Recession Took Bite Of Gen X Retirement
{September 3rd, 2014} by Cyril Tuohy
Many members of Generation X, the oldest of whom will be turning 50 next year, took huge hits to their incomes during the Great Recession and are only now beginning to recover — generally by putting off until tomorrow what they should be doing today. A new survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies […]
Former executive in $800 million insurance scam gets 20 years in prison
{September 3rd, 2014} by IFAwebnews Staff
The man who masterminded an $800 million insurance scam that fleeced tens of thousands of investors in one of Florida’s all-time largest fraud schemes was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Robert Scola gave Joel Steinger, 64, credit for pleading guilty to avoid a lengthy and costly trial and said Steinger’s […]
Principal Acquires Travelers’ Stake in NYC Office Tower for $117.6M
{September 3rd, 2014} by David M. Levitt and Zachary Tracer
An affiliate of Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a 49 percent stake in 77 Water St., a lower Manhattan office tower in New York City, from fellow insurer Travelers Cos. for $117.6 million. The interest in the 26-story building was acquired on behalf of institutional investors and 401(k) retirement fund clients, Des Moines, Iowa-based Principal […]
Business essentials: Nationwide launches eagle logo
{September 3rd, 2014} by Register staff
(Photo: Nationwide/Special to the Register) So long blue frames. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. announced Tuesday that it would reorganize all of its products and subsidiaries under one name — Nationwide — and launch a new logo. The insurance company’s “N and Eagle” logo will replace its current blue frame symbol. The new logo is an […]
Riders, exchanges driving popularity of life policies
{September 3rd, 2014} by Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Life insurance products continue to be popular, particularly as carriers introduce new types of riders and other product features to attract more customers. Experts describe some of the latest trends in life insurance — and what’s driving its growth — including the expansion of value-added services and the evolving distribution of coverages on the exchanges. […]
Hybrid Indexes Help Spur FIA Sales
{September 3rd, 2014} by Linda Koco
Move over, double-takes. Given that fixed index annuity (FIA) sales have broken yet another quarterly record, and by a wide margin, triple-takes are in order. Hybrid indexes have something to do with this. First, the impossible-to-ignore numbers: In second quarter 2014, FIA sales totaled nearly $12.6 billion — 8.5 percent above the industry’s prior record […]
Why the Middle Market Loves IUL
{September 3rd, 2014} by Linda Koco
Not long ago, a middle-market couple told life insurance agent Michael T. Tierney that they wanted to discuss retirement income. “Right off the bat, they said they have never bought life insurance and they will not buy an annuity or life insurance,” said Tierney, who does college funding through his College Tuition Coaches firm in […]
GLWBs Still Rock In The Retirement Set
{September 3rd, 2014} by Linda Koco
Some industry watchers believe that guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits (GLWBs) will soon fall into disfavor in fixed index annuities (FIAs). One reason they cite is that the stock market is at new highs, so that will divert consumer attention to investing. Another reason they cite is that the much-discussed curtailment of GLWB features will dampen […]
Indexed annuity sales grow 15.4 percent in 2Q 2014
{September 3rd, 2014} by Sheryl J. Moore
Forty-five indexed annuity carriers participated in the 68th edition of Wink’s Sales & Market Report, representing 99.8 percent of indexed annuity production. Total second quarter sales were $12.6 billion. Second quarter indexed annuity sales were up 15.43 percent when compared to the previous quarter, and up 36.54 when compared with the same period last year. […]
Fidelity & Guaranty Life Launches Income And WealthBuilder
{September 3rd, 2014} by PR Newswire Association LLC
DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Fidelity & Guaranty Life (NYSE: FGL) and leading provider of fixed indexed annuity (FIA) and fixed indexed universal life products, today announced the launch of Income and WealthBuilder, a new annuity product. The Company designed Income and WealthBuilder […]
ING Gains on Plan to Cut Voya Stake with $1.2 Billion Share Sale
{September 3rd, 2014} by Noah Buhayar and Maud van Gaal
ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch bank, gained in Amsterdam trading after it said it will reduce its stake in a former U.S. insurance unit, Voya Financial Inc., to about 32 percent by selling about $1.2 billion of shares. ING is selling 30 million shares in Voya, according to a statement from the Amsterdam-based Dutch […]
ING Name Vanishes From U.S.
{September 3rd, 2014} by Megan Leonhardt
After nearly 40 years of seeing the ING name in the U.S. financial services industry, the remaining retirement, insurance and broker/dealer divisions of the company’s U.S. operations re-branded to the Voya name on Monday. Amsterdam-based ING Group, which purchased a number of U.S.-based companies starting in 1975, has slowly been divesting its global assets, including […]
Voya’s Des Moines office to celebrate end of rebranding
{September 3rd, 2014} by Matthew Patane
Des Moines-based employees of Voya Financial, formerly ING U.S., are celebrating the completion of the company’s rebranding today.Voya’s employees will gather at the company’s downtown Des Moines location, 909 Locust St., at 9 a.m. The company will inflate a 70-foot Voya-branded hot air balloon to commemorate the event, the company said in a statement. […]
Nationwide Plans Brand Consolidation, Updated Logo
{September 2nd, 2014} by Michael Buck
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. plans to make its moniker more ubiquitous over the next 18 months as it brings its other brands under the Nationwide name to project the scope of its offerings more clearly to customers, according to a company statement. The company is also introducing a new logo to usher […]
Why millennials aren’t getting love from financial advisors
{September 2nd, 2014} by Lynette Gil
According to this article in TIME Money, only 18 percent of financial advisors are prospecting millennials, even though there are 80 million of us. Why? The surveys mentioned in the article say that it is because millennials don’t have more than $250,000 to invest and that they have little interest in the financial advisors’ services […]
Why millennials resist any kind of insurance
{September 2nd, 2014} by Emily Holbrook
TIME is calling the millennial generation “unusually slow to launch” when it comes to purchasing insurance of any kind. Many within this younger generation have famously relied on the support of their parents when times get tough. Therefore, they may view their former guardians as their own type of insurance. Only 13 percent of millennials […]
It’s all relative: Opinion
{September 2nd, 2014} by Mike McGlothlin
April 3, 1998, was the first time the Dow Jones industrial average reached 9,000 points. Many people thought the index could not go much higher, while others were caught up in the irrational exuberance often connected to the stock market. Regardless of what you thought at the time, the results since then point to the […]
Finding Meester
{September 2nd, 2014} by Bill Coffin
On January 1, 2009, my brother Tom committed suicide. For much of 2008, he was an emotional wreck, and his wildly oscillating behavior put the entire family through the wringer — but none more so than his wife and kids. By October of 2008, I finally saw Tom for the first time in many months, […]
5 controversial and creepy life insurance claims
{September 2nd, 2014} by Lynette Gil
There have been many mysterious, unusual and downright bizarre life insurance claims in the history of this industry. Here, we bring you some of the most controversial, weird and just plain creepy claims, touched with a tinge of desperation. Some cases were presumably committed “in the name of love” and others were more of the […]
Less Than Half Of Middle-Market Consumers Own Individual Life Insurance
{September 2nd, 2014} by N/A
WINDSOR, CT, Sept. 2, 2014 — A LIMRA study on middle-market consumers found that only 46 percent own individual life insurance, revealing a critical gap in protection. While 60 percent own group life, the coverage often is less than individual policies and is only in place while the person is employed. One in four consumers […]
CEO Switch At AIG Like Changing Generals After War, Miller Says
{September 2nd, 2014} by Zachary Tracer
(Bloomberg) — The leadership transition at insurer American International Group Inc. is like switching generals after winning a war, Chairman Steve Miller said today. “We’re changing generals as we move from wartime to peacetime,” Miller, 72, said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Betty Liu. Peter Hancock, 56, yesterday replaced Robert Benmosche, who departed […]
AIG Rounds Out Its Life Insurance Portfolio
{September 2nd, 2014} by Cyril Tuohy
AIG has introduced a universal life insurance policy with living benefit riders that the company says will appeal to a broader range of consumers by offering policyholders more flexibility. The product, branded as QoL Performer Plus, is the latest to join the company’s portfolio of Quality of Life … Insurance products, the company said. “QoL […]
Benmosche endured chairman clash, stalled deals to repay U.S.
{September 2nd, 2014} by Zachary Tracer
(Bloomberg) — Robert Benmosche is stepping down as American International Group Inc.’s chief executive officer this weekend after a five-year tenure in which he repaid the insurer’s U.S. bailout and battled cancer. Below is a timeline of noteworthy events in a career at New York-based AIG marked by clashes with the board and public officials, […]
Benmosche sped up AIG exit amid year-to-live cancer prognosis
{September 2nd, 2014} by Zachary Tracer
(Bloomberg) — Robert Benmosche, who is stepping down this weekend after five years as American International Group Inc.’s chief executive officer, said he learned in May that he had nine months to a year to live. Benmosche, 70, said in an interview that he moved up his exit, which had been slated for early 2015, […]
LIMRA Most Americans ill prepared for death of breadwinner
{September 2nd, 2014} by Warren S. Hersch
With Life Insurance Awareness Month now underway, it’s an opportune time to take stock of the industry’s progress in insuring middle class Americans. Progress there is, but much remains to be done. That’s one conclusion to be drawn from a recap of a LIMRA report, released today on the America’s middle market. As defined by […]
