 Building trust through the power of storytelling
32 Surprise your clients –with life insurance!
By Eric Tarnow Research shows consumers are surprised to learn what life insurance can do for them and their families.
Steve Plewes
Sharing who you are helps clients recognize you can relate to them.
The Fed rate debate: How insurers cope with interest rates
Any movement in interest rates has a corresponding impact on both life insurers and policyholders.
Indexed universal life and indexed annuities have always been innovating and advancing, morphing with markets, regulation and technology. If we fast-forward 10 years, the next wave of change likely won’t be about a single “hot” index or a new cap. It will be about rewiring how these products are built, priced, explained and used in real financial plans. Since artificial intelligence is the “hot thing” in the insurance industry — and most other industries — we asked ChatGPT to tell us what the future of indexes might look like 10 years hence.
What ChatGPT thinks indexed life and annuities could look like in 2035
1) From “pick an index” to personalized risk budgets — Today’s crediting choices feel like a menu; by 2035 they’ll feel like a thermostat. Carriers will offer dynamic, rules-based allocation engines that keep each client within a personalized volatility “budget.” Instead of manually toggling between volatility-control indexes and fixed accounts, policy owners will elect goals — income stability, cash value growth, protection priority — and the engine will shift allocations automatically at preset intervals. Think target-date logic adapted to indexed crediting, with transparent guardrails and auditable rules to satisfy regulators.
2) Smarter, more honest illustrations — Expect illustrations to become less about “if everything goes right” and more about “how this behaves across many markets.” Carriers will standardize multi-scenario views: low/median/high paths, sequence-of-returns stress tests and fee-drag overlays that follow the policy’s actual mechanics. Agents will be able to toggle shocks (e.g., a three-year drawdown, rate spikes) and instantly see income rider effects, loans and policy charges. The net result: fewer surprises, better persistency and sales built on behavior, not hope.
3) Hedging 2.0 brings new crediting designs — Capital markets innovation will leak into retail designs. Alongside classic
point-to-point caps and participation rates, you’ll see “soft floor” and corridor crediting that offer modest downside tolerance in exchange for meaningfully higher participation — bridging the gap between fixed indexed annuities and registered index linked annuities without converting to securities products. More frequent resets (quarterly, even monthly) will reduce sequence risk for income riders. Expect transparent hedging disclosures — what instruments are used, collateral practices and counterparty concentration — to become table stakes.
4) Income that adapts to life, not just markets — Tomorrow’s income benefits won’t ratchet only when markets cooperate; they’ll adapt to household realities. Inflation-aware income riders will tie step-ups to consumer price index baskets or regional cost indexes with defined caps. Longevity-boost features will share mortality credits more explicitly for those who defer or accept guardrails on withdrawals. And hybridization will deepen with an indexed chassis with embedded chronic illness, caregiving or home-care benefits that can accelerate value without nuking the income base.
5) Continuous underwriting and behavior-linked charges — Accelerated underwriting won round one; round two is continuous. With consent, carriers will price some IUL charges along a band that can drift modestly over time based on objective signals — medication adherence, verified activity and preventive care milestones — documented through privacy-centric data pipes. The swing will be controlled (nobody wants whiplash) but enough to reward healthier behavior and reduce anti-selection. For agents, that means service models that encourage clients to earn those better charges.
6) Real planning: loans, collateral and tax coordination done right — Policy loans will get safer and smarter. Expect auto-collateralization features that throttle loan availability when crediting
conditions weaken, plus in-force alerts when loan-to-value thresholds approach danger zones. Tax-aware drawdown tools will coordinate IUL loans with qualified and brokerage distributions to manage brackets, income-related monthly adjustment amount surcharges, and capital-gains timing. For annuities, systematic withdrawal “guardrails” will become configurable, allowing households to raise or lower income bands as markets and spending change — without triggering complex rider resets.
7) Compliance as a feature, not a speed bump — By 2035, the best sales platforms will make compliance invisible. Suitability/ best-interest frameworks will be hard-wired into e-apps and proposal tools, mapping client facts to product features, documenting alternatives considered and capturing a plain-English rationale. For agents, this means less paperwork, more confidence and fewer retroactive headaches when markets wobble or regulators update guidance.
8) Mass-affluent and gig-economy distribution — Indexed products will finally get friendlier at smaller ticket sizes. Expect streamlined IUL designs with lower minimums, simplified riders and payroll or platform integrations that allow fractional premiums from gig-income flows. On the annuity side, micro-annuitization will let households lock future income “slices” during good earning years and pause during lean ones — no clunky surrender charge surprises.
9) Transparent value and pressure on costs — As digital comparisons mature, policy charges and rider fees will face constant sunlight. Carriers that unbundle, disclose and defend pricing with credible outcomes data will win. Look for “fair value” dashboards that benchmark caps, pars and rider costs against peers for similar durations and option budgets. Simpler, cleaner, fewer-fee stock-keeping units will rise; baroque bells and whistles will fade.
John Forcucci Editor-in-chief
With agent-driven insurtech, a direct-to-consumer platform, and a passion for making protection accessible, Quility is reshaping the life insurance experience.
Quility is a modern insurtech company that combines technology, human support, carriers and industry leaders to simplify how people buy life insurance—and how agents sell it. The company sits at the intersection of insurtech and independent marketing organization (IMO), providing agents with tools, automation, and leads that empower them, while making the insurance-buying process faster and more intuitive for clients.
When Steve Fletcher joined Quility as president, he wasn’t new to insurance. But what stood out to him was the company’s startup-like energy and its mission to do things differently. “We’re building something transformative here,” Fletcher said. “Something that will disrupt the industry and inspire what comes next.”
Quility HQ acts as mission control for independent agents. It streamlines key functions such as pipeline visibility, sales performance analytics, and agency management. But the tool doesn’t just organize data—it helps agents act on it. With modules like PerformDash, users can view personalized metrics, identify gaps, and receive insights based on best practices and real-time results.
We’re building something transformative here. Something that will disrupt the industry and inspire what comes next.
Steve Fletcher President
In a landscape crowded with digital platforms claiming to simplify insurance, Quility stands apart not just because of its tools, but because of the philosophy behind them. Quility isn’t trying to disrupt for disruption’s sake. It’s reengineering the agent experience from the inside out, building with input from an active, tech-savvy field force and focusing on solutions that serve real-world selling environments.
At the core of Quility’s strategy is a robust feedback loop with its distribution arm. The company’s field force isn’t just a user base — they’re an embedded product advisory group. “Our agents are our Research and Development function,” Fletcher said. “We deploy fast, improve relentlessly, and make sure we’re building tools that truly serve their needs.”
That approach has led to a tightly integrated suite of insurtech designed to help agents sell more efficiently, stay organized, and ultimately grow their business. The flagship among them is Quility® HQ, a centralized platform that pulls together agency management, back-office support, training, and performance analytics.
“PerformDash converts data into insights so that agents can take action,” Fletcher explained. “It’s like a fitness tracker for your business: see your trends, then get actionable tips to improve.”
HQ also houses Summit, a virtual training program aligned with each agent’s career stage. Whether the agent is a newcomer looking for foundational education or a seasoned seller refining their strategy, Summit adapts content delivery to meet the moment.
Beyond developing agency management tools, Quility has doubled down on improving the sales process for agents. “Leads are the lifeblood of this business,” Fletcher said. “We’ve taken a hands-on approach to developing and nurturing consumer interest in ways that convert.”
That hands-on approach is embodied in Quility Switchboard Funnel, Quility’s proprietary sales engagement platform. It captures and routes leads through a dynamic workflow tailored to buying behavior, coverage interest, and communication preference. This isn’t just a lead tracker. It’s a dynamic funnel engine. It’s informed by real-time performance data and field feedback, enhancing the efficiency of client outreach so agents can meet every client where they are. It’s a blend of scripting, logic-based recommendations, and CRM-style tracking that keeps the conversation consultative and compliant.
“With Switchboard Funnel, we aim to engage with every lead, using their preferred communication method and delivering the right message at the right time.” said Fletcher. “It’s not just about volume—it’s about relevance.”
Once a lead becomes a prospect, agents often face the challenge of matching client needs to financial products quickly and compliantly. Quility’s Pathfinder and Navigator tools are designed to make that process seamless.
Navigator is a selling engine, helping agents absorb carrier information and details for term life and whole life insurance products, enabling them to place clients with solutions best fit for their needs. “We want the application process to support agents and clients in making real-time decisions around coverage,” Fletcher said.
Pathfinder, by contrast, is a selling tool designed for advanced market solutions. It allows agents to create side-by-side comparisons that explain complex financial concepts, reveal new opportunities, and guide clients toward smarter solutions that help secure a strong financial future.
“We’re not just giving agents a script—we’re providing them a co-pilot,” Fletcher said.
Despite its technology-forward approach, Fletcher emphasized that Quility is ultimately about human enablement. “We’re not replacing agents,” he said. “We’re empowering them.”
That philosophy is evident in the company’s training methodology, where live coaching, peer mentoring, and digital modules work in harmony. “Agents don’t just get a login and a PDF,” he said. “They get a roadmap, a team, and real-time support.”
Importantly, that roadmap is flexible enough to support a range of career models. Fletcher pointed out that many agents, particularly those early in their careers or balancing other responsibilities, start out part-time. “We recognize that not everyone walks in the door ready to go full-time,” he said. “Our platform is designed to give agents the tools to ramp up at their own pace and turn part-time effort into long-term success.”
By removing barriers and offering scalable support, Quility is helping redefine what success in insurance can look like.
Quility’s momentum hasn’t gone unnoticed. The company was recently named Insurtech of the Year by Fintech Intel. It’s a welcome recognition and Fletcher sees it as just the beginning.
“We’re honored,” he said. “It provides external validation that we’re on the right track. And now that we
have the foundation in place, what really excites me is how far we can still go.”
As Quility scales, Fletcher said the focus remains on disciplined growth. “We’re focused on building thoughtfully, adding value to the agent experience with every new feature and every update.”
The company is already exploring enhanced AIbased insights, deeper CRM integrations, and even agent-driven content creation platforms. But Fletcher insists none of it matters without field validation.
“Our agents are our compass,” he said. “If it doesn’t help them grow, it doesn’t go live.”
Agency Management
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Pathfinder Illustrations
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Shop a variety of policy types to find the best fit, includes Quility’s digital products.
At a time when many in the industry are scrambling to digitize, Quility is doing something different. It’s building a digital-first platform with a human-first mindset—where tools, training, and insights converge to help agents win.
Fletcher summed it up best: “We believe in our agents, and we’re going to keep proving this human-first mindset is the way to sell life insurance—one lead, one application, one satisfied client at a time.”
by John Hilton
State insurance regulators are moving quickly on a controversial plan to overhaul the risk-based capital framework by the end of 2025.
The Risk-Based Capital Model Governance Task Force was established in February by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Its first task: to update the RBC standard hammered out by the NAIC in 1992.
NAIC President and North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread called it one of the “most significant” things the NAIC will undertake in 2025.
“When RBC is governed with clarity, it enables smarter product development
and stronger global alignment,” Godfread said during his keynote address at the NAIC summer meeting. “But if we put the cart before the horse, if we design only based on outcomes and not structure, we risk eroding the very solvency RBC is intended to protect.”
RBC helps regulators ensure that insurance companies hold enough capital to support the risks they take on. It helps protect policyholders by reducing the likelihood of insurer insolvency.
Godfread acknowledged the growing presence of offshore reinsurance and private equity control over life insurance reserves. The NAIC is undertaking a number of simultaneous efforts to
strengthen oversight of those reserves.
“Solvency in 2025 is a far cry from solvency in 1985,” Godfread said. “It’s moving faster, more complex, and deeply interwoven with enterprise capital strategies.”
The RBC task force previewed its thoughts with a July 3 memo requesting comments on “proposed preliminary [RBC] principles and questions.” The task force shared 15 comment letters and invited the authors to speak.
Mike Consedine is executive vice president and global head of government and regulatory affairs at Athene Holding. He warned regulators of the restrictive Solvency II regime in the European Union, where critics say rules force insurers into overcapitalization.
Consedine — who served as CEO of the NAIC from 2017 to 2023 — challenged regulators to define what RBC is and what it should become.
“I would argue that the NAIC has actually already answered that question when it framed RBC as an early-warning threshold, not a zero-failure mandate, and paired it with robust state guarantee funds,” he said. “That architecture lets U.S. insurers hold sufficient capital for unexpected losses and still deploy surplus capital into growth and needed products.”
by Doug Bailey
This year marks the 90th anniversary of Social Security, and while defenders of the program celebrate its legacy, they raise new warnings of what they call an increasingly real threat in the Trump era: privatization.
While wholesale replacement of the government-run retirement and disability program with private accounts has long been considered politically radioactive, advocates say recent actions by the Trump administration show it could happen, if not directly, then “through the back door.”
The idea of privatizing Social Security has bubbled up for decades. President George W. Bush’s 2005 push to divert payroll taxes into private investment accounts fizzled in the face of strong public resistance. Polls consistently show Americans are open to supplementing Social Security
with personal savings but overwhelmingly oppose replacing its guaranteed benefits with market-based returns.
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, says there are two distinct avenues for privatization: shifting benefits to private accounts, and outsourcing the program’s administration.
“This has been a desire of those who oppose Social Security forever,” she said, adding that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s recent remarks about creating a “back door” to privatization confirmed those fears.
On the operations side, former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley — who ran the agency under President Joe Biden — said the current administration has already stripped away much of the institutional capacity that makes the program function.
“It’s actually very complex work,” he said. “They are trying to wreck the program and wreck customer service in order to get away with privatizing it. But they are underestimating the complexity of what’s been done so well for 90 years.”
Read the full story online: https://bit.ly/socsec25
Doug Bailey is a journalist and freelance writer who lives outside Boston. He can be reached at doug.bailey@innfeedback.com.
‘Off the rack’ model portfolios hit record $7.7T as advisors embrace efficiency and scale
by Doug Bailey
Model portfolios — ready-made thirdparty investment plans — surged to a record $7.7 trillion in assets in the first quarter of 2025, underscoring the growing demand for efficient, off-the-rack investment strategies among financial advisors and their clients. The findings, released in Broadridge Financial Solutions’ latest quarterly report, show that model portfolios now account for more than one-third of the $22.5 trillion retail intermediary-sold investment market.
“Model portfolios are a way for financial advisors to outsource portfolio construction so they can focus on building their business and working with clients,” said Andrew Guillette, vice president of global insights at Broadridge. “It’s really as simple as that.”
The increasing reliance on model portfolios — particularly those composed of exchange-traded funds — is being driven by structural benefits like lower fees, tax
efficiency and flexibility. ETFs now account for 54% of model portfolio assets, surpassing mutual funds, and marking a fundamental shift in investment construction. Active ETFs are growing especially fast, now making up 5.3% of model portfolios — up from just over 2% two years ago.
‘Active ETFs are a big deal’
“Active ETFs are a big deal,” Guillette said. Broadridge found they are growing fast within model portfolios because they provide the benefits of ETFs while still allowing active management. Advisors are increasingly looking to convert their mutual fund allocations into ETFs, and that shift is expected to accelerate over the next few years.
Advisors are also seeking scale and operational efficiency. According to Broadridge, 86% of advisors use model portfolios in some form. Twenty-seven
percent rely exclusively on them, while only 14% build fully custom portfolios from scratch. That sweet spot — especially among affluent investors with $100,000 to $1 million in assets — is where model portfolios offer the most value.
“We track 40,000 different models,” Guillette said. “We would consider that bespoke custom portfolios are typically more for the higher net worth. But we’re looking for efficiencies. So the advisors are looking for groups of individuals that share similar risk profiles.”
Read the full story online: https://bit.ly/offtherack25
Doug Bailey is a journalist and freelance writer who lives outside Boston. He can be reached at doug.bailey@innfeedback.com.
Increasing numbers of Americans age 60 and older are reporting being victims of imposter scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC said these victims often find their savings accounts or 401(k)s drained dry.
Here’s how the frauds often go: Scammers conjure a fake crisis and pose as trustworthy sources — perhaps a representative of a bank or companies like Amazon, Apple or Microsoft, or workers at a federal agency like the Social Security Administration or the FTC — who can supposedly help them fix it. In the process, they persuade unsuspecting victims to transfer their money to “keep it safe” or for another bogus reason, the FTC said.
In 2024, the FTC received 8,269 reports from adults age 60 and older claiming to have lost at least $10,000 to an imposter scam. That figure is up 362% from 1,790 reports in 2020, according to FTC data.
More than half — 57% — of Americans believe they’ll be wealthier than their parents, according to a recent LendingTree survey of 2,000 U.S. adults. But more than 20% aren’t using common strategies to build wealth.
What wealth-building strategies are Americans using? LendingTree listed the top five as owning a home (36%), saving for retirement (33%), putting money in an online savings account (29%), investing in the stock market (24%) and working with an advisor (17%).
High earners ($100,000+) are three times more likely to say that artificial intelligence and technology would help their chances of being wealthy
(48%) than hurt (16%). In fact, the less respondents earn, the less likely they are to think that AI and tech will help them.
Global insured losses from natural catastrophes hit $80 billion in the first half of 2025, nearly doubling the 10-year average and signaling yet another costly
year for the insurance and reinsurance industries. According to preliminary figures released by the Swiss Re Institute, this figure already exceeded half of the $150 billion projected for the full year.
The single largest loss event so far this year came early — January’s devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County caused an estimated $40 billion in insured damages, making it the largest-ever insured wildfire event by a wide margin.
We think current conditions more closely resemble those preceding the decline of the ‘Nifty 50’ stocks in the early 1970s.”
— Donald Townswick, managing director at Conning
Severe convective storms — characterized by hail, high winds and tornadoes — continued to be a major loss driver in the first half of the year, accounting for $31 billion in insured losses.
Car insurance premiums have skyrocketed in recent years, and President Donald Trump’s tariffs could drive them even higher.
The cost of full-coverage car insurance could jump 7% to an average of $2,472 a year by the end of 2025 if prolonged tariffs lead to significant insurer losses, according to an Insurify analysis. Even without tariffs, drivers can expect a 4% rate increase in the second half of the year, Insurify projected.
The latest projections mark a sharp turnaround from the first half of 2025, when car insurance rates held steady nationwide and even fell in 27 states, Insurify said. Now, inflation as well as tariffs on auto parts threaten to turn the trend around.
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When carriers want feedback on a new product, they turn to
SHERYL
MOORE
, CEO of Wink Inc. Moore is obsessed with everything concerning indexed life and annuity products and believes agents and advisors should think in simpler terms about these life-changing products.
An interview with Paul Feldman, publisher
In addition to being a key resource for the industry, Sheryl Moore has worked closely with the media as a fact-checking resource on life insurance and annuities, and she spent five years correcting every misleading or inaccurate article published on indexed products.
Developing her expertise has helped her form some very definite ideas on how advisors should think about and sell an indexed product.
“The advisor needs to feel comfortable talking about this product with their client. If they don’t understand a feature, they’re not going to feel confident going into that meeting and they may not explain it appropriately to their client,” she explained.
“The best advice that I can give insurance agents is that they need to go with something that they feel comfortable with so they can exude that confidence in the meeting with the client.”
In this interview with InsuranceNewsNet Publisher Paul Feldman, Moore talks about the past, present and future of indexed products, and the value they provide for advisors and their clients.
Paul Feldman: Tell me a little bit about your company, Wink.
Sheryl Moore: Wink is a third-party market research firm. We track all the life insurance and annuity products that are available for sale in the U.S. and condense them down into layman’s terms so that people understand the products, their features, rates and other details. And then we also track the sales of the products. We do so at a product-bydistribution level, so I can tell you what the best-selling product for the No. 1 seller of indexed annuities is and how much they sold of it through every distribution channel that they work with.
Feldman: The data that you collect and make available to your members is very impressive. We’ve seen an influx of products coming onto the market from life insurance to annuities over the past several years. What are some trends that you’re seeing and why the upswing?
Moore: Rates really popped up at the
end of the fourth quarter of 2022, making these products even more attractive than they already were during the low-interest rate environment, and that has really spurred a lot of interest in the products. The other thing is that there has been a flurry of replacement activity since rates came back up. We had a lot of in-force business that had really low rates from back before the market collapsed in 2008 and 2009.
And so it was an opportunity for insurance salespeople to get their clients maybe a little bit better deal with current rates. Some of my favorite innovations that I’m seeing lately would be guaranteeing rates for the entire surrender charge period on indexed annuities. That has become really huge. I think when it comes to indexed life, I’ve really liked the advancements that
I think when it comes to indexed life, I’ve really liked the advancements that we’ve seen in underwriting, but then there are other innovations that we’re seeing — of course, the number of indexes that are offered on these products, the different calculations that are used to measure the indexed interest
opinion, it’s become a little overwhelming just because there are too many choices. I liken it to going to eat at The Cheesecake Factory, but it has made the story a little bit more complicated when it comes to these products.
Feldman: How do we make it simpler for agents? What could carriers do differently? As an industry, how can we simplify?
Moore: I know you’ve heard of KISS. “Keep it simple, silly” is my take on that. I think limiting the number of index options is a good move. But the main thing to keep in mind is that although the typical insurance agent may be contracted with 18 different insurance companies, they sell precisely three different indexed
we’ve seen in underwriting, but then there are other innovations that we’re seeing — of course, the number of indexes that are offered on these products, the different calculations that are used to measure the indexed interest. Those things continue to be a theme within innovation in the life and annuity space when it comes to indexed products.
Feldman: It’s getting hard for an advisor to pick which product to choose these days, isn’t it?
Moore: It’s even harder just because we have some indexed products that have 60-plus different options on them. In my
annuities, and that’s just on the annuity side. So, keep that in mind and the fact that insurance agents are resistant to change — they really don’t like having to check the agent extranet to see where rates are at versus the last time they made a sale. Those kinds of things could really be beneficial to carriers as they’re looking at their product development.
Feldman: One of my advisor friends who writes a lot of annuities always seems to gravitate toward the same product, the same index. I guess it keeps his follow-through and his presentation easy. What would you tell somebody like that? I always
think he’s missing out on opportunities for his clients.
Moore: That’s one way to look at it, but I think what it comes down to is that the advisor needs to feel comfortable talking about this product with their client. If the advisor doesn’t understand a feature, they’re not going to feel confident going into that meeting and they may not explain it appropriately to their client.
Feldman: I think we need more long-term care riders on these policies. It seems like a missing link in everybody’s portfolio.
Moore: I have to agree with you, and I’m now part of the sandwich generation where I’m caring for my father who’s confined to a nursing home and did not have long-term care insurance. I am experiencing firsthand how valuable those
The best advice that I can give insurance agents is that they need to go with something that they feel comfortable with so they can exude that confidence in meeting with the client.
Feldman: As far as product innovations, what do you see happening with life insurance?
Moore: We’re still seeing a lot of focus on what I call hybrid indexes. Some people call them bespoke indexes or engineered indexes. We’re seeing a lot of that in the indexed life space, and there are typically nonguaranteed bonuses that are illustrating better rates on those hybrid indexes. We are seeing some innovations in underwriting, and that’s exciting. And then we’re seeing some new riders here and there. As a matter of fact, there was a new long-term care indexed life product that was launched relatively recently. Those are all things that I’ve had my eye on with indexed universal life.
Nobody would think that the insurance company would develop unrealistic expectations for returns on these products and feed them to their insurance agents. That’s the case on the annuity side.
benefits would have been had he been prepared.
The statistics on how many people need long-term care are staggering, and this is a missed opportunity for a lot of insurance agents.
Feldman: Let’s talk about annuities. What are you seeing on that side of the market?
Moore: We’ve been seeing a lot of startups get into the annuity industry. Typically, they come into the multiyear guaranteed annuity space with very aggressive rates, and then they like to transition over to the indexed annuity market once they have distribution. One thing that’s interesting is we’re seeing some blue ocean strategies in terms of product with those firms.
The development of a MYGIA (multiyear guaranteed indexed annuity) was something that came from a startup, and is kind of a combo of a multiyear guaranteed annuity and an indexed annuity.
I saw a really great feature called the best entry option, where the index measurement is based on the lowest point in the market over, say, the first 90 days of the contract. That way, if the market goes down, you have a greater opportunity to participate in a larger growth in the index. That was pretty exciting.
These firms are really thinking outside the box and trying to offer some kind of new, shiny bright object to get insurance agents’ attention.
Feldman: What are your thoughts on illustrations? How can we do better?
Moore: The biggest thing I’m seeing is presenting unreasonable illustrations. I don’t put the onus on the insurance agent alone for that. The insurance company is the one developing the illustration software that’s showing the double-digit linear returns. I have to show a little grace on the annuity side because there is very much a mentality in this business that if it’s on the company’s letterhead or their paper, then I can have confidence in it as an insurance agent.
Nobody would think that the insurance company would develop unrealistic expectations for returns on these products and feed them to their insurance agents. That’s the case on the annuity side. But on indexed life, I am seeing so many problematic issues with illustrations. The same issue we just discussed with indexed annuities is definitely going on with indexed life as well. I am seeing a ton of mismarketing of these products, and I don’t want to corner any one distribution channel as being responsible for that. But there are a lot of marketing groups that train their insurance agents to sell but not to understand the products that they’re proposing to their clients. The end result is that there is a lot of mismarketing of indexed life. And if you’ve ever gone on TikTok and typed in indexed universal life, you can get a good flavor for what’s going on.
I lobbied the National Association of Insurance Commissioners about indexed life illustrated rates for 15 years before any action was taken. I’m not satisfied with the state of illustrations for any products right now, not just indexed
life. I absolutely believe the NAIC has to reopen the illustration regulation because the illustration model regulation did not exist at the time that — well, indexed life didn’t exist — at the time the model reg was developed. And so it doesn’t take those products into consideration. What we’ve seen is NAIC putting a bandage on the situation with AG 49, AG 49-A, AG 49-B.
It’s gotten to the point where I’m not a fan of illustrations at all. I don’t think that products should be illustrated with loans just because of the way the mismarketing has really kind of bastardized these products. I think that reopening the model reg is really the only way we’re going to get meaningful change. And it is political. I mean it’s very political, so I’m not holding my breath on that happening. But I think that’s where we need to go to put some true solution into the outrageous illustrations that we see on indexed life.
And it’s not much better on the indexed annuity side.
Feldman: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about that.
Moore: What’s interesting is that at the beginning of last year, I believe, the NAIC was exploring if they should allow indexes like those engineered indexes to be illustrated if they were less than 10 or 20 years old. That’s because, right now, there’s a lot of backcasting where the insurance companies are saying, “Although this index didn’t exist 10 years ago, here’s how we think it might have performed had it existed.” And truthfully, in my opinion, you’re saying, “Here are some made-up numbers. I hope they induce a sale.” I was encouraged to see the NAIC going that route. At the time, just about 85% of indexes had not existed for 10 years, even a greater percentage for a 20-year backcast just because most of these indexes are developed within a month or so of the product being introduced.
There aren’t a lot of indexes that have that long a history on them. And, quite frankly, the illustrative rates I’m seeing on products right now, especially those hybrid indexes, are often into the double digits, which is so interesting to me because these indexes were not developed to outperform, say, the S&P 500 Index
option. They’re developed to provide more-consistent returns. Let’s just say we’re talking about the S&P 500 and you earn 6% in your first year, 0% in year two, 0% in year three. So, your overall return over that three-year period is 6% plus compounding. Well, hybrid indexes were developed to earn 2% year one, 2% year two, 2% year three. So, you still get 6%, but it’s just a more consistent return. Those are just numbers that I’m using to give people an idea, but these indexes are not performing better than the S&P 500, and they weren’t meant to.
Feldman: What are your thoughts on hybrid indexes?
Moore: I’m all for innovation. I like it when people have choices when it comes to these products. The chances of finding a product that is just right for you is a lot greater when you have all of this innovation. But I’ve been hearing from a lot of insurance agents that the first round of hybrid indexes has returned a lot of nominal returns or 0% to their customers. And so, a lot of agents have said, “You know what? I’m going to stick with the S&P 500 from now on because my client earned zero when the market was up 25%.” We are seeing kind of a shift away from those indexes, but I’ll say the lure is really strong when you see the illustrations on those indexes, which are often much more advantageous than an S&P 500 option.
Feldman: There’s also the concept out there to “be your own bank.”
Moore: I have to give a certain amount of credence to “be your own bank” just because I’ve used the cash values in my life insurance policies to pay for things that I wanted to get a lower rate on than what I could get at the bank. But I think there are a lot of marketing approaches to indexed life that are problematic. There’s a lot of premium finance business going on, which shouldn’t be sold, quite honestly, in the scenarios that we’re seeing. And quite frankly, these problems that we’re seeing with indexed annuities and indexed life are resulting in class action lawsuits. That’s something that’s not good for any of us.
Feldman: Everybody thought the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule proposal was dead, and now it’s popping up again. What are your thoughts on that?
Moore: I’m not a huge fan of the fiduciary rule because I don’t necessarily think it’s an improvement over our current regulatory structure. There are a lot of people who would argue with me on that, but I do think it’s being proposed with the best of intentions by the people who are sponsoring it and lobbying for it. I do think it’s coming, and I honestly don’t think most insurance agents have a problem disclosing their commissions or what they’re paid on the products that they sell. What I’m more concerned about is consumer access to these products and innovation in the market. I just think that there’s a propensity for products to be limited every time we see new regulation in this business. For example, the 10/10 rule — or what someone called 10/10 rather than 70/10 — limited fixed and indexed annuity products to a 10-year surrender charge and often a 10% penalty in year one.
My personal perspective on that is you’re limiting choices by doing that because I’m only 40-something years old and I can’t touch my annuity dollars until I’m 59 and a half because it’s qualified business. So, maybe a 14-year annuity is right for me, but I now don’t have that choice because of the regulation that’s passed. And I think there’s a propensity for things like that to happen anytime you see new regulation in this market. I’m all for people acting in their client’s best interests, and I think there are tons of insurance agents who treat their clients that way today even though we’re not bound by a fiduciary rule, depending on the state that you’re in. I thought under a Trump administration that we wouldn’t be dealing with this, but here we are.
Feldman: With annuities, the industry has continually been fighting the Ken Fishers of the world and other people who don’t understand our products. You’ve been great in that you’ve been calling out reporters and others who have been doing damage to our industry. What can
we do better in the industry as a whole and not just rely on you to be our spokesperson?
Moore: I appreciate your recognition. I like to say that I’ve been rebranding annuities for 21 years just because I have been responding to all those negative, inaccurate articles about these products for so long. I forged relationships with 55 different news media outlets and said, “Hey, I do fact-checking on these products. Let me know if you need help. And I can always make you look like a rock star when it comes to your journalism on these products.” But I honestly think the No. 1 thing that has put this business in a positive light from a journalism standpoint is the SECURE Act. That legislation basically paved the way for annuities in 401(k)s, and now that they’re affiliated with 401(k)s, there’s actual legitimacy in the eyes of the journalists. We’re actually seeing positive news on these products when historically it was all negative.
Feldman: You describe yourself as the “chief storyteller” at Wink. What can we do better to tell the story of annuities, and what are some good tips you’d give?
Moore: All the research that I’ve read over the past 26 years says that when you say the word “annuity,” consumers balk and get concerned and say, “I would never buy that.” But when you talk about what an annuity does — provides you a pension that you build yourself, guarantees you a paycheck for life — consumers are really interested when they hear that. I think we all need to do a better job as storytellers in this business to talk about those benefits and really make them comfortable before we say the word ”annuity.” I’m not suggesting we hide the fact that these products are annuities, but I’m saying in your presentation, talk about what they do and get the client comfortable with them before you whip out the “A” word. I think that’s one thing that would make a dramatic change in consumers’ opinions of these products and their willingness to purchase them.
Feldman: How do you think annuity sales will do this year? Do you think
we will see a big increase in sales because we’re starting to see a little bit of market volatility?
Moore: What’s interesting is that indexed annuities and structured annuities, what some people would call a registered index linked annuity, really are very insulated from the market’s performance and low interest rates, so, they tend to do well regardless of what the market’s performance is. I am projecting that we’re going to have record sales of both of those products. MYGIA rates have been a little less attractive than they were last year, and so I don’t anticipate records there unless something changes during the fourth quarter, which, if an insurance company hasn’t met their run rate, that’s entirely possible. But I am very optimistic about what the sales of the products look like in the rest of 2025.
Feldman: Let’s talk about RILAs. You’ve told me previously you think that RILAs could be the future of products in this industry.
Moore: As much as I love indexed annuities because I have a personal experience with them, and, honestly, at this stage in life, I have a personal experience with just about all products, I think that RILA sales will eclipse indexed annuity sales before we know it. The products have become very popular. There are a lot of insurance agents who sell indexed annuities who have now tried the RILAs and are like, “Gosh, it’s really hard for me to go back to talking about an indexed annuity with a 9% cap when I can present this product to my client with a 20% cap if they’re just willing to accept a little bit of downside exposure.” And certainly there are agents who sold variable annuities, which have now transitioned to the RILA. So, I mean, I am projecting record sales of structured annuities and RILAs unlike anything we’ve seen. And that will continue to be consistent until honestly, it is going to eclipse indexed annuity sales. They’re very, very popular.
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An annuity is intended to be a longterm, tax-deferred retirement vehicle. Earnings are taxable as ordinary income when distributed, and if withdrawn before age 59½, may be subject to a 10% federal tax penalty. If the annuity will fund an IRA or other tax qualified plan, the tax deferral feature offers no additional value. Qualified distributions from a Roth IRA are generally excluded from gross income, but taxes and penalties may apply to nonqualified distributions. Please consult a tax advisor for specific information. There are charges and expenses associated with annuities, such as surrender charges (deferred sales charges) for early withdrawals. Registered index-linked annuities are subject to ongoing fluctuations in value, and it is possible to lose a significant amount of principal due to negative index performance or a negative interim value adjustment. Registered index-linked annuities are sold by prospectus. Your clients should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and fees of the product carefully before investing. Please see the registered index-linked product prospectus for this, and other important, information.
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Indexed life insurance and annuities are some of the best-selling products on the market. That isn’t likely to change, despite some headwinds in the forecast.
BY JOHN HILTON
Three decades after the first insurance company tied a product return to an index, those now-fully mature indexed products continue to dominate sales, innovation and regulatory discussions.
The allure is obvious: an opportunity to participate in market gains while not actually being in the market, and at the same time eliminating (or nearly eliminating) any chance of losing money.
It all sounds like a great deal on paper, and consumers agree.
On the life insurance side, indexed universal life owns about 25% of the market. Fixed indexed annuities represent about 25% of annuity sales, while the fast-growing registered index-linked annuities are up to a 12% market share.
The experts who make predictions say those numbers are far more likely to grow than to contract.
as the more accurate product name, since there is no direct investment in stocks.
Innovation came relatively quickly once the concept of indexing the market to award gains caught on with consumers. Transamerica introduced the first indexed universal life insurance product in 1997.
IUL policies offer a death benefit alongside a cash value account tied to a chosen stock market index. These early life and annuity products generally tracked with the S&P 500 Index or a comparable option like the Dow Jones or Nasdaq.
A pair of events combined to drive indexed product sales following the mid2000s. First, the economic crisis of 200809 cemented the value of these 0%-loss products. “Zero is a hero” became the rallying cry for fixed products.
Second, the near-zero interest rates made traditional life insurance and other
“Engineered indices — often designed with volatility controls or diversified asset classes — can offer crediting potential in a low-rate or volatile environment.”
We break down the history, inner workings, innovation, sales, target audience, controversies and future prospects of indexed products.
A now-defunct company named Keyport Life Insurance introduced the first index to the life insurance industry when it brought KeyIndex to market in 1995.
The first fixed indexed annuity, KeyIndex was designed to offer the potential for market-linked growth while providing principal protection.
From those inauspicious beginnings, a sales trend percolated to life. Indexed annuity and life insurance are the sales engine powering most of the big companies today.
Those early indexed annuities were called “equity-linked annuities” to reflect the tie to stock market gains. It would not be long before “indexed” annuity emerged
financial instruments less attractive. Indexed products won market share as a result.
IUL rose from approximately 8% of total life sales premium in 2010 to 25% in 2022. FIAs topped $30 billion for the first time in 2009. By 15 years later, those sales fell just short of $127 billion. (Product sales data provided by LIMRA and Wink, Inc.)
Along the way, the low interest rates combined with the desire to offer customized products led to the creation of proprietary indexes. Proprietary indexes can be designed to focus on particular market segments — for example, U.S. large and mid-cap technology companies — that incorporate volatility control mechanisms or target specific investment goals.
Beginning about 15 years ago, insurers began partnering with investment banks to design the custom, rules-based indices. The Barclays Trailblazer Index and the J.P. Morgan MOZAIC Index are two
early and popular models.
Today, nearly 200 custom indexes exist to support different life insurance and annuity products.
“From the insurance carriers’ perspective, it’s just what they need to differentiate themselves,” explained Alfred Eskandar, founder and chief operating officer of Salt Financial. “It makes it difficult to compete with profitable products when everything is the same.”
Index fundamentals are basically the same for both annuities and life insurance. In both cases, the consumer hands the insurer money, in the form of either a lump sum or premium payments.
A portion of that money goes to pay any insurance costs, such as mortality charges and fees. The rest goes into the policy’s cash value. The insurer issues credit to the account based on the performance of the chosen index.
Common index crediting strategies include participation rates and caps, which limit the earnings in exchange for the zero floor. For example, if the index goes up 12%, with an 8% cap and 100% participation, your policy gets 8% credited to cash value.
The insurer also participates in the index yield via call options. First, the insurer generally invests the premium or lump sum in bonds or a fixed-income instrument. The insurer then uses a portion of that yield to purchase call options on the chosen index.
The options provide the upside exposure to index performance.
While some clients prefer the traditional name brand S&P 500, explained Jack Elder, senior director of advanced planning at CBS Brokerage, others are best served with a proprietary index.
“The S&P 500 remains a familiar and transparent benchmark, which can be appealing to clients who value simplicity and name recognition,” he said. “That said, engineered indices — often designed with volatility controls or diversified asset classes — can offer crediting potential in a low-rate or volatile environment.”
As consumers moved further from the economic crisis, a taste for risk returned. But just a little risk. With that, registered index-linked annuities were born.
Equitable Financial is credited with creating the RILA concept — in which losses are capped in exchange for a chance to earn a greater market return — in 2010. Today, about 25 annuity sellers have a RILA product, and it is the fastest-growing annuity segment.
RILA sales totaled $17.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025, the most recent available data, up more than 255% over the same period in 2020.
“There are a lot of insurance agents who sell indexed annuities who have now tried the RILAs and are like, ‘Gosh, it’s really hard for me to go back to talking about an indexed annuity with a 9% cap when I can present this product to my client with a 20% cap if they’re just willing to accept a little bit of downside exposure,’” noted Sheryl Moore, CEO of Moore Market Intelligence and Wink. “I am projecting record sales of structured annuities and RILAs unlike anything we’ve seen. … It is going to eclipse indexed annuity sales. They’re very, very popular.”
Sales leaders in the highly competitive indexed annuity space include Athene Life & Annuity, Sammons Financial Companies and Allianz Life of North America. National Life Group and Pacific Life lead the way on the IUL side. Moore continues to see intriguing
innovations from indexed product sellers. The multi-year guaranteed indexed annuity is a hybrid financial product combining features of both fixed index annuities and multi-year guaranteed annuities.
It offers a guaranteed minimum interest rate for a set number of years, similar to a traditional MYGA, while retaining the potential higher returns based on the performance of a market index.
A new index crediting option, the best entry option, bases the index measurement on the lowest point in the market over, for example, the first 90 days of the contract.
“That way, if the market goes down, you have a greater opportunity to participate in a larger growth in the index than you would have normally started your index measurement,” Moore explained. “That is pretty exciting.”
Overall, index innovation is giving insurers and cons u mers virtually unlimited choices, from investment areas to crediting options. Want environmental, social and governance or climate change investments? You got it. Indexes with cryptocurrency holdings? Can do. And, of course, the old standby S&P 500 has a lengthy lineup of indexes to appeal to conservative customers and those who like to sprinkle in a bit of risk.
Here are the main categories most indexes fall into:
1. Traditional market benchmarks. Well-known stock indexes such as the S&P 500, Russell 2000, and the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia, and Far East. Simple and transparent, but they often come with
“There are a lot of insurance agents who sell indexed annuities who have now tried the RILAs and are like, ‘Gosh, it’s really hard for me to go back to talking about an indexed annuity with a 9% cap ... .”
lower caps due to higher volatility.
2. Volatility-controlled and riskmanaged indexes. Designed with banks — Barclays, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are big players — to manage volatility. Allow insurers to offer higher participation rates and more stable crediting.
3. Multi-asset and diversified indexes. Mix of stocks, bonds, commodities, or currencies. Aims for balanced performance across market cycles.
4. ESG and thematic indexes. Focus on ESG or other themes. Growing but still niche in life insurance products.
5. Proprietary and custom insurer-branded indexes. Exclusive collaborations between insurers and banks. Dominate new launches because they differentiate products and often project higher crediting.
The target market for indexed products is a fairly large demographic. Those who want market-linked growth and downside protection are usually professionals, higher earners and retirement-focused individuals who value both life insurance coverage and cash accumulation.
But indexed products are not just for the wealthy, said Alan Assner, head of individual annuities at The Standard.
“There’s not one specific type,” he said. “It’s really those risk-averse folks who have a lot of their money in conservative assets who might look to siphon a piece of that off to put into an annuity to earn additional return with the idea that they can’t lose money. Or folks even in the middle of the risk spectrum who have some other assets associated with conservative investments.”
And tax deferral is always an attractive option for many people, he added.
“The ability to do that allows someone to grow and potentially continue to delay and defer taxes on that particular growth, whereas with a CD, you pay tax on that interest every year,” Assner said.
IUL can play a key role in legacy planning, noted Jack Elder of CBS Brokerage. It’s part of the overall versatility that makes IUL a big seller.
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“It can serve as a legacy planning tool, a supplemental retirement income source or a liquidity reserve for future needs,” Elder said. “These clients are drawn to the idea of control—over premiums, access to cash value and how the policy fits into their broader financial strategy.”
‘We just aren’t comfortable’ Indexed products are not without their detractors. On the IUL side, controversy revolves around concerns about misleading sales tactics, high fees, complex features, suitability for certain investors and the potential for financial losses due to market fluctuations and rising costs.
Paul LaPiana is the head of brand, product and affiliated distribution at MassMutual. The insurer quit selling IUL due to these issues, he said.
“We have taken a pause because of some of the ways the IUL products have been illustrated and marketed,” LaPiana said. “We just aren’t comfortable. We
One of the biggest lawsuit waves involves premium-financed IUL sales, that is, borrowing to fund policies. Plaintiffs claim insurers and agents sold complex IUL strategies that were unsuitable for retirees or high-net-worth families.
IUL premium financing is generally pitched as a way for wealthy individuals, families or businesses to buy large life insurance policies without tying up their own cash. Instead of paying premiums directly, the policyholder borrows money from a bank or a lender to cover the cost of the insurance.
“I think there are a lot of marketing approaches to indexed life that are problematic,” said Moore. “There’s a lot of premium finance business going on, which shouldn’t be sold in the scenarios that we’re seeing.”
In one such lawsuit, Montana funeral directors claim a premium financing “scheme” cost them millions.
Initially filed in July 2024, the lawsuit centers on the sale of $67.5 million worth of premium-financed life insurance policies. Defendants include MassMutual Life Insurance Co. and Penn Mutual Life
We have taken a pause because of some of the ways the IUL products have been illustrated and marketed. We would put restrictions on product design, and we would put governors on illustrated rates. And people would tell us, ‘Your product’s not competitive.’
would put restrictions on product design, and we would put governors on illustrated rates. And people would tell us, ‘Your product’s not competitive.’
“So, we just haven’t gone down that path, because culturally, we don’t think it’s aligned to what we’re trying to deliver.”
IUL products have been the subject of several waves of lawsuits over the past decade, typically focusing on illustrations, cost-of-insurance charges and sales practices.
Insurance Co. The policies were sold over several years, beginning in 2014.
The plaintiffs, who operate Stevenson and Sons Funeral Homes in Miles City, Mont., claim that a broker working on behalf of both MassMutual and Penn Mutual misrepresented the premium-financed policies as “responsible, safe and tax-friendly” estate planning tools.
“The financial catastrophe into which Defendants led Plaintiffs could have been avoided had Defendants told them
what the tripartite structure actually is: a high-risk, interest-rate-sensitive, and volatile structure unsuitable for lowrisk estate and retirement goals,” the lawsuit stated.
The most persistent problem with the dozens of proprietary indexes is their lack of history. That lack of history creates a barrier to illustrations that are key to selling the products.
Insurers are getting around that by creating “backtested” histories, essentially a simulated performance record showing how the index would have performed in the past if it had existed, based on historical market data and the index’s current rules.
The practice makes a lot of people uncomfortable.
“In my opinion, you’re saying, ‘Here are some made-up numbers. I hope they induce a sale,’” said Moore. “The illustrative rates I’m seeing on products right now, especially those hybrid indexes, are often into the double digits, which is so interesting to me because these indexes were not developed to outperform, say, the S&P 500 index option.”
State insurance regulators are reticent to reopen the overall life insurance illustration regulation, which was created before IUL even existed. However, they are again probing around the edges of an actuarial guideline designed to limit unrealistic illustrations.
During the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ summer meeting in August, the Life Actuarial Task Force discussed proposed changes to Actuarial Guideline 49-A.
Regulators are determined to limit their amendments to a specific section of AG 49-A to address insurers who are including “historical averages exceeding the maximum illustrated rate and backcasted performance,” as the amendment proposal form reads.
The illustration irregularities were uncovered after regulators reviewed illustrations from 13 companies, explained Ben Slutsker, director of life actuarial valuation at the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
“The disclosure that probably brought up the most concern is for companies that have indices that show historical returns for years before that index existed,” Slutsker said. “There are concerns over whether that could be backfitting already knowing what history is, and it’s being shown to the consumer, who may not see that.”
Approved in 2020, AG 49-A limits the maximum illustrated rate that insurers can use in policy projections to prevent unrealistic growth assumptions. It includes restrictions on exaggerated benefits from indexed loans, a strategy that previously allowed aggressive return assumptions.
Regulators found that insurers often displayed multiple historical averages over different time frames, often sideby-side with the maximum illustrated rate, regulators noted. The historical averages were sometimes two to four times the maximum illustrated rate.
Regulators first sought to tamp down illustrations in 2015 with AG 49, which required companies to use a uniform method for calculating illustrated index credits and capping them at 145% of the annual net investment earned rate.
Insurers almost immediately got around AG 49 by offering IUL bonuses and multipliers. That led to AG 49-A and AG 49-B in 2023. The last update standardized the maximum illustrated interest rates for IUL policies, particularly those using volatility control indexes.
It also requires that illustrations for these policies use the same leverage as the benchmark index, like the S&P 500, and prevents insurers from adding bonuses to the maximum illustrated rate.
There will undoubtedly be more updates to come.
Executives and analysts agree that innovation of indexed products will continue. And we know that economic conditions will continue to fluctuate and baby boomers are going to retire in high numbers through 2030.
“With over 10,000 people retiring every day, with a tremendous amount of wealth about to be transferred, plus
the uptick in the market performance for the last couple of years, principalprotected products are in unbelievable demand,” said Eskandar.
More importantly, those people nearing retirement remember the financial crisis of 2008-09 and the COVID-19 crisis in 2020.
“Nobody wants to go through a 30% pullback when they’re approaching retirement,” Eskandar said.
Interest rate cuts are one immediate variable that should send shock waves through indexed products (See this month’s In the Know on page 50 for more information). The Federal Reserve was to meet in September after this issue went to press. A rate cut, either in September or during a nearfuture meeting, is expected.
When rates fall, insurers earn less on their general account investments such as bonds. Likewise, insurers become less generous in their index crediting strategies. For example, caps may drop from 6% to 4%.
“When interest rates come down, it puts more pressure on the index itself, because you’re going to get a lower participation rate. So you need the index to really perform,” Eskandar explained.
In a world of ever-expanding index product shelves, the best thing agents and advisors can do is seek continuous education, Moore said.
“If they don’t understand a feature, they’re not going to feel confident going into that meeting and they may not explain it appropriately to their client,” Moore said. “So, really the best advice that I can give insurance agents is that they need to go with something that they feel comfortable with so they can exude that confidence in the meeting with the client.”
InsuranceNewsNet
Senior Editor John Hilton covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on X @INNJohnH.
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Indexed products are one of the fastest growing areas in the insurance industry, from annuities to IUL. In this year’s Indexed Spotlight, great minds from two elite companies offer their perspective on this transformative segment.
Introducing the Nasdaq-100 Intraday Elite 15%™ Index: A Smarter Way to Track the New Economy by Nasdaq PAGE 22
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In an era where volatility is the new normal and speed is synonymous with strategy, the launch of the Nasdaq-100 Intraday Elite 15% Index marks a significant step forward for the insurance and annuity space. Designed for today’s fast-moving markets and tomorrow’s forward-looking investors, the new index blends sophisticated volatility management with the power of one of the world’s most influential benchmarks, the Nasdaq-100 ®
“We call it the new economy index because it evolves with the economy itself,” says Rich Macari , Head of Insurance and Bank Solutions at Nasdaq. “And in a world where intraday market swings matter more than ever, this index offers a better way to track, rebalance, and deliver smarter outcomes.”
Developed in collaboration with a prominent annuity design shop and a leading global bank, the Nasdaq-100 Intraday Elite 15% Index (or simply, Intraday Elite) was over 18 months in the making. The result is a modern, equity-only strategy built for indexed annuities—one that’s already seeing widespread adoption across insurance carriers.
The idea for Intraday Elite didn’t appear in a vacuum. It was born from an urgent and growing need: financial professionals and clients alike are demanding solutions that can adapt to volatility throughout the day, not just at market close.
“While we weren’t the first to explore intraday methodologies in the FIA space, we are a fast follower,” says Macari. “Where the puck is going in this industry is clear. Intraday rebalancing is no longer a niche concept. It’s a necessity.”
The index rebalances three times a day, a critical feature in an environment where headlines, earnings calls, or geopolitical shocks can trigger rapid swings. Traditional daily rebalancing strategies often miss these intraday shifts. Intraday Elite, by contrast, captures them in real-time.
Macari illustrates the importance of this: “You could start the day down 1%, end the day up 1%, and call it a 1% gain, but really, you had a 2% swing in there that can dramatically affect performance. Our goal is to respond to that reality.”
The Nasdaq-100 Intraday Elite 15% Index incorporates multiple layers of innovation to deliver dynamic exposure and intelligent volatility control:
• Intraday Rebalancing (3x Daily): Offers more responsive exposure adjustments than end-of-day strategies.
• 15% Volatility Target: Designed to capture upside potential in a rising rate environment while managing downside risk.
• Time-Weighted Average Pricing (TWAP): Smooths out market noise and improves the reliability of both historical volatility observation and execution.
• Equity-Only Exposure: Unlike some multi-asset strategies, Intraday Elite delivers pure equity returns from the Nasdaq-100 Index®—a benchmark synonymous with the growth economy.
“TWAP gives the methodology more stability,” Macari explains. “It’s both more robust for calculating volatility and more informative when tracking performance for carriers or hedging for banks.”
Macari and his team were deliberate about aligning the index’s construction with feedback from the field, especially from distribution partners and agents.
“The aging community was looking for a fresh alternative to traditional investment options,” he says. “They wanted something equity-based, but with a story that speaks to the next generation of economic growth. The Nasdaq-100 answered that call.”
From the beginning, this was a multi-pronged development effort. The annuity design firm brought market intelligence and product design experience, while Nasdaq provided indexing expertise and innovation leadership. A global bank lent input on the index methodology and its underlying technology.
“This wasn’t just about building something new. It was about building something useful,” Macari emphasizes. “Something practical for insurers, effective for agents, and meaningful for clients.”
At the heart of Intraday Elite lies the Nasdaq-100—a market benchmark that captures the essence of the modern economy. Featuring the world’s most iconic and innovative companies,
Some firms chase trends. UBS builds frameworks that endure. That mindset has shaped how UBS approaches the complex world of index design—grounded in research, tested through market cycles, and developed with long-term outcomes in mind. This philosophy is clearly reflected in UBS’s collaboration with Engle Volatility Consulting LLC (“Engle Consulting”), the research principal of which is Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert F. Engle, on the volatility control mechanism for a series of indices. The series uses rules-based systematic investment strategies that aim to provide enhanced exposure to various underlying assets using a novel forward-looking intraday volatility forecasting methodology developed with Dr. Engle, whose pioneering research on volatility earned him the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics.
“We don’t design indices for headlines. We design for the next decade,” says Ghali El-Boukfaoui, Head of Insurance Sales at UBS. “Our clients rely on these indices to perform through various market conditions, not just in backtests but in real-world conditions.”
Designed to rethink how volatility is measured and managed, the Engle series aims to offer more consistent performance while keeping the story simple enough for advisors to understand and explain. With the full strength of UBS behind it, the volatility control mechanism developed with Professor Engle represents more than a new methodology. It’s a signal of UBS’s boarder commitment to innovation and client-first design.
“Risk is a central feature of financial markets, and volatility gives you a way of quantifying that risk,” says Dr. Engle. “By quantifying volatility, we enable individuals, money managers, pension funds to measure the kind of risk they’re taking.”
El-Boukfaoui emphasizes that index design at UBS starts not with market trends or performance modeling, but with the client in mind.
“Our philosophy is centered on the end customer,” he says. “We ask: what are the stated objectives of the index, and can we deliver on those objectives through various market conditions?”
While some might chase short-term sales or flashy backtests, UBS takes the long view. With many indices being embedded in insurance products for 10 to 15 years, transparency, and credibility are non-negotiable.
“We don’t just put an index into the market and disappear,” El-Boukfaoui adds. “We’re in this for the long haul, constantly educating, updating, and standing behind our work.”
UBS’s integration across business units reinforces that accountability. Their wealth management division constantly shares feedback from the field, while their investment banking
and asset management arms collaborate on research, structuring, and risk management.
UBS also works with a diverse mix of index providers across the broader market to design solutions that resonate with consumers and distribution at every level. This broad perspective gives them added insight into what’s working, what’s needed, and where innovation can drive value.
“The feedback loop is invaluable,” says Amy Zhou, Director at UBS. “We are constantly given feedback around some of the challenges with volatility target indices, from the field. Those feedbacks feed our product design process and guide our innovation effort.”
In today’s market environment, traditional volatility control mechanisms have shown their limitations. While they aim to smooth performance and manage downside risk, they often react too slowly, missing the upside when markets rally and de-risking too late during downturns.
“Too many volatility-controlled indices get whipsawed by market cycles,” says El-Boukfaoui. “They don’t adjust fast enough, and they don’t leverage volatility as a strategic tool.”
“If you’re slow to adjust your volatility, then you get the worst of both worlds— selling too late in downturns and re-entering too late in recoveries. The best models move quickly when conditions shift.”
That’s where the Engle Volatility Control Index Series offers a breakthrough. By leveraging Dr. Engle’s lifetime of research in volatility modeling and GARCH (Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity) models, UBS has created a more responsive, forward-looking approach to market risk. Dr. Engle’s influence is more than a name on the index. It’s a blueprint for smarter, faster, and more adaptive volatility control.
“If you’re slow to adjust your volatility,” says Dr. Engle, “then you get the worst of both worlds—selling too late in downturns and re-entering too late in recoveries. The best models move quickly when conditions shift.”
This isn’t just theory. It’s an academically vetted, practically implemented solution. One that Dr. Engle actively helped shape.
“This was not a quick collaboration,” says Zhou. “It was a multi-year engagement. Dr. Engle came to our offices to work with us directly. The result is a volatility control mechanism that’s fundamentally different.”
“Over the past 5-6 years, we have witnessed significant innovation in the use of intraday data to enhance index reactivity.
However, many people are unaware that most of these new indices still rely on models developed 15 years ago for the first generation of custom indices.” Added El-Boukfaoui, “Dr. Engle, a Nobel Prize winner for his work on volatility, has dedicated his career to studying volatility in financial markets. He has guided us in the proper use of his statistical models with the goal of achieving better predictability of volatility. This represents a fundamental shift from other volatility control models, and we are already seeing the benefits of this new methodology from a performance standpoint since the index series went live.”
Among its key strengths:
• Robust Forecasting Models: Drawing from decades of academic work, the model aims to captures granular intraday and overnight volatility patterns with more nuance and more academic robustness than other statistical models.
• Smarter Use of Volatility: Rather than treating volatility as a performance drag, the methodology identifies patterns where volatility can enhance returns, especially during calm, upward-trending markets.
• Faster Reaction to Market Conditions: The Engle methodology is implemented in an intraday framework when relevant, which allows indices to adjust more quickly to changes in market conditions.
The analogy that UBS uses compares the first generation volatility modeling prevalent in the market to trying to predict the weather without taking into account the current season or by only taking into consideration weather measurements from previous days. For successful “weather forecasting”, not only do you want to measure frequently but you also need to take into account what the weather usually looks like during similar periods in the past and how consistent are those weather patterns.
One of the recurring themes from both UBS and its distribution partners is the need for simplicity. No matter how sophisticated an index is, it must be easy to explain and easy to trust.
“Advisors are the gatekeepers,” says Zhou who spends more time educating advisors and wholesalers on the UBS indices. “They want to offer what’s best for the client, but if the index is too complex to understand or explain, they’re going to fall back on benchmark indices and potentially miss out on indices that can provide further performance diversification and stability.”
To bridge that gap, UBS prioritizes clarity and simplicity in the story. “The performance and the philosophy both have to align,” she says. “If you can communicate what the index is doing in simple, benefit-oriented terms, you can win advisors’ confidence.”
This mindset extends to how UBS works with insurance carriers and distributors. Not only does UBS offer fully-developed index strategies, UBS also often consults with partners, ensuring alignment across objectives, timelines, and communication strategies.
It’s in UBS’s DNA to approach index design with a client-centric mindset. “We ask ourselves: Is this in the best interest of the client?” says El-Boukfaoui. This ethos sets UBS apart in an increasingly crowded field of index providers. With market share in the fixed indexed annuity space growing rapidly, UBS is now among the top players by several industry measures. 1
And yet, they remain focused not on scale, but on quality.
“We build with care, and we partner with people who share our values,” says Zhou.
El-Boukfaoui and Zhou agree the future of UBS index innovation lies in what’s working: deeper academic partnerships, tighter collaboration with carriers, and refining investment strategies that can stand the test of time.
“We want to keep building products with innovation,” El-Boukfaoui says. That means better tools, better outcomes, and better transparency for advisors and clients.”
UBS aims to be part of the conversation, whether with carriers seeking differentiation or IMOs building their next product. “We’re open to new partnerships,” Zhou says. “We’re not just another investment bank. We’re a long-term partner with a passion for building what lasts.”
To learn more, visit indices.ubs.com/engle
It should not be regarded by recipients as a substitute for the exercise of their own judgment. UBS AG and its affiliates (“UBS”) make no warranty or representation whatsoever, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein or the results to be obtained from the use of any index. UBS shall not bear any responsibility or liability with respect to any errors or omissions in the indices or the use and/or reference of an index in connection with a financial product. The Engle Index Series consists of indices that are owned by UBS as well as indices that are owned by a third-party index provider. UBS is not involved in and has no obligation or liability in connection with the calculation, creation, or administration of such indices include and incorporate the volatility control mechanism developed by UBS in collaboration with ENGLE CONSULTING, THE RESEARCH PRINCIPAL OF WHICH IS Robert F. Engle. While volatility controls may result in less fluctuation in rates of return as compared to indices without volatility controls, they may also reduce the overall rate of return as compared to products not subject to volatility controls. UBS is under no obligation to update or keep current the information contained herein, and past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Neither UBS nor any of its directors, officers, employees or agents accepts any liability for any loss or damage arising out of the use of all or any part of this material or reliance upon any information contained herein. Additional information may be made available upon request. Not all products or services described herein are available in all jurisdictions and clients should contact their local sales representative for further information and availability.
Engle Consulting is not an investment adviser, does not guarantee the accuracy and completeness of any index in the index series described herein or any data or methodology either included therein or upon which it is based. The indices are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Engle Consulting or Robert F. Engle. Engle Consulting and Robert F. Engle do not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, to any financial institution, investor of or counterparties to any index or to any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in any of the indices.
ALYSON BURKETT was inspired by a familiar creature to found a practice based on providing advice in a nonthreatening atmosphere.
By Susan Rupe
In the sports and celebrity worlds, a superstar is frequently referred to as the GOAT (greatest of all time). But it can be argued that in the animal kingdom, goats also are GOATs.
Goats are curious, clever and quick learners, able to open gates and solve puzzles. They thrive in harsh environments ranging from rocky mountains to arid deserts, and they don’t need pampering to survive. They are able to climb mountains and still find their way home. They are playful and social, forming bonds with humans. They are part of a herd but can also be independent and resourceful on their own.
All those qualities that make goats GOATs were the inspiration for 21 Goats Financial Planning in Roswell, Ga. Alyson Burkett and her husband, Brian, created 21 Goats to help clients climb to new heights and find their balance along the way — much as goats fearlessly navigate rugged terrain.
Burkett said she started 21 Goats in 2022 after spending 16 years working for a large financial advisory firm with a nationwide presence. She began her career in 2009 after graduating from Auburn University with a degree in economics.
“While I was in college, I knew I wanted to help people in some respect, but I was trying to figure out what that would look like,” she said. “I interviewed with some insurance companies and some financial planning companies, and I was very intrigued with the industry.”
After landing her first job with the financial advisory firm, she was intimidated by how much there was to learn about insurance and financial advising. Preparing for the life insurance licensing exam was especially “intense,” she said.
“We had two weekends where our group of about 50 people spent 20-30
hours going through the material to take the exam,” she said. “Our instructor, in the first hour of the class, looked at the 50 of us and said, ‘Twenty to forty percent of you might make it in this industry for the first two years, but only five of the 50 of you are actually going to make it in this industry and be around in 10 years.’ I thought, this guy is pretty savage. That really hit me hard. This is a really hard industry.
“This set the stage for me that I had to take this business seriously,” she said. “But you learn what you don’t know, and once you gain more skills, more certifications, more knowledge — your confidence builds. Now that I have been in the business this long, it gets a little bit easier, but it’s still intimidating sometimes. There’s so much to know and always a lot to learn.”
As a new advisor, Burkett began building her client base by working with friends and their families in the metro Atlanta area. “I worked with friends who had moved back here after college, my friends’ parents and grandparents,” she said. “I met people at networking events and through other organizations I was
Once someone finds out what you do and you see the same people every week, they become intrigued. Then a life event happens and they say, “Hey, Alyson, what are your thoughts on this?” And that’s how a lot of relationships start.
part of. Auburn has a large alumni group in the Atlanta area, so I was able to make some connections through that as well.
“I built a good network of people around me, and I had some other advisors that I shared office space with. And so we would brainstorm things like what groups were we a part of and what activities were we a part of, and then clients come very naturally and organically. Once someone finds out what you do and you see the same people every week, they become intrigued. Then a life event happens and they say, ‘Hey, Alyson, what are your thoughts on this?’ And that’s how a lot of relationships start.”
Eventually, the advisory firm that Burkett was affiliated with was acquired by a bigger firm. She and her husband were expecting their second child, and she was ready for a change.
“It was really scary to make that transition to being completely independent,” she said.
One of the first orders of business? Coming up with a name for the new company.
“We had a marketing person who was redoing our website during that transition. She said, ‘We could do something really fun,’ and I was excited to do something fun. I said, ‘We have to make this different. I have to be memorable. There has to be an animal or something included in this.’”
A friend who works in marketing did some brainstorming with Burkett and her husband and asked them about their favorite numbers and other items that were special to them. The Burketts came up with the number 21, as many life events happened to them on the 21st day of the month. She and her husband both have birthdays on the 21st, their son’s birthday is on the 21st and their wedding anniversary is on the 21st.
As for choosing an animal to represent their brand, Burkett said she and her husband looked up different creatures on Google and decided on goats.
“Goats became the thing that made it different and fun,” she said. “Goats are whimsical. They have a good financial planning story in that they climb the mountains and they always make it back home. They travel together as a herd. Nobody has ever told me they don’t like goats.”
Despite Burkett’s affinity for goats, she doesn’t own any. Living in a suburban community, she said, isn’t conducive to keeping the animals, although she once hired someone to bring in goats to clear some brush on their property.
Burkett said her goal is to maintain a nonthreatening atmosphere in her practice.
“This industry can be so intimidating when you walk through a really fancy office,” she said. “Some people may want to have that experience. But I want people to walk into our office and say, ‘It feels like I’m in my home and I’m sitting across the kitchen table from someone, and I can have these very comfortable, vulnerable conversations.’
“Most of our clients are attracted to us because of who we are. We want to make sure that we can take down the walls of the seriousness of what we’re doing. There are obviously times when this needs to be serious, but we want people to feel comfortable so that they can share and be open.”
Goats are whimsical. They have a good financial planning story in that they climb the mountains and they always make it back home. They travel together as a herd. Nobody has ever told me they don’t like goats.
Burkett said many of her clients are in some kind of transition in their lives. Some are recent empty nesters, others are recently divorced or have experienced the death of a spouse or other close family member.
“Most of what we do is more in the way of education than selling or financial planning,” she said. “We want to make sure people feel comfortable in their situation, and to simplify it so it feels less scary and they can take action to move forward.”
Burkett also serves many young adults, and she has learned to communicate with them in the way that makes them feel more comfortable — whether by group chat, text or email.
“Making things specific to them and making them feel special makes them sticky as a client, and I think it creates a better relationship long term for those life events that do happen,” she said.
Burkett said she and her husband have similar backgrounds and interests, so that makes it easy for the two of them to work together. But they have different roles at 21 Goats: She is the client-facing advisor, and he is director of operations, responsible for the back-end functions such as technology and paperwork.
“We are very separated in our roles, but we support each other,” she said.
In the future, Burkett said she and her husband want to eventually bring in another advisor to help grow their practice. But for right now, she wants to continue helping her clients find financial peace of mind.
“It’s really life-changing to sit in front of clients and hear them say, ‘I feel so much more at peace because of [fill in the blank], or when a client loses a spouse and they come in with a stack of papers and tell me they’re so overwhelmed because they’re grieving but they have to deal with financial issues and don’t know what to do. Then we can organize it and explain what it is and what we have to do, and we see their relief in ‘I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about that.’
“The relationships with our clients are what matter to us. Investment markets come and go and are cyclical, but the relationships matter most.”
Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet.
She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents’ association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at srupe@ insurancenewsnet.com.
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Allianz Life faces several lawsuits related to a July data breach that affected 1.4 million people. The lawsuits, filed in the District of Minnesota federal court, all claim that the insurance giant failed to treat plaintiffs’ personal data with proper security measures. Allianz Life is headquartered in Minneapolis.
Allianz reported that hackers stole the personal information of the majority of its customers, financial professionals and select Allianz Life employees in the United States. The breach allegedly exposed personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, and other financial information stored in an unencrypted database.
The insurer told Reuters that it notified the FBI and, based on its own investigation, that there is no evidence that the Allianz Life network or other company systems were accessed, including their policy administration system.
One of the cases filed in Minnesota over the past six weeks is the RoaldiSatterthwaite lawsuit, in which the plaintiffs seek class-action status. It is likely the lawsuits will eventually be consolidated into one action for the class.
The life insurance industry has been in a race to catch up with other industries in the adoption and use of digital tools and artificial intelligence. How much progress has life insurance made in that race to catch up? Two industry experts gave their views.
Andrew Burge, vice president of life insurance development at Nationwide, started his career in banking and was struck by how far behind the life insurance industry is in terms of using digital tools. Burge called for the industry “to do more with digital and e-commerce and just making it easier for people to buy the product.” He said many of the processes in the insurance buying journey “are still rooted in forms.”
The digital world “was foisted upon us — it just happened,” said Don Desiderato,
founder and CEO of Mantissa Group. “I’ve been able to see how carriers responded to this. We’ve begun to respond and deconstruct this monolithic technology that was there for decades. We’re not there yet, but we’re taking actions to make it work.”
But an increased use of technology won’t replace the agent, Desiderato said, citing the complexity of life insurance and annuities as a major reason why consumers need human help.
State insurance regulators are again nibbling around the edges of an actuarial guideline designed to limit unrealistic life illustrations. At the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ summer meeting, the Life Actuarial Task Force discussed proposed changes to Actuarial Guideline 49-A.
Regulators are determined to limit their amendments to a specific section of AG 49-A to address insurers that are
If you have assets that are in your taxable estate, life insurance is a good financing mechanism to pay the estate tax so your kids don’t have to sell assets to pay the tax.”
including “historical averages exceeding the maximum illustrated rate and backcasted performance,” as the amendment proposal form reads.
Approved in 2020, AG 49-A limits the maximum illustrated rate that insurers can use in policy projections to prevent unrealistic growth assumptions. It includes restrictions on exaggerated benefits from indexed loans, a strategy that previously allowed aggressive return assumptions.
With about 28% of U.S. adults now holding some form of cryp tocurrency, Zac Townsend believes it is time to con sider a bitcoin life insurance policy part of a protection plan.
Townsend founded Meanwhile, the world’s first and only bitcoin life insurance company. Meanwhile is the only licensed and government-regulated life insurer that is fully denominated and operating in bitcoin. The firm’s flagship product, bitcoin whole life, offers long-term protection and bitcoin-based savings.
Meanwhile was founded in 2022 in Bermuda, where Townsend said life insurance is referred to as “long-term insurance.” Meanwhile wrote its first life insurance policy in November 2023.
47% of those with life insurance said they are confident their family would be able to manage financially without them.
Sometimes insurance needs may seem simple, but the lives of the people who need it may not be.
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Clients and prospects may not know how powerful life insurance products can be.
By Eric Tarnow
Sometimes it’s best to play the surprise card. Surprise can be the first step not just in creating memorable moments but also in encouraging action.
Corebridge Financial recently published research showing that many Americans are ready to be surprised by life insurance. There is an extremely good chance that many of your clients do not know just how powerful these insurance products can be and how much has changed about life insurance.
Americans who have life insurance are dramatically more confident in the ability of their loved ones to manage financially without them (47% vs. 28%). On the flip side, Americans who don’t have life insurance are four times more likely to say they are not at all confident (32% vs. 8%).
These findings from our research are packed with emotion.
Your clients and their loved ones likely have joyous plans for their futures — children going to college, getting married, buying first homes as well as the older generation enjoying their retirement — and these are all plans that life insurance can help make a reality.
Corebridge’s sales productivity and business development authority, Joe Ross, often reminds me that bringing in the heart is an essential part of motivating
help to recognize the emotional pain that comes with knowing their loved ones might not be ready financially should tragedy strike. Not only will they no longer have an important paycheck to rely on in the short term, but they also may not have sufficient financial resources for the future.
Next, as a counterbalance, you can help heighten the emotional satisfaction of having life insurance by connecting it to pleasure, security and well-being. A client’s joy at having peace of mind, the happiness of being able to sleep easier at night, the fulfillment of knowing action has been taken to prepare their family for different scenarios — this positive psychology is powerful and stands in stark contrast to the painful uncertainty of not having life insurance.
Almost 4 in 10 (38%) say cost is the top reason for not buying life insurance. You could have the opportunity to pleasantly surprise your client with the affordability of life insurance.
According to our research, nearly 3 in 4 Americans say they would be more likely to get life insurance if the purchase process included a 24-hour online approval process.
Years ago, the life insurance purchase process was slow, cumbersome and frustrating. Today, thanks to increasing use of online applications and accelerated underwriting practices, it’s possible for life insurance policies to be delivered immediately, while some may be delivered in as little as 24 hours without the need for a medical exam.
The process of purchasing life insurance has changed in important ways across our industry, and there is a real opportunity to surprise your clients with both the speed and ease of the process.
Some individuals will want to handle as much of the process as they can, filling out application forms on their own through an online portal with the skill of a personal finance do-it-yourselfer. Others will want to partner with a professional to ensure they’re handling the steps correctly and understanding every detail as they go.
Insurance agents and financial professionals can have the option, depending on the insurer, to create a purchase experience that best matches their client’s personality. Some of your clients may prefer an end-to-end digital platform where they can handle all the steps; others may want you, with your knowledge and experience to be by their side throughout the process; and still others will want some combination of these options.
Misperceptions around the cost of life insurance deter too many Americans from securing this important coverage, and the opportunity to surprise clients with the affordability of life insurance is significant.
In what I believe is one of the most important findings in our research, we asked survey respondents to choose from five options to estimate how much a healthy 30-year-old should expect to pay for a 20-year, $250,000 term life insurance policy. Only 10% could identify the correct amount, with nearly a quarter of respondents (24%) choosing an amount that was more than triple the actual cost.
At the same time, cost is what Americans say is the main deterrent keeping them from obtaining a policy. Almost 4 in 10 (38%) say cost is the top reason for not buying life insurance, followed by another 21% who say they have more important financial considerations.
You could have the opportunity to pleasantly surprise your client with the affordability of life insurance. While so many products and services have gone up in price, life insurance has become more affordable than ever.
One of the best surprises is how today’s mod e rn life insurance aligns so well with Americans’ financial concerns. Our research found that the top financial concerns for individuals are unexpected expenses, long-term care costs and running out of money in retirement.
In addition to providing money payable to beneficiaries, which is the primary
reason most individuals purchase coverage, some life insurance policies also can offer benefits to policyholders while they are still alive.
Some products allow for premiums above the cost of insurance and policy fees to grow tax-free in an accumulation account within the insurance product that can be withdrawn or borrowed against to help cover the expenses of things such as emergencies or long-term care costs. It should be noted that withdrawals or loans can affect how long coverage can remain in force.
Furthermore, accelerated benefit riders can potentially allow policyholders to receive all or a portion of their death benefit when facing a qualifying healthrelated condition, helping with expenses of terminal or other qualifying illnesses or conditions, or meeting other needs.
In our survey, more than 8 in 10 respondents identified all four of these benefits as valuable.
Helping consumers create a solid and secure financial plan is one of our industry’s more meaningful outcomes. Still, in order to do that work, you must create real connections with your clients.
Life insurance provides an opportunity along these lines, especially as you’re working with clients who are reaching important milestones in their lives — celebrating weddings, growing families, buying homes.
You can bring in the human factor and share your own experiences. As you tell your clients about your own important life moments or your forward-looking dreams, maybe you’ll surprise yourself with just how much emotion and heart there can be in the life insurance conversation.
Eric Tarnow is head of life insurance with Corebridge Financial. Contact him at eric.tarnow@ innfeedback.com.
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Second-quarter annuity sales hit another record, Wink Inc. reports, and longtime leader Athene knocked from its perch.
New York Life led the way as sales reached nearly $115 billion — up 16.9% over Q1 and up 6.3% over the year-ago quarter.
Athene Annuity and Life Co. had been atop all annuity sales lists for several years and held 9.7% market share in Wink’s first-quarter report.
New York Life ranked as the No. 1 carrier, with a market share of 7.5%, Wink reported. Massachusetts Mutual Life Co. came in second place, while Athene, Corebridge Financial and Equitable Financial completed the top five carriers in the market, respectively.
Product highlights included multiyear guaranteed annuity sales of $45.4 billion, up 29.1% when compared to the previous quarter, and up 10.7% compared to the same period last year. MYGAs have a fixed rate that is guaranteed for more than one year.
The so-called 4% rule has been a part of financial planning for decades. But does it still apply?
Not according to research published in the Journal of Retirement, which found that full or partial annuitization leads to better retirement income results The research also found that those with smaller nest eggs benefit from annuitizing more of their income.
Researchers found that for anyone retiring with $250,000 or more in savings, a strategy of systematic withdrawals from more-liquid investments or cash savings combined with annuities outperforms other strategies. This remained true whether the retiree bought an immediate annuity or had a strategy that included a gradual, laddered annuitization process.
The popular 4% rule is problematic, the researchers found. Although the 4% rule offers flexibility, withdrawing 4% of
initial wealth, subsequently indexed to inflation each year, has significant failure rates for retirees at older ages.
Those retiring with less than $250,000 benefit most by annuitizing higher portions of their savings if not all their savings.
The research evaluated different retirement income strategies for various retirement savings levels — varying mixes of annuities and regular withdrawals according to the 4% rule — examined the distributions of their outcomes and ranked the strategies.
Transamerica recently named Jason Frain head of retirement solutions , where he will oversee the company’s annuity efforts.
In this role, Frain leads product strategy and development across Transamerica’s retirement solutions “with a focus on delivering innovative offerings that help plan sponsors and participants achieve stronger long-term outcomes,” the insurer said in a news release.
The lower the amount of savings you have, the better off you are annuitizing a chunk of that.”
—
Frain brings nearly three decades of experience in retirement and annuity product leadership, including senior roles overseeing product development, pricing and strategy for large financial services organizations, most recently at Brighthouse Financial.
The Department of Labor withdrew a direct final rule that would have eliminated a long-standing safe harbor regulation for annuities.
The Insured Retirement Institute and others lobbied to stop the rule, explaining that the safe harbor regulation “continues to play an important and complementary role in making annuities available through workplace retirement plans.”
IRI argued in comments filed July 31 that the removal of a regulatory safe harbor for the selection of annuity providers for benefit distributions from individual account retirement plans could “unintentionally lead to reluctance in offering lifetime income options.”
The regulatory safe harbor, established under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, provides fiduciaries with a clear and comprehensive standard for selecting both annuity providers and contracts, IRI argued.
A statutory safe harbor enacted under the SECURE Act of 2019 primarily addresses the financial viability of insurers, while the regulatory safe harbor encompasses broader fiduciary duties regarding both the provider and the annuity contract itself.
More employers are interested in including annuities in their defined contribution plan, but misunderstandings abound.
By Timothy Pitney
Americans know they need to save for retirement.
What they often don’t know is how to manage those savings once they reach retirement.
Employers and policymakers had been laser-focused on getting people to save in defined-contribution plans as the era of pension plans waned. But the problem of creating income from their savings wasn’t addressed until the SECURE Act of 2019, which removed regulatory hurdles to including annuities in DC plans and improved portability.
The pace of change is remarkable — 80% of employers that don’t already include an annuity in their DC plan say they plan to offer one, and more than
half plan to do so in the next two years, according to a 2024 TIAA survey of 500 decision-makers at institutions across 17 industries.
Employees like the idea of guaranteed income as well. More than 60% of people over the age of 50 surveyed by AARP say they worry they won’t have enough money to live on in retirement; meanwhile, retail annuity sales have hit record highs four years in a row. The appetite for inplan annuities is strong: According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, one-third of employees ranked “investment options that provide guaranteed lifetime income” as No. 1 on a list of valuable potential improvements to their retirement plan.
More
Yet many employers — and employees — still struggle with “annuity fluency.” TIAA research found nearly two-thirds (63%) of sponsors said they can’t articulate the value and importance of annuities, and that lack of understanding is the No. 1 barrier to adoption (43%).
So let’s tackle the biggest myths and misunderstandings.
Retail annuities — those sold directly to individuals through a company or a financial advisor — are highly customizable and, as a result, can be complicated. In-plan annuities, however, are a different story. Like group health insurance offered via an employer, in-plan annuities streamline the
than 60% of people over the age of 50 surveyed by AARP say
they worry they won’t have enough
money to live on in retirement; meanwhile, retail annuity sales have hit record highs four years in a row.
offering to include common options (such as being able to have a spouse receive payouts after the primary annuitant’s death). There are also the benefits of group pooling of risk and an evaluation process that meets fiduciary standards, easing the confusion and complexity for employees.
When annuities are embedded in a target-date portfolio, they get even easier to understand. More than 80% of employees leave their money in the default investment option. Including an annuity ensures they have a guaranteed asset class that will never go down in value while they save and easy access to a guaranteed income stream when they retire. This reduces the behavioral friction people encounter when they are about to retire and realize the challenge of managing an income-generating portfolio over the next 30 years.
Again, retail annuities can sometimes be expensive. Salespeople collect a commission for their effort, and buyers often pay more for riders that allow greater customization or protection. Employers choosing an in-plan annuity, however, have greater negotiating and purchasing power and the ability to efficiently price the risk of their entire pool of annuitants.
Fixed annuities offered inside retirement plans typically do not have an explicit expense ratio. The insurer offers a crediting rate it can guarantee, but there is no ongoing management fee. In-plan annuities also typically come with no commissions and more-lenient surrender provisions.
Despite these facts, retail annuities are popular. According to LIMRA and Morningstar, $385 billion in retail annuities were sold in 2023 — and 56% of those dollars came from qualified retirement plans and the average expense was 2.47%. Those people may have been better served with an institutionally priced in-plan annuity.
What people tend to focus on here is a perceived lack of liquidity — the inability to access their money.
Depending on the type of contract, employee money in certain in-plan annuities can be transferred easily.
The 4% rule is just a starting point and isn’t right for everyone. It’s especially problematic in volatile markets or periods of high inflation, which increase the risk of running out of money.
This crediting rate is a key benefit in the savings years. In addition to delivering retirement income, fixed annuities provide a valuable portfolio diversification benefit: They are guaranteed not to decrease in value, and they pay a set crediting rate, which means they can help stabilize portfolios in ways mutual funds and other investments cannot. Embedding liquid annuities in target date funds allows the appropriate allocation to this guaranteed asset class to change over time and provides that stabilization when people need it most — near and at retirement.
When it comes time to annuitize and collect that guaranteed income, there is a trade with the insurance company — the annuity holder provides a lump sum and the insurance company provides income guaranteed to last the holder’s entire life, perhaps longer. This normally applies to just a portion of assets, depending on income needs and expected Social Security income. That means employees retain a significant portion of their savings to invest however they choose to help meet variable expenses.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Bill Sharpe noted retirement income as the “nastiest, hardest problem in finance.” Under the 4% rule, you withdraw 4% of your savings your first year in retirement, then adjust that dollar figure every year for inflation.
But the 4% rule is just a starting point and isn’t right for everyone. It’s especially problematic in volatile markets or periods of high inflation, which increase the risk of running out of money.
Annuitizing a portion of retirement savings can reduce the uncertainty and stress that accompany monitoring the markets while also guaranteeing income.
2025 Research by TIAA demonstrates
the advantage. Each year TIAA calculates the difference between what a 67-year-old retiree can withdraw in their first year of retirement using the 4% rule versus what they could draw if they annuitized a third of their savings with the TIAA traditional fixed annuity. This year, a worker could get 33% more income if they annuitize than if they used the 4% withdrawal rule alone. On $1 million saved, the strategy yields $13,154 more income in 2025 — guaranteed.
Like defined benefit pensions, in-plan annuities offer options for continued payments to beneficiaries as well as provide payments for a guaranteed period (i.e., 10, 15, 20 years) regardless of when the annuitant dies. Instead of the separate fee that a retail annuity would assess, an in-plan annuity will typically offer a slightly lower payout rate in exchange for this kind of guarantee.
What’s more, if the retiree’s fixed expenses are largely covered by Social Security and an annuity, the rest of the portfolio can be invested more aggressively, with an eye toward growing a legacy. Demand for in-plan annuities is growing from both employers and employees as we move into a new era of retirement. People are living longer, healthier lives and spending more time in retirement. Employers hold more sway over the future of retirement than perhaps any other institution. Let’s work together to improve financial security for tomorrow’s retirees.
Timothy Pitney is head of lifetime income distribution at TIAA. Contact him at timothy.pitney@ innfeedback.com.
Most small to midsize employers are worried about being able to afford to offer health benefits in the future, according to eHealth. A survey of business owners revealed that 89% of those currently sponsoring group health plans worry they won’t be able to afford it within three years.
Nearly all the business owners surveyed (93%) said it’s time for a new health benefit solution because the current model isn’t working anymore Meanwhile, 75% expressed interest in individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, which allow employers to contribute to employee health insurance premiums without serving as the sponsor, enabling employees to buy a plan through a private or a government exchange.
Three-quarters of business owners surveyed said employers should make defined contributions for employees to use toward purchasing their own coverage rather than sponsoring a traditional employer-based group health plan.
Two-thirds of employers not currently offering group health benefits said they would contribute toward the cost of employee-purchased health insurance premiums if there were a way to do so.
Industry data on long-term care insurance hasn’t been updated since 2006, so three industry organizations are launching a study of the LTCi industry experience.
LIMRA, the Society of Actuaries Research Institute and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners will conduct a comprehensive new study to examine mortality, persistency, claim incidence and claim termination experience for LTCi policies issued from 2000 through 2023. Currently, 13 carriers, representing two-thirds of the standalone LTCi market, have agreed to participate in the study. Researchers are looking to recruit another five to seven companies to join the study in the coming months.
Marianne Purushotham,
LIMRA corporate vice president for statistical analysis
and modeling, told InsuranceNewsNet that the organizations want to look at the experience with LTCi products.
“What kind of claims experience are we having? Who’s going on claim with long-term care? Who’s using their policies? How long are they staying on claim? Are they living longer than expected? Are they holding on to their policies and continuing to pay premiums on these policies? Are we seeing an expected level of lapses, or are we seeing better persistency?”
The Inflation Reduction Act put a cap of $2,000 on out-out-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries’ prescription drugs. But that doesn’t mean Medicare enrollees won’t see higher drug costs. Health plans that provide prescription drug benefits to Medicare beneficiaries
We have found that a lot of employers do not know and are not aware they are really in a self-funded arrangement.”
— David C. Smith, president-elect, National Association of Benefit and Insurance Professionals
have responded to the cap on out-ofpocket costs for prescription drugs by raising patient cost-sharing through higher deductibles and a greater reliance on coinsurance, finds a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers said the cap will benefit patients with high drug spending, but their findings raise concerns about increased costs for beneficiaries who will not reach the $2,000 cap.
The Trump administration is planning to experiment with covering costly weight loss drugs under Medicare and Medicaid, according to reports. That could expand access to millions of Americans with obesity who can’t currently afford Wegovy and Zepbound, GLP-1 drugs that cost around $1,000 per month before insurance.
The reported plan — if it ultimately takes effect — would be a huge win for many Americans.
Insurance coverage of obesity drugs remains the biggest barrier to access for patients. Many health plans, including Medicare, cover GLP-1s for treatment of diabetes, but not obesity. Medicaid coverage of obesity drugs is limited and varies by state, according to health policy research organization KFF.
An estimated 15% of 26-year-olds go uninsured, the highest rate among Americans of any age.
Source: KFF
65%+ INCOME REPLACEMENT
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As incomes increase, the issue and participation limits of traditional Disability Insurance carriers decrease. To properly insure a highly compensated individual at 65% of income, multiple disability income plans are often required and are layered to provide sufficient income protection.
The following scenario illustrates the way income protection plans can be layered to provide an individual with 65% coverage of monthly income.
EXECUTIVE
INCOME: $900,000 annually $75,000 monthly
Clients tend to put off planning for their future LTC. Here is how to overcome their reluctance to discuss care needs.
By Don Connelly
There’s an epidemic spreading quietly through the insurance world. It’s not a regulatory issue. It’s not market volatility. It’s not inflation. It’s something far more human — and far more damaging. I call it “LTC Talk Avoidance Syndrome.”
A recent study conducted by OneAmerica, in partnership with Hanover Research, sheds light on how advisors approach long-term care planning. In a survey of more than 400 advisors, only 54% said they currently recommend or offer LTC protection to their clients.
Interestingly, the study found that 25% had previously recommended LTC solutions but have since stopped doing
so. Even more concerning, 21% admitted they’ve never offered any LTC protection at all.
This lack of engagement is troubling given the scale of the risk. According to the Administration for Community Living, nearly 70% of Americans over age 65 will need some form of long-term care at some point. That disconnect between the likelihood of needing long-term care and the percentage of advisors actively helping clients plan for it represents a missed opportunity — for both protection and meaningful client guidance.
LTC planning is one of the most urgent yet under-addressed aspects of
modern risk management. For many clients, it’s the biggest financial threat they’ll face in retirement. Yet too many financial professionals shy away from the conversation.
Avoiding this conversation is not just a missed opportunity; it’s also a business risk. And for agents willing to step into this uncomfortable space with care, confidence and clarity, it’s also a competitive advantage that can’t be easily replicated.
The opportunity is huge. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 70% of Americans turning 65 will need some form of long-term care. Yet fewer than
According to the Administration for Community Living, nearly 70% of Americans over age 65 will need some form of long-term care at some point.
1 in 25 Americans age 50 or older, just 4%, have a long-term care policy in place.
That’s not just a planning gap — it’s a gaping hole in the safety net. It’s a disconnect between what clients say they want — security, independence and dignity — and how they’re actually prepared to achieve it.
When a health crisis strikes, it’s often sudden and costly. Clients who thought they had everything figured out are blindsided. They turn to their trusted insurance professional and ask, “What now?”
And if the answer is silence, or worse — “I meant to bring that up” — the consequences aren’t just financial; they’re also relational. They’re reputational. They’re long-lasting.
Many agents are masters of technical planning. They can discuss life insurance, annuities, tax strategies and asset protection with ease. These conversations are tidy. Quantifiable. Safe. But LTC? That’s messy. It’s emotional. It involves personal fears, family dynamics and hypothetical worst-case scenarios.
The irony is that those are the very elements that make LTC planning so powerful and so uniquely suited for agents who know how to build deep, lasting relationships.
In today’s crowded market, technical expertise is no longer a differentiator — it’s a given. What sets top agents apart isn’t just what they know, it’s also how they make clients feel. They are not selling insurance. They are selling emotional security, the missing ingredient in financial planning.
Emotional security is the confidence clients feel when they know someone has anticipated the unknown. It’s peace of mind that comes from knowing a plan exists, not just for income or taxes but also for caregiving, independence and preserving dignity.
Agents who provide emotional security earn deeper client trust, increase multigenerational loyalty, generate more referrals — especially from grateful family members — and create a resilient business that are less vulnerable to market shifts or fee compression.
So, how do you transform LTC Talk Avoidance Syndrome into growth, trust and client loyalty?
Here’s a practical road map.
1. Reframe the conversation. Don’t treat long-term care insurance as an afterthought or a “nice to have.” Position it as a core pillar of comprehensive protection planning alongside life insurance, annuities and income guarantees. Start by saying, “We plan for what happens if you live a long life, not just what happens if you don’t.”
2. Lead with questions, not products. People don’t want to be sold something. They want to be heard. Great LTC conversations start with empathetic, open-ended questions, such as:
• “If your health were to change, where would you want to receive care?”
• “How would you want your spouse or children involved?”
• “Have you thought about how unexpected care costs could affect your lifestyle or your legacy?”
These questions create space for vulnerability. That’s where trust lives.
3. Dispel the myths. Many clients believe:
• LTC planning is only for the ultra-wealthy.
• LTCi covers only nursing homes.
• Medicare will take care of their long-term care needs.
• The cost of LTCi is unaffordable.
Your role is to gently, clearly educate them. Today’s LTC solutions are flexible, scalable and more accessible than ever — especially with hybrid products and combination policies. The market is shifting — and clients are ready.
4. Use tools that fit the client’s needs. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. A thoughtful LTC strategy might include:
• Stand-alone LTCi
• Hybrid life/LTC policies
• Employer-sponsored LTC programs
• Annuities with long-term care riders
• A combination of stand-alone and hybrid
5. Make it ongoing, not one-and-done. Emotional security isn’t created in a single meeting. It’s built over time. Use annual reviews to revisit the plan, adapt to life changes and reinforce your client’s peace of mind, because life will evolve and so must the plan. When agents avoid LTC conversations, they miss:
• The moment a client realizes “You’re the only person who brought this up.”
• The family meeting where you’re introduced as “the one who thought ahead.”
• The referral from a client’s adult children who saw how you helped their parents.
This is where loyalty is forged. This is where careers are built.
And this is why emotional security isn’t just the right thing to offer; it’s also the smart thing.
I urge you to step into the gap. You can’t control markets, and you can’t predict every health crisis, but you can control how prepared your clients feel.
You can be the one who has the courage to talk about what others avoid. And you can build a business rooted not just in performance but also in peace of mind.
Long-term care planning isn’t about selling policies. It’s about protecting dignity, independence and emotional well-being.
The agents who embrace that truth won’t just sell more. They’ll also matter more.
Don Connelly is a speaker, motivator and educator for financial professionals. Contact him at don.connelly@ innfeedback.com.
More people are turning to the internet for financial advice, CFP Board research shows, but the advice they receive online is leading them into trouble. Nearly 3 out of 5 people said they’ve made regrettable financial decisions based on misleading information.
Misleading financial information is not only confusing, but it costs people money as well, the survey said. For instance, nearly 2 out of 5 Americans (39%) have lost $250 or more because of bad advice , and almost 1 in 5 (18%) have suffered losses that amount to more than $1,000. While some have narrowly avoided these pitfalls — 1 in 5 reconsidered questionable advice before acting on it — many are dealing with lasting effects.
Among those with regrets, common consequences include delaying major financial decisions (33%), acting without professional input (29%), incurring unnecessary fees (28%) and sharing inaccurate information with others (28%).
Younger adults are also more likely than their elders to act on misleading information, with 64% of those aged 25 to 45 reporting regrettable decisions, compared to 45% of those who are aged 46 to 54.
“Gray divorce” — divorcing near or after retirement — presents unique challenges, especially if a couple has created a retirement strategy together. This is according to the 2025 Annual Retirement Study from the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement.
Although the national rate of divorce declined slightly, the gray divorce rate — among adults aged 65 and older — is increasing and is creating many risks. It is important for advisors to consider these
“It’s clear there’s a lack of education around 529 plans, and this has a real impact on how people plan to save for education.”
Julia Bartak, financial advisor with Edward Jones
Saving for retirement is a good thing, but putting too much money into retirement accounts can hamper a household’s ability to achieve other goals, such as buying a house or paying for college. That’s according to Hearts & Wallets, which found 132.2 million U.S. households controlled $88.2 trillion of investable assets , representing 58% of household wealth, as of year-end 2024. Within this $88.2 trillion, a 2-to-1 taxable-retirement split occurs at the national level, with $56.2 trillion in taxable accounts and $32.1 trillion in consumer-controlled retirement accounts.
So why is knowing how to allocate savings so important, especially for lower-asset households? Savings assets in the right type of account is an important decision, said Laura Varas, Hearts & Wallets CEO. At the national level, bank savings/certificates of deposit account types are the most common destinations for saving , used to some degree by 55% of households, followed by defined contribution plans and individual retirement accounts, used by 42% and 30% of households, respectively, Varas said. On average, households that know their savings allocation devote 40% of savings to bank accounts/ CDs and 40% to retirement accounts.
57% of high-index investors spend more than half of their income on basic needs.
Source: Jackson National
risks, as 56% of married Americans said that a divorce would derail their financial retirement strategy, the survey said.
In addition, about 1 in 3 married baby boomers (35%) said a divorce would derail their financial retirement strategy, compared to 63% of millennials and 52% of Gen Xers. Married Hispanic respondents (67%) were more likely than white (56%), Asian/Asian American (49%) and Black/African American (47%) respondents to say that a future divorce would derail their financial retirement strategy.
5/25
Identifying niche markets and distinct prospect demographics along with unique methods to serve them.
• Alan C. Kifer
The elements of success in financial advising depend on the kind of CROPS you are planting. CROPS stands for conversations, relationships, opportunities, problem-solving and storytelling.
Financial advising has undergone a profound transformation in the 21st century, echoing the timeless lessons found in Nightingale Conant’s 1987 “Lead the Field” sales training guide. The guide highlights a story called “Acres of Diamonds,” which illustrates that opportunities for wealth and success often lie hidden within one’s own backyard. This emphasizes the importance of recognizing the true potential in familiar and close-at-hand communities.
Today’s financial advisors struggle to navigate a rapidly evolving marketplace
influenced by media, technology, globalization and shifting consumer behaviors. To succeed, they must harness these insights. The challenges lie in identifying niche markets and distinct prospect demographics along with unique methods to serve them. This empowers clients to often uncover their own acres of diamonds. All this leads to informed financial decision-making, sustainable growth and even success at the business of retirement.
Conversations will play a pivotal role in financial advising in the future. Conversations will enable firms and individual advisors alike to build trust and establish meaningful bonds with clients. As consumers become increasingly discerning, they seek not only transactional interactions but also genuine dialogue addressing unique needs, objectives and aspirations. Engaging in insightful conversations allows consultants to showcase their expertise in tailoring solutions and fosters an environment of transparency.
Furthermore, leveraging digital platforms facilitates ongoing engagement, ensuring advisors remain top of mind, accessible and responsive to client inquiries. A conversational approach enhances customer satisfaction and promotes loyalty-leading to trusted advisor status. Through honest and sincere conversations, advisors will see their services thrive in the 21st century.
Building strong relationships is fundamental to marketing financial advice in today’s interconnected world. Clients’ financial journeys are often filled with stress, emotions, fears, worries and anxieties along with needs and objectives. Personalization plays a crucial role here. Advisors who take the time to understand first and then be understood will jump-start their careers. Fostering deeper connections with their clientele will enable advisors to leverage their relationships to grow their business.
It’s critical to solidify your presence in your clients’ lives and transition from a service provider to a trusted partner.
This commitment to building relationships enhances an advisor’s ability to gain referrals, expanding their business and their reputation.
Identifying opportunities is another vital component of financial advising. The 21st-century economy is characterized by rapid technological advancements and shifting regulatory rules. It also brings an unspoken expectation of immediate gratification. These factors create multiple opportunities for the financial advisor to be proactive. By staying abreast of fintech developments and emerging market trends, advisors can truly position themselves as go-to consultants.
Moreover, using targeted marketing efforts will help advisors capitalize on their niche markets — such as small-business owners, medical professionals, etc. This allows an advisor to develop unique methods and strategies to serve their niche clients’ unique needs. Advisors who not only recognize these opportunities but also can effectively communicate will set themselves apart from any competition. This type of proactive approach helps the advisor remain both relevant and agile, knowing that the only constant is change.
Problem-solving occurs when the advisor’s capabilities are studied, learned and practiced. Clients most often contact an advisor when a pain point is reached. This is a stressful moment in a client’s life and can include milestones such as business transition and retirement planning. Solving these problems requires skill and solutions. Successful advisor marketing highlights the financial professional’s education, training and experience in addition to their ability to design personal solutions. Creating tailored solutions to clients’ unique problems is the advisor’s secret sauce.
Past successes are a powerful potion for stressed clients trying to solve their financial puzzles. Being a resource for clients to solve their problems is a nonthreatening method of approaching clients. Helping people develop a sense of confidence and peace of mind binds them to their advisor and makes it difficult for a competitor to break this bond.
Last and yet probably the most important step in CROPS is storytelling. It has become the most compelling method
Professional speakers, athletes, dancers and others all have coaches, yet most families don’t have a financial coach. Why not be that family financial coach?
for engaging prospects. The financial services industry is often perceived as dry, uninspiring and filled with product peddlers. This may have been true in the past, but for the 21st-century advisor to be successful and grow, they must develop the ability to tell stories.
This includes creating effective marketing techniques that bring their stories to life. It’s the most efficient way to create emotional connections with prospects and clients. It conveys information in a relatable way as well as on a personal level. It makes the advisor appear to be more than just a consultant. The advisor becomes the “coach.” Professional speakers, athletes, dancers and others all have coaches, yet most families don’t have a financial coach. Why not be that family financial coach?
Conveying your ability to solve problems and turning past successes into stories demonstrate authenticity to prospects while capturing a sincere interest in learning more. As loyalty builds, so
too does the advisor’s business. It’s a true win-win scenario. People tend to believe what they read; what they believe often leads to what they think, and what they think often becomes what they are.
Your mind is your greatest resource, and your body is your greatest asset. Feed both as if they were the most important things in your life because they are. Planting seeds in your own community and watering, weeding and feeding them all are part of developing a successful financial advisory practice.
What kind of CROPS will you sow? What kind of acres of diamonds are in your backyard?
Alan C. Kifer is the managing director of TOPGUN Financial Planning. He was a recipient of the IARFC’s 2023 Loren E. Dunton Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2024 National Social Security Advisor of the Year. Contact him at alan.kifer@ innfeedback.com.
Grow your community and increase your clients’ trust by sharing who you are.
By Steve Plewes
After I served as a financial advisor for more than 40 years, you can imagine that I have lots of stories. Some of them are small, simple stories of past interactions with clients. Others are major personal life-changing events. We all have a story to share. How we share it can shape the way we interact with others and lift the curtain on our values and passions. Sharing who you are, especially with clients, opens them up to recognize that you can relate to them and are ready to be their guide through the upcoming financial journey.
Finding community in crisis
I sold my business back in 2017, allowing me to enjoy more freedom in a “retired” lifestyle. I was still engaged in my coaching practice, but my wife and I were finally ready to achieve one of our long-term goals: a trip to Australia.
In a matter of moments, our dream trip turned into a nightmare.
On one of the final days of our vacation, a truck collided with our rental car at more than 110 kilometers per hour, critically injuring both of us and totaling the vehicle. My wife was whisked off to a hospital by ambulance and immediately underwent emergency surgery to repair internal injuries caused by the seatbelt that saved her life. I broke six ribs, punctured my lung, and shattered my tibia and fibula below my right knee. My wife was taken to a local hospital in a small town called Warrnambool, and they airlifted
me to a trauma hospital in Melbourne, about four hours away.
While we were, of course, grateful to be alive, recovering so far from each other was difficult, especially in an unfamiliar land thousands of miles from our support systems at home. Recovery took time, meaning that even when we left our intensive care units, we were stranded in Australia until we were strong enough to make the long trip home. One day, the hospital staff let my wife know she had visitors. Who could be visiting her so far from home?
To my surprise, some of the Australian Million Dollar Round Table members I had met at conferences and other events burst through the door. They had heard about the accident through our network and traveled to Melbourne to visit. I needed a full month to recover after we were discharged from the hospital.
These friends went so far as to help us find comfort in a foreign place. They drove us around the area for appointments, made meals for us and genuinely cared about helping us back on our feet both literally and figuratively. Finding a community that made sacrifices to help us 10,000 miles from home reminded me how communities show up for one another in the face of tragedy. It was humbling to receive this love and care from colleagues.
By no means did I plan on our dream vacation resulting in a horrific accident, but I did have the opportunity to learn from the challenges and those around me. I spent much of my career asking clients who their support systems were and how they were prepared for tragedy. Experiencing a tragedy reminded me that we have the same needs as our clients. We can connect over our shared experiences and desire to protect our loved ones.
I was still engaged in my coaching practice, but my wife and I were finally ready to achieve one of our long-term goals: a trip to Australia.
In a matter of moments, our dream trip turned into a nightmare.
Sharing stories like mine allows those around us to understand how we think and why we are the way we are. That said, not every story needs to be as life-changing as mine. The goal in telling clients anecdotes about your life is to build rapport and develop an authentic connection. Sometimes the smallest of stories can spark a unique connection that fosters trust in you as their advisor. It can even be as simple as a common interest you share with the client.
Music has always been an important part of who I am. I’m a guitar player, and a picture of my band in my office would spark conversation. Clients would ask what kind of music I played, and that question would lead to finding a shared love of music from the 1960s and ’70s or a story about playing instruments.
Opening up about my interests created an accessible talking point to cut the tension when I was meeting with clients, creating a safe space for them to share personal information. It even allowed clients
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Clients put higher value on someone showing up authentically instead of relying solely on technical competence or marketing savviness. They want to know why you are the right person they should trust with their dreams.
to have something easy to mention to friends, saying things like “Have you met Steve Plewes yet? He has a great collection of guitars you have to hear about.” Small touchpoints like my love for music would lead to relationships built on trust with my clients, and eventually they would refer me to fellow music lovers. Early in my career I thought the most important thing I could do was lead with facts and data, when in fact, what the clients really wanted to know first was what we had in common and that I could be trusted.
Think about what makes you unique or what people in your community could relate to. Be willing to discuss things such as volunteer commitments, favorite sports teams, hobbies or talents, school affiliations, recent vacations and local community news.
Clients often want to understand who you are and why they should trust you before they want to hear your recommendation on their finances. Instead of turning to an artificial intelligence bot that could also provide financial advice, they value working with someone who will understand them at the human level.
The advantages of authenticity
Let’s be honest; we don’t always get things right. There was a client once who shared feedback with me that I talked too much about myself. At first, I was frustrated because that wasn’t my intention. But
upon further reflection, I realized I had missed the point. Storytelling isn’t just about sharing who I am. Our work as financial professionals is to understand what matters to our clients and build a financial plan with their priorities in mind. Storytelling is still an important part of showing our clients we can be trusted, but we need to be strategic in using the story as the vehicle to make clients feel safe to discuss themselves rather than dominating the conversation.
Breaking the ice with my personal stories was still a good strategy to alleviate stress and make people find comfort in our meetings. But as time went on, I selected my stories with intention. For example, I would sometimes tell the story of why I don’t wear a tie.
I once had a client who told me I wasn’t allowed to enter their home wearing a tie. I laughed it off and started to walk in anyway. They stopped me and said, “No, I’m serious. You need to take off the tie before you can come in.” I quickly took my tie off right there on the porch, confused but not wanting to offend them. After I was welcomed in, they explained that they wanted to work with someone who was real. A salesman who was going to give them a product and leave them to fend for themselves did not interest them. They were looking for a partner who would work with them instead of seeing them as another number.
I stopped wearing ties from that point on. I realized that if I met with someone who wanted me in full professional dress including a tie, we likely were not a good fit for each other. The person who asked me to take off my tie did so to reiterate what was important to them. In the same way, I wanted to show new clients what was important to me. I was not focused on what I was wearing or what I could show them on a piece of paper. My goal was to help them get where they wanted to go, and I could do that without a tie.
Stories like this marry the concept of who you are and your values as a professional. Clients put higher value on someone showing up authentically instead of relying solely on technical competence or marketing savviness. They want to know why you are the right person they should trust with their dreams. Authenticity in this manner leads to client retention; your clients are invested in the person you are and the way you look out for them. They will even be quick to tell friends and family about what you have done to help them, leading to a pipeline of like-minded clients.
Showing vulnerability is a skill that takes time and practice. Dedicating time to reflect on what makes you unique will lead to meaningful conversations with clients. Not everything needs to be a life-altering tragedy like our trip in Australia; but clients are looking for authenticity. Write out a few stories that have helped you develop your own set of values and have shaped the way you work. The benefits are many; clients want you to be an expert but not a robot. Devoting time to present yourself authentically leads to better business and sustainable relationship development, creating a referral pipeline for similar clients and raising client retention rates.
Steve Plewes, CLU, ChFC, is an independent financial advisor with nearly 40 years of financial services industry experience. He is a certified professional coach helping financial advisors reach their full potential in life and business. Steve is a 38-year MDRT member with 15 Court of the Table and 11 Top of the Table qualifications. Contact him at steve.plewes@ innfeedback.com.
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Interest rates are (likely) on the move. Any movement in rates has a corresponding impact on both life insurers and policyholders.
BY JOHN HILTON
Aclear and cohesive multiyear strategy for treatment of interest rates by the Federal Reserve is something the financial services industry would very much like to see.
Surprises and indecision are no good for planning and investing. Unfortunately, the disagreement between President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in addition to just being awkward, created too much uncertainty in recent months.
The betting markets anticipated a resolution to that dispute that would result in the Fed slashing its federal funds rate during a meeting scheduled after this issue went to press. The funds rate is the interest rate at which U.S. banks and credit unions lend reserve balances to each other overnight.
As of early September, the Fed held rates steady at 4.25% to 4.50%, a rate unchanged since December 2024.
The federal rate influences borrowing costs across the economy and affects
consumer spending, investment and inflation. And because the dollar is the dominant currency around the world, a rate change echoes globally.
Speaking in late August from Wyoming, Powell seemed to be coming around to the president’s point of view.
“The stability of the unemployment rate and other labor market measures allows us to proceed carefully as we consider changes to our policy stance,” Powell said. “Nonetheless, with policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance.”
Interest rates are inextricably tied to the world of insurance. Any rate changes have a powerful effect on insurers, on both how they make money and how they price products.
Insurance companies like to invest premium dollars in safe places, mostly in bonds and fixed income. Rising interest rates mean higher yields and stronger investment income over time.
Lower interest rates mean lower yields and a squeeze on profitability since insurers can’t earn as much on their large bond portfolios. A low-rate environment
“The stability of the unemployment rate and other labor market measures us to proceed carefully as we consider changes our policy stance.”
persisted for many years, forcing insurers to seek out private equity partnerships and asset managers who could deliver higher returns.
The shift forced many life insurers to hedge their risk with big reinsurance deals, some with offshore reinsurance companies. The interest rate impact on insurance company investments isn’t likely to reverse itself anytime soon.
investments to pay for both the carrier’s expenses and profit and to fund option purchases necessary to hedge index-linked interest credits on the indexed products.
“If bond yields are higher, the amount available to spend on options will increase, which allows for higher credited rates,” explained Ryan Brown, head of annuity sales and general counsel at
particular products. And if it’s a five-year product, and we’re looking at shorter duration corporate bonds or mortgages or things like that that we would use to back our portfolio, we would look at how they’re reacting and what they’re able to credit at that point in time.”
Rate changes also have an impact on policyholder behavior. Amid declining rates, policyholders are likely to hold
“If bond yields are higher, the amount available to spend on options will increase, which allows for higher credited rates.”
— Ryan Brown, M&O Marketing
However, any change in rates is felt quickly on the product side.
Many life and annuity products promise minimum guarantees. When market rates fall below those guarantees, insurers face spread compression. That is, they must pay more than they earn.
For annuity sellers, low rates hurt the appeal of traditional products like fixed annuities and whole life. The industry tends to innovate more with indexed products that can cap participation but still give consumers participation in the markets.
The insurers use any yield from bond
M&O Marketing. “Similarly, if bond yields are lower, the amount available to spend on options will decrease, which will require lower credited rates.”
Insurers must react nimbly to any interest rate changes, noted Alan Assner, head of individual annuities at The Standard. But companies also track the 5- and 10-year Treasury rates as a benchmark of sorts, he said. The Standard will adjust its crediting rates if rates fall, Assner confirmed.
“It’s not necessarily one for one,” he added. “We look at the basket of assets that we would purchase to back these
“If it’s a five-year product and we’re looking at shorter-duration corporate bonds or mortgages or things like that that we would use to back our portfolio, we would look at how they’re reacting and what they’re able to credit at that point in time.”
— Alan Assner, The Standard
onto older, high-crediting policies. This creates a higher liability for insurers.
Likewise, surrender activity may decrease, as policyholders don’t want to give up a good guaranteed rate.
Interest rates have an undeniable impact on clients, their portfolios and any indexed products they might own. But the underlying financial data driving rate-cut decisions is really the forest rather than just the trees.
Employment, inflation and wage data are all on tenuous ground as employers and wholesalers struggle to offset the cost of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
The odds of a recession for the U.S. economy are hovering around a nearly 50-50 chance, with forecasts from organizations like Moody’s Analytics placing the probability of a downturn in the next 12 months around 49%.
Meanwhile, analysts strongly favor a second rate cut in December.
InsuranceNewsNet
Senior Editor John Hilton covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john. hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on X @INNJohnH.
The “big beautiful bill” makes some significant changes for businesses and individuals.
By Alex Kim
On July 4, President Donald Trump signed H.R. 1, officially known as the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act. Widely regarded as the most significant tax reform since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the law introduces major changes with broad implications for individuals, businesses and the overall economy. Its journey through Congress was complex, requiring Senate reconciliation; a narrow House vote; and intense negotiations over Medicaid, the state and local tax deduction, and the bill’s projected $3.4 trillion impact on the national debt .
For those in the financial security profession, however, what’s equally important is what’s not in the bill. H.R. 1 does not create new taxes on the industry, nor does it restrict the critical work financial security professionals do to help families
achieve financial security. Instead, it extends many taxpayer-friendly provisions of the TCJA — from individual and business tax cuts to the Section 199A deduction for small pass-throughs to the increased estate tax exemption.
Below is a breakdown of a few of the most significant changes in H.R. 1 and what they mean for businesses, individuals and the clients financial security professionals serve.
Extension and enhancement of increased estate and gift tax exemption amounts (Section 70106)
Estate and gift tax exemption permanently increased to $15 million per individual and $30 million for married couples, indexed for inflation after 2026.
Effective date: Tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2025. No expiration date. The current estate and gift tax exemption is $13.99 million per individual and was set to sunset at the end of 2025 to 2017 levels.
While alleviating concerns that the estate and gift tax exemption would sunset after this year, the new law presents an ideal opportunity to reassess current estate plans or establish new ones to ensure alignment with personal goals, family needs and recent tax law changes.
Extension and enhancement of reduced rates (Sec. 70101)
Permanently extends individual income tax cuts from the 2017 TCJA. These reduced rates were set to expire at the end
H.R. 1 does not create new taxes on the industry, nor does it restrict the critical work financial security professionals do to help families achieve financial security.
of this year and revert to pre-TCJA levels.
Effective date: Applicable to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2025. No expiration date.
The top marginal income tax rates and brackets will remain at 37%, avoiding the scheduled increase to 39.6%.
The inflation adjustment increased by an extra year to the 10% and 12% brackets.
Permanence provides greater certainty for long-term financial planning.
There remains an opportunity to use non-grantor trusts to reallocate income
introduced under the 2017 TCJA. These higher deduction levels, which were set to expire at the end of this year and revert to pre-2017 amounts, will now remain in place.
Effective date: Applicable to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2024. No expiration date.
For 2025, the standard deduction is $15,750 for single filers, $31,500 for married filing jointly and $23,625 for head of household, indexed for inflation after 2025.
The new law presents an ideal opportunity to reassess current estate plans or establish new ones. ...
to beneficiaries who may be in lower tax brackets, potentially resulting in overall tax savings.
Limitation on individual deductions for certain state and local taxes (Sec. 70120)
The $10,000 SALT cap established under the TCJA is preserved but temporarily increased to $40,000, increasing each year by 1%. This higher cap remains in effect through 2029 before reverting to $10,000 in 2030.
Effective date: Applicable to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2024. Expires after Dec. 31, 2029.
The cap amount is reduced for taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income of more than $500,000 but will not fall below the original $10,000 threshold.
The House’s initial version proposed eliminating state-level SALT cap workaround provisions, but this language was ultimately excluded from the final bill. Its inclusion would have negatively affected the 36 states that implemented pass-through entity tax workarounds to mitigate the impact of the SALT deduction cap.
Extension and enhancement of increased standard deduction (Sec. 70102)
Permanently increases and extends the doubled standard deduction amounts
199A extension and enhancement of deduction for qualified business income (Sec. 70105)
Makes permanent the 20% qualified business income deduction under Section 199A, originally enacted as part of the TCJA.
Effective date: Applicable to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2025. No expiration date.
Increases the phase-in income limits from $50,000 to $75,000 for single filers and from $100,000 to $150,000 for joint filers.
Creates a minimum deduction of $400 for taxpayers with at least $1,000 of QBI from an active trade or business, adjusted for inflation.
This gives advisors an opportunity to review and plan with owners of passthrough entities to maximize QBI and available deductions.
Alex Kim is vice president, public policy, with Finseca. Contact him at alex.kim@ innfeedback.com.
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The Medicare system is complex, and many consumers rely on an agent’s expertise to navigate it.
By Carroll Golden
We’ve all heard of Peak 65 — more than 11,000 Americans will celebrate their 65th birthday each day this year. That reality isn’t only a demographic headline; it’s transforming the client base. As clients a ge, Medicare becomes a key factor in their pre- and post-retirement financial security picture. And here’s the truth: Sound financial planning is incomplete without integrating health care.
The catch? The Affordable Care Act and Medicare are complex, fast-changing and highly regulated. Financial professionals can’t (and shouldn’t) go it alone. That’s why partnering with or encouraging your clients to engage with a trained, licensed Medicare agent is so powerful. These agents bring specialized knowledge and compliance expertise, ensuring clients make informed choices.
Every fall, Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period Oct. 15 through Dec. 7 opens a window for retirees to elect, review, adjust or switch their coverage. For clients, it’s a decision-making crossroads. For industry and financial professionals, it’s a chance to reinforce the value of holistic planning — but only if health care, lifestyle and retirement strategies are aligned.
One challenge is that many retirees assume Medicare is “set it and forget it.”
In reality, plan benefits, premiums, formularies, provider networks and even rules from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services change every year. Without guidance, clients risk higher
costs, surprise gaps and plans that don’t match their health or financial needs.
“There are two crucial aspects to keep in mind for the 2026 Medicare Annual Enrollment Period,” said Bryan Keeven, president, wholesale health affiliate partners at Amerilife. “The first is the ongoing evolution of Medicare Advantage, Prescription Drug Plans and Medigap plans. You should anticipate changes in plan availability, premiums, value-added benefits and copays or coinsurance.
The second is to remember that the role and the services agents provide are more valuable than ever. The Medicare system is complex, and many consumers rely on an agent’s expertise to navigate it in their best interest. An agent’s integrity and dedication are invaluable, and your
clients count on them to help them make informed decisions.”
Here’s where licensed Medicare agents make a difference:
» Spotting changes in costs: Agents know that premiums, deductibles and provider networks reset annually, and they can flag when last year’s “best fit” becomes this year’s budget-buster.
» Navigating drug formularies:
“Part D prescription coverage is the glue that holds Medicare coverage together because it protects consumers from the high and often unpredictable cost of
medications,” said Dwane McFerrin, senior vice president, Medicare solutions at Senior Market Sales. “With Original Medicare and a Medigap plan, you need a separate Part D plan to cover prescriptions, while Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plans bundle medical and drug benefits into one. In either case, having the right Part D coverage ensures access to necessary medications without facing overwhelming out-ofpocket expenses.”
Part D is an essential part of Medicare coverage, yet agents are no longer compensated for guiding clients through these choices. This creates a real dilemma, because consumers still need expert help to compare formularies, premiums and coverage rules that change every year. Without a licensed agent advisor’s guidance, consumers risk higher drug costs or gaps in coverage.
» Managing tax interactions (IRMAA): Agents can work together with financial planners, ensuring tax
decisions (like Roth conversions) don’t unintentionally push clients into higher premium brackets.
Craig Ritter, CEO of Ritter Insurance Marketing and managing partner at Integrity, warned of rough waters ahead. “Due to inadequate funding in 2024 and 2025 and higher-than-expected claims intensity, the upcoming Medicare annual enrollment period will be challenging for both Medicare beneficiaries and the insurance professionals who serve them,” he said.
“Agents will need to educate their clients on the reasons for the changes in their plans and benefits coming in 2026 as well as employ the most cutting-edge technology to assist them in finding the right plan for their clients and to enroll them efficiently. The need for well-trained and technically equipped insurance professionals has never been greater than now.”
Medicare open enrollment is not only
about health coverage — it’s also a financial planning checkpoint. Licensed agents and financial professionals serve clients best when they collaborate, because health care and financial security are inseparable.
For financial professionals, the question isn’t whether Medicare belongs in your practice, it’s how you’ll incorporate it. Partnering with a licensed agent allows you to deliver holistic, compliant and client-centered strategies. For your clients, that partnership means confidence. For you, it means stronger relationships and a more resilient practice.
Carroll
S. Golden, CLU, ChFC, LTCP, CASL, FLMI, CLTC, is the executive director of NAIFA’s Knowledge Centers, including the Medicare Collective. She is an awardwinning author of several books, including How Not to Pull Your Family Apart Caregiving, and her soon-to-be-released, Leading in the New Retirement Era. Contact her at carroll.golden@innfeedback.com.
Carriers continue to view brokers as the dominant distribution channel in the industry.
By Mary Trecek
The pace of change in the world continues at a fast clip. Most changes in the workplace were expedited due to external forces, such as the rush to remote work adoption in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and expanding leave opportunities created by many state governing bodies. Other workplace factors seem to resist change; for
example, the array of employee insurance benefits remains fairly static.
One aspect of workplace benefits that seems to resist change is the distribution model. Workplace brokers continue to dominate distribution, representing more than 80% of sales. Because brokers are a well-entrenched and successful source of workplace sales, it is not surprising that carriers anticipate this channel will be strong in the foreseeable future.
Although carriers see brokers as their primary workplace benefits distribution channel, market forces are revising that relationship as other players expand their
influence and technology changes all aspects of the business. Brokers’ expectations of brokers are quickly evolving, prioritizing an enhanced delivery model from carriers.
Given that carriers continue to view brokers as the dominant distribution channel in the industry, it only makes sense that the two align their service and delivery priorities. Although this alignment does happen with the services carriers offer, broker expectations are influenced by customers and new standards for delivery established by sales experiences outside the insurance industry.
LIMRA collected carrier feedback on 27 different services they provide to the independent brokers they partner with. Across all categories of services, carriers considered implementation and onboarding support among the most valued. Brokers echo some of these sentiments, discussing how implementation and onboarding are critical to their relationship with the carrier, but also how vital this process is for employers.
Workplace benefits carriers historically delivered products and services to captive audiences in one location. Today, new work models, changing customer needs and the digital transformation of the business have changed workplace benefits delivery in fundamental ways. At the same time, new players have entered the ecosystem, embracing the new world of work and aligning their value propositions to meet the needs of a changed workplace. These new players impact not only the relationships among the various parties in the business environment, but the economics of the business as well.
Employers must balance the realities of today’s business environment with the desire to offer a comprehensive suite of benefits. Inflation and other cost pressures impact an employer’s ability to offer a robust suite of benefits, and so they look to provide those benefits that are most valued by today’s workforce in a cost-effective way, particularly since benefits other than health care must fight for the limited remaining wallet space of employees.
Mary Trecek, Ed.D, is a member of the workplace benefits research team at LIMRA and LOMA. Contact her at mary.trecek@innfeedback.com.
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