Description: Encourages readers to visit specified URL to read selected essays from “Life Insurance 2020 Foresight—A Call For Essays.

Description: Recently the interest rates have been slowly trending up from the lowest point in August 2020. The focus of this article is on current market trends for long-duration products —including life insurance, annuities, and long-term care insurance —following an extended period of low interest rates, and lessons carriers can learn from similar historical periods of rising interest rates. Innovative and flexible product features will continue to be essential, as the current interest trend may not substantially increase insurers’ portfolio rates. When designing or modifying product features, insurers should consider profitability in a wide breadth of interest rate scenarios and be particularly mindful of the impact that crediting rates and asset durations will have on earnings.

Description: This article presents the author's views on how direct writers of term insurance should view and monitor their reinsurance.

Description: This article discusses the proper slope of mortality tables, especially at the high attained ages.

Description: Chairperson’s column describing activities the Product Development section has undertaken to date.

Description: Provide high level summary of predictive modelling.

Description: A nationally recognized market research firm recently conducted a consumer survey pertaining to income term life insurance. Income term life insurance offers a death benefit which includes an upfront-specified income stream, commencing upon death of the insured during the term period, to a surviving beneficiary until (a) a predefined date or (b) death of the beneficiary. This article provides an overview of the results of the survey.

Description: A look back over 20 years to see how product topics of the day have changed and remained the same.

Description: This article details different methods for calculating mortality impact associated with new underwriting programs. A common simplified calculation is compared and contrasted with two first principles approaches. The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches are discussed.

Description: A high-level summary of the results of Munich Re's recent Accelerated Underwriting Survey