Description: Discussion of ways direct marketers have beaten recessions in the recent past and suggestions for beating this recession.

Description: Applying behavioral-science and shared-value principles to insurance is a win-win proposition for both insurers and clients.

Description: This article is based on a presentation made by Ron Kleiman at the Annual Conference of the Professional Insurance Marketing Association PIMA regarding the obstacles and a solution to worksite marketing sales.

Description: The Social Security file and suspend and restricted application claiming strategies have received a great deal of attention in the past few years as allowing individuals to increase their Social Security benefits. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 made significant changes to these strategies. This article reviews those strategies and then discusses the impact of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 changes on those strategies.

Description: This article is based on a presentation made by the author at the Spring 2005 meeting of the Society of Actuaries. In a survey conducted in early 2005, many managers of simplified underwriting programs said that they were upgrading or testing products utilizing new underwriting tools. This article discusses the survey and lessons to be learned.

Description: A 2015 Society of Actuaries Report (co-sponsored by the Reinsurance Section, Product Development Section, and Committee on Life Insurance Research) entitled “Life and Annuity Living Benefit Riders: Considerations for Insurers and Reinsurers,” is available on the Society of Actuaries website (www.soa.org). It covers a wide range of living benefit riders with medically-related triggers on life or annuity products. This article is largely derived from that report, covering several of those riders. In order to add to the marketing implications of these plans, Claude Thau, in his capacity as President of Thau, Inc. has provided additional commentary from the perspective of a marketer who is active in this field.