Description: The heart of a reinsurance arrangement is that a loss by the direct writer will be covered. The risk that coverage may be lost can be managed—practical steps can be taken to ensure that the ceding company and reinsurer remain in agreement about what business is and is not covered under the terms and conditions of the reinsurance agreement.

Description: Summary of annual Milliman UL/IUL Issues Report, covering issues and challenges of these products.

Description: SOA Product Development Section Contest Winning Article. Contest was to provide a creative article on future technology for the life insurance industry.

Description: The article summarizes results of a Milliman survey per the title. These products comprise about 40% of the total individual life market, and the survey covers a range of topics on these plans, which should be of interest to a large portion of the life industry.

Description: This article addresses the issues of short-term volatility, the non-equivalency of traders and, how product development is being impacted by market consistency.

Description: Discussion of private letter tax rulings on the definition of Cash Surrender Value for purposes of interpreting the definition of life insurance for the policyholder's taxation of the contracts.

Description: Full version of Product Matters! July 2003, Issue No. 56.

Description: A high-level overview of the recent release of the update to the illustration practice notes, or IPNs.

Description: Ways of closing the mortality protection gap, by leveraging some of the new technology, data and analytics to reduce the friction in the buying process.

Description: As product development professionals, we know that getting customer feedback is a key component of the product development process. If crafted carefully, these sessions can uncover true unmet needs, unlock the next product innovation, and create market share gains, all while creating something that contributes to society. As quoted during one of our last focus groups, “Magic stuff happens here.” When designing your research, are you doing all that you can to promote inclusive thinking? By focusing on the design of your study—through overall theme and by paying attention to the details in the process—you can uncover new perspectives that you may not have considered, if not for being deliberate in your actions. Instead of just avoiding structures that create biases, we need to actively incorporate inclusivity. Our team performed a study titled “Designing Solutions to Empower Women,” which focused on women’s viewpoints and how those could be incorporated into life insurance product development. I would love to share some of my experiences and tips collected along the way.