Sally Wylie, a retiree living on an island in Maine, was stunned when her long-term care (LTC) policy premium almost doubled. According to the Wall Street Journal article that recounted her dilemma, the one-time learning specialist took on part-time work to help with the finances, and she and her husband cut back on expenses to afford the premium for the policy that was purchased to [...]
In the last two posts, we explained the popularity of the equity index universal life policy, as well as the mechanics of the policy. While the policy is tied to an equity index, it is a fixed product, with the bulk of the premium going into the carrier’s general account to satisfy the floor and the balance – a much smaller amount – going [...]
In the first posting in this series on the equity index universal life (EIUL) policy, we talked about the popularity of the policy and the general characteristics of the policy. In this post, we will outline the mechanics of the policy. As we mentioned in the first post, the policy cash value is tied to an index, for example, the S&P 500. The gain [...]
A Three-Part Series for Trust-Owned Life Insurance (TOLI) Trustees As the back-office administrator of thousands of life insurance trusts for fiduciaries across the country, we deal with every type of policy. We have found the equity index universal life policy to be one of the most misunderstood policies in the TOLI space. This three-part series provides a thorough background in the policy, its mechanics, [...]
Life expectancy estimates are used by life insurance companies and other organizations in various ways. The Life Settlement market relies heavily on this type of data to ensure the health of their portfolios. Let’s take a look at how life expectancy estimates are created, and what they include. How Life Expectancy Estimates are Calculated Life Expectancy (LE) estimates take a number of factors into [...]
There are three continuing trends with respect to TOLI management in the corporate fiduciary space. If you find yourself managing or overseeing TOLI at a bank or trust company, I’m sure you are seeing some of this play out in your own department. TREND #1 Overdependence on Support Software If used correctly, ILIT support software is great for minimizing potential administrative miscues. Many of [...]
The answer is an emphatic NO. Some permanent life insurance policies, specifically guaranteed universal life (GUL) and Whole Life (WL), have required premiums, though WL out of pocket premiums can be reduced by dividends, paid-up addition cash values or policy loans. But the premium paid is not the actual cost of the policy and finding the underlying costs on the policies is a challenge. For [...]
What steps should you take if a grantor says they want to surrender their policy? In the decade-plus that we have been managing life insurance for TOLI trustees, we have noticed that the weak link in their services usually is remediation. The inability to analyze policy options in changing situations is an area of future liability. Some trustees we have spoken with have surrendered policies [...]
This post updates our previous analysis which estimated a COVID-19 net mortality risk factor for the life settlements population between 6x and 12x. Since then, we have seen a decrease in life settlements excess mortality resulting in a net risk estimate at the floor of our original range, around 6x. This is consistent with a delayed protective wealth effect where the delay is explained [...]
Over the years, we at ITM TwentyFirst have been leaders in peer education. The TOLI Handbook, a free download available here as a PDF, provides industry peers with a single source guide for managing trust-owned life insurance (TOLI) trusts and policies. We have, over the years, provided hundreds of hours of professional CE for several professional designations. Our staff is encouraged and incentivized to seek [...]
