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MIB: Individual Life Application Activity Rises

By Allison Bell

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Strong consumer and insurer interest in universal life insurance pushed U.S. individual life application activity higher in May, according to new MIB Group data.

The Braintree, Massachusetts-based underwriting services consortium says the number of applications flowing through its systems increased 7.5% between May 2022 and May 2023.

MIB provides separate public data for term life, whole life and universal life.

In May, application activity rose 4.7% for term life, 8.9% for whole life and 13.1% for universal life.

What It Means

Universal life products give consumers the most opportunity to benefit from increases in interest rates or stock prices, and they give life insurers a chance to share some of the risk associated with interest rate and stock price changes with the policyholders.

The strong performance of universal life shows that both life insurers and your clients are searching for a combination of safety and flexibility.

Activity by Age

Here are the activity change figures, for May, for applicants in five different age groups:

  • Ages zero-30: +9.3%
  • Ages 31-50: +10.7%
  • Ages 51-60: +4.7%
  • Ages 61-70: +1.5%
  • Ages 71 and older: +0.6%

The Policygenius Price Index

A web broker, Policygenius, uses its own sales data to post a monthly term life price index.

The prices in the index tables range from the average monthly premiums for a 25-year-old female nonsmoker who needs $250,000 in death benefits up to the average monthly premiums for a 55-year-old male smoker who needs $1 million in death benefits.

This month, the cost for the 25-year-old female nonsmoker seeking $250,000 in coverage increased to $14.60, from $14.21 in May 2022.

The cost for the 55-year-old male smoker seeking $1 million in coverage, fell to $1,006.82, from $1,016.10.

(Image: tadamichi/Adobe Stock)

Allison Bell

Think_Allison

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