Updated 11/13/19 Originally posted 8/8/18 A TOLI trustee we work with received a request from a grantor tired of gifting to pay premiums on his portfolio of whole life policies. His agent suggested that the three policies be replaced with one policy with a reduced death benefit. The existing portfolio totaled $5.7 million of coverage. The agent proposed transferring the $2.1 million of cash value [...]
Updated 10/29/19 Originally posted 6/4/18 Four years ago, it was reported that the average age of a financial advisor in America was 51, with 43% over the age of 55 and many heading towards retirement (1). One year later, an industry publication noted that the average age of a US life insurance agent was even higher — 59 (2). Many veteran life insurance agents have [...]
Originally Posted 3/26/18. Updated 10/2/2019 Those of us in the fiduciary world are aware of the rash of lawsuits targeting 401(k) plans. Fidelity, the largest retirement plan provider in the US, settled lawsuits filed by its own employees alleging that its plan choices were too costly (1). Vanguard, a firm known for its low costs, was referenced in a suit alleging that by selecting classes [...]
As we move into the second half of 2019, 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 [...]
Variable universal life (VUL) policies, whose sales took a nosedive after the 2007-09 market crash, have had a resurgence. Last year (2018) sales jumped, with annualized premiums from new VUL sales increasing by 14% over the prior year. (1) VUL policies provide the policy owner with the opportunity to invest in the equity market. The cash value in the policy is held in separate accounts [...]
According to information gathered on life insurance sales, two distinct trends are clear. Overall, life insurance sales are mostly flat – up less than 0.5%. (1) However, sales are up with two product lines: variable universal life and equity index universal life. In 2018, sales of VUL policies were up 9%, while sales of EIUL policies set a record. (2). Total universal life insurance sales [...]
The most common fear for a life insurance trustee is that somehow the ball is dropped and the policy in their care lapses. After all, a trust-owned life insurance (TOLI) trustee, even if they are not sophisticated in all the nuances of life insurance policy management, should at least be able to keep the policy in force. But unintended lapses do happen, and when they [...]
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 [...]
Twenty-one years ago, Charles Hunter Montgomery set up a life insurance trust naming his daughter, Kimberly, as trustee. He was guided on the purchase by his longtime advisors at a major wirehouse firm in his hometown, who also agreed “to administer the investment account to maintain that life insurance policy .” (1) The policy, a $2M survivorship life policy on Charles and his wife, was [...]
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 [...]
