Life Insurance

Life insurance refers to a specified amount of capital—the death benefit—that is paid to beneficiaries upon the death of the policyholder. There are many different forms of life insurance including term life, whole life and universal life. Term life is arguably the most basic form of life insurance and is intended to provide financial protection through income replacement in the event of the premature death of the policyholder. There are also many different uses of life insurance such as income replacement, estate planning and tax planning.

Short-Term Focus has Adverse Impact on Retirement Income Product Development

Warren Buffett’s most recent shareholder letter focuses on the merits of productive assets such as equities in light of the current low interest rate environment and the potential for future inflation.

Buffett’s view is that although productive assets are variable and volatile, they are more likely to preserve future purchasing power than the fixed or currency-based alternatives.

Buffett’s advice would seem to provide a key...

Sun Life yet another Casualty of Equity Market Volatility

Canadian insurer Sun Life recently announced that it will exit the variable annuity and individual life insurance markets in the United States. Continued equity market volatility has resulted in a variable annuity business that is plagued with uncertainty and higher costs. Insurers such as Sun Life offer guarantees that are linked to the performance of underlying equity portfolios. These guarantees are a liability for the insurance company , and equity market volatility contributes to the cost...
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New China Life Pursuing IPO Despite Challenging Market

New China Life is seeking to raise $2.3 billion in an initial public offering that would list the company on exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong. New China Life is seeking the capital in market conditions that have been challenging for many of its peers. China Life Insurance Company and Ping An Insurance have both seen their stock prices decline over 30 percent this year. China Pacific Insurance Group has dropped more than 20 percent this year. A successful New China Life IPO would value the...
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Why Indexed Financial Products are Appealing

I am currently researching and am likely to purchase an indexed universal life insurance product.  This first-hand research and learning process has been interesting and is worth sharing.

In a nutshell, some of the key characteristics of indexed universal life insurance include:

  • This is a life insurance policy, but a good portion of the funds contributed to the policy can be invested and represent a “cash value” that builds over time.
  • The invested funds have some upside or growth potential as they are pegged to a
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Understanding Swiss Annuities

While it might be an unusual time to provide an explanation of Swiss annuities given what has been taking place of late with the Swiss franc and related decisions made by the Swiss National Bank, it still makes sense for any financial services consumer to understand potential benefits of these products.

Switzerland - Courtesy of Travellingtamas

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