Insurance Pro Blog

IPB 084: Yes, You Need a Forced Savings Plan
IPB 084: Yes, You Need a Forced Savings Plan

  It's not uncommon for people to refer to whole life insurance as a “forced savings plan” or at least it was common back when we started out in the industry. Sounds like a bad thing but is it really? Sounds like a bad thing but is it really? We've s...

Posted: Oct 05, 2017

IPB 083: Are Whole Life and Universal Life Insurance Interchangeable?
IPB 083: Are Whole Life and Universal Life Insurance Interchangeable?

I know that all of our listeners are teeming with excitement as they see us release a new episode. We figured that if we gave it the ole college try, we could produce two episodes of the podcast for the month of September. One of us (Brantley) decide...

Posted: Sep 28, 2017

IPB 082: What Does the Equifax Breach Mean for Life Insurance?
IPB 082: What Does the Equifax Breach Mean for Life Insurance?

  Last week, Equifax, the largest credit reporting company, reported a major breach of its core database. It is by far the largest hack of its kind to date and is estimated to have impacted more than half of the U.S. population–more than 143 million...

Posted: Sep 14, 2017

IPB 081: The Death of the Life Insurance Medical Exam
IPB 081: The Death of the Life Insurance Medical Exam

  In episode 81, we're talking about the newest trend emerging in the world of life insurance underwriting and that is… The end of paramedical exams and lab tests. Now, the exams aren't going away completely. However, after talking with several peopl...

Posted: Aug 31, 2017

IPB 080: Black Box Baloney
IPB 080: Black Box Baloney

  Whole life insurance is often maligned by the rest of the financial services world (those who sell registered investment products) as lacking transparency. It’s referred to as a “black box” for its lack of disclosure. Opponents say that it's not so...

Posted: Aug 23, 2017

Five-Year Whole Life Insurance Company Investment Yield Trend: 2016 Edition
Five-Year Whole Life Insurance Company Investment Yield Trend: 2016 Edition

  For five years, we have tracked the investment yield trend of whole life insurance companies and we continue to analyze this data every year because investment income is a primary driver of dividends paid to participating insurance policy holders....

Posted: Aug 17, 2017

IPB 078: The Bondex v2.6.4.3
IPB 078: The Bondex v2.6.4.3

  To continue on with the discussion of potentially rising interest rates… We actually get into what it might mean for life insurance companies and for your life insurance policy–whether it happens to be participating whole life or universal life. Ma...

Posted: Aug 10, 2017

IPB 077: The Perilous Bondex
IPB 077: The Perilous Bondex

  Former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, believes the next bubble to burst will not be in the equity markets…it will be a normalizing of yields in the bond market as inflation ticks up. During a Bloomberg interview, Greenspan said… “By any...

Posted: Aug 03, 2017

IPB 076: The Consequences of Outliving Your Life Insurance
IPB 076: The Consequences of Outliving Your Life Insurance

  Did you know that it's possible to outlive your permanent life insurance? That entire sentence is discombobulating. When does permanent not really mean permanent? Recently, a pending court case was brought to our attention on Joseph Belth's blog (f...

Posted: Jul 27, 2017

IPB 075: Stay for the 401k?
IPB 075: Stay for the 401k?

In episode 75, our discussion revolves around a suggestion that comes from this article over at Fox Business. In particular, the article points out that many larger and well-known employers are aggressively raising their matching contributions for th...

Posted: Jul 20, 2017