The latest data continues to provide optimism for life insurance agents – but can the industry keep it going?
The monthly activity numbers for the MIB Life Index came out yesterday and while applications for life insurance policies slowed compared to other months in 2015, the general consensus is looking good for life insurance advisors.
Activity in September for all age groups jumped 1.5% year-over-year delivering the eighth positive result for 2015, albeit the smallest gain since the beginning of the year. Year-to-date the MIB Life Index is up 2.5% over the same nine months in 2014.
With three quarters in the books life insurance activity in Q3 increased 2.1% compared to 2.6% in Q2 and 1.5% in Q1.
Those under the age of 44 are driving most of the life activity in 2015 with this cohort delivering an increase of 2.8% in September compared to a decrease of 0.5% for those between 45-59 and a 1.5% increase for those over 60.
While these are U.S. numbers recent data from LIMRA on the Canadian market would tend to corroborate the view that the life insurance in Canada is doing just fine.
New premiums written for individual life insurance policies increased 7% in the first six months of the year compared to 2014 while the number of policies written jumped a more modest 2% year-over-year in the first half of 2015.
When the nine-month numbers come out later this year advisors can expect the YTD activity numbers for both life premiums and policies to be somewhat lower than the 7% and 2% achieved in the first six months of the year. At least that will be the case if the Canadian numbers follow U.S. activity so far in 2015.
In Canada the big winner so far in 2015 has been universal life products which have seen premiums jump by 10% compared to 9% for whole life and 3% for term life.
Although the stats paint a relatively healthy life business advisors shouldn’t get too excited for a UL renaissance.
“UL recently began a strong recovery, after an extended decline,” LIMRA research director Karen Terry wrote in its press release in September. “UL has been declining for so many years, after several repricings due to the low interest rate environment. In 2014, sales were still at 40% of UL’s peak in terms of premium sales in 2007.”
Activity in September for all age groups jumped 1.5% year-over-year delivering the eighth positive result for 2015, albeit the smallest gain since the beginning of the year. Year-to-date the MIB Life Index is up 2.5% over the same nine months in 2014.
With three quarters in the books life insurance activity in Q3 increased 2.1% compared to 2.6% in Q2 and 1.5% in Q1.
Those under the age of 44 are driving most of the life activity in 2015 with this cohort delivering an increase of 2.8% in September compared to a decrease of 0.5% for those between 45-59 and a 1.5% increase for those over 60.
While these are U.S. numbers recent data from LIMRA on the Canadian market would tend to corroborate the view that the life insurance in Canada is doing just fine.
New premiums written for individual life insurance policies increased 7% in the first six months of the year compared to 2014 while the number of policies written jumped a more modest 2% year-over-year in the first half of 2015.
When the nine-month numbers come out later this year advisors can expect the YTD activity numbers for both life premiums and policies to be somewhat lower than the 7% and 2% achieved in the first six months of the year. At least that will be the case if the Canadian numbers follow U.S. activity so far in 2015.
In Canada the big winner so far in 2015 has been universal life products which have seen premiums jump by 10% compared to 9% for whole life and 3% for term life.
Although the stats paint a relatively healthy life business advisors shouldn’t get too excited for a UL renaissance.
“UL recently began a strong recovery, after an extended decline,” LIMRA research director Karen Terry wrote in its press release in September. “UL has been declining for so many years, after several repricings due to the low interest rate environment. In 2014, sales were still at 40% of UL’s peak in terms of premium sales in 2007.”
