Life-insurance-policy

This book is an excellent explanation of how the life insurance industry works. Anyone who wants to protect his family, but is befuddled by all of the smoke and mirrors the life insurance industry throws up, will find the material in this book invaluable.

THIS BOOK SHOULD GO BACK IN PRINT AND SHOULD BE TOUGHT IN SCHOOLS SO THAT PEOPLE LEARN ABOUT THE REAL WAY INSURANCE COMPANIES WORK.

Family Money is an excellent and "user friendly" introduction for the non-specialist general reader into the intricacies of preparing and utilizing wills, trusts, life insurance, and other financial instruments for the purpose of endowing the people you love with the funds, properties, and possessions you wish to leave them as your legacy. Family Money covers the building and keeping of family money as a deliberate act while avoiding the hazards and uncertainties of contestable bequests. The reader will learn how to keep a will simple enough to do what is wanted, but detailed enough to satisfy a probate court; why probate is inimical to family wealth and how to avoid it; how to use living trusts to move as much as you can to family members; and when charitable trusts, special needs trusts, and other trusts can work in favor of your family. Of special value is the information on what to do if you find yourself named executor or trustee and how to instill notions of duty and humility in your heirs. If you want to pass on your wealth and possessions to those of your own choosing, then begin the process by carefully reading Family Money!

I have used previous editions of this book in my insurance classes for years. It just keeps getting better and better. If there is a better introductory text out there, I haven't found it! J. Edward Updyke, CLU Senior Vice President Settlers Life Insurance Compan

Roberts explains how the health care system has worked, why it is the mess it is, and what the impact of various "fixes" might be. This book serves very well the average citizen's need to understand the health care system. You do not have to be a clinician or a politician or an economist to read this book! He writes extremely lucidly, without resorting to jargon, and the book is a treat to read. It has an 'ah-ha' on every page. Even though we are years past Clinton's failed health care reform effort, the explanations and projections remain completely relevant. It is a crying shame that this book is out of print, as it would be in great demand if people could get their hands on it!

If you know little on the subject of variable universal life you will enjoy this book otherwise this book would serve a more knowledgable person little value.

This book provides an overview of variable universal life products in the US. It is designed as a continuing education textbook for financial planners and insurance brokers.

The language is simple to read and it provides exercises in each chapter. A review of different life insurance products is in the first chapter.

If you are interested in VULs because you are considering purchasing one, this is an outstanding book to get for the money. It describes how the polices work in a way that is much clearer than what is provided in a prospectus.

Unfortunately, the book does not make recommendations on companies or what premiums are at various companies. For that sort of advice, a book like "New Life Insurance Investment Advisor" by Ben Baldwin might be of interest.

But will they buy?

Maria Thomson, FSA, MAAA, has done the industry a service with her new book, "Insurance Coverage for ALL...and How Insurers Can Afford to Provide It." Inside this thin book (88 pages, including notes, so you can finish it at a sitting) is a fatter book longing to be written. But it is a stimulating read, raising a number of different issues, and it should lead to some lively debate, and, I hope, further analysis.

Thomson's basic philosophy is that insurance is a GOOD THING, and therefore we should all have more of it. She does an excellent job of reminding us about the lines of insurance where penetration is low, and where more coverage would be beneficial, e.g., to her target population - roughly, middle class employed people, coverage such as disability income. The "need for insurance coverage" concept is one that could benefit from further analysis: All people are not equal, and the need for type and amount of coverage appropriate for different profiles of the population differ by age, family composition, marital status, stage of life, resources and wealth, access to social and government programs, level of risk tolerance, to name a few. The relative aging of the population, the decrease in the child dependency ratio, the increase in the number of two-earner families over the past 20 years, and the increase in alternative and more attractive investment vehicles makes it hardly surprising that life insurance ownership has fallen.

Thomson's thesis for this decrease in ownership can be summarized as follows:

·Insurance companies have abandoned the middle-class market to focus on the affluent.
·Most people have inadequate insurance for their needs.
·Selling in the traditional model is becoming cost-prohibitive.
·Traditional underwriting is slow and expensive, making buying difficult.

This leads to her recommendations for the industry:

·Develop more simple products.
·Focus on faster and more streamlined issue processes.
·Develop alternative channels such as work-site marketing and bancassurance.

The discussion of the rise and fall of the debit market was, for me, one of the more interesting sections of this book. The puzzling issue, however, is why the debit insurance market died, rather than evolving to a form of distribution like the Avon, Longaberger or Tupperware models. I would have liked to read more about the bancassurance market, which has arguably not taken off in the U.S. Thomson tells us it has been successful in Europe. It has been tried in Canada, and some Canadian experience would be helpful.

The discussion of product development focusing on needs of the target population is a useful one that deserves expansion. One of the interesting consequences of focusing on need as the basis of product design is that you end up with rather messy products that do not fit easily into existing "buckets."

When it comes to finding ways to provide broader coverage for a large number of households, we should not overlook group insurance. According to Thomson, about 52 percent of households own group life insurance, slightly more than own individual life insurance (Table 2.2, p. 14). The percentage of households covered by group life is higher, if you exclude those over 65 (as a proxy for retired workers) and those living in single households (as a proxy for "need"), who together constituted about 34 percent of all households according to the 1990 census. Despite its size and relative importance, the group life insurance (and affinity group) market is the "Cinderella" of the industry, too often ignored by those who come from a more traditional background.

With regard to underwriting and issue, group life already meets some of the important criteria that Thomson recommends for the industry ("a well-screened policy issued instantly", p. 9): group life is widely available; the products are simple; and the underwriting and issue process is simple and fast. Most employees (and dependents, in those plans that cover dependents) are covered immediately for the guaranteed-issue limit, provided the employee meets the actively-at-work test (or the dependent non-confinement rule, in the case of dependents). Rates are reasonably competitive with those of individually underwritten products, for the same reasons that Thomson discusses in her modeling of the cost and benefit of underwriting. Workers who do not have access through an employer-sponsored plan can often find competitive coverage through unions or trade associations.

So why is group insurance the "Cinderella" coverage? Possibly, because it relies on employers for marketing, and employers have more pressing benefits issues on their minds. Or maybe it's because the companies that sell group insurance do not do a good job of promoting the product, either to the employer (first sale) or to the employee (second sale). Or perhaps it's due to the fact that there has been limited product development in group life, although there have been some significant innovations in the last few years:

·Group Universal Life
·Interest continuation accounts (bank accounts for beneficiaries)
·Acceleration of benefits on terminal or critical illness.
·Portability/direct-billing on termiation of employment.

Though there are topics I would like to see addressed in more detail, Thomson has written a useful and thought-provoking book, which I recommend to all traditional and non-traditional actuaries and marketing people.

An excellent book that reveals the truth about the life insurance industry. Arm yourself with this book!

Keep It Simple, Silly!
That's what this book does - it simlifies the life insurance debate. Along with "What's Wrong With Your Life Insurance" by Norman Dacey, this is one of the best books written about the subject.

Life insurance has been made hopelessly complex by the companies and agents selling cash-value insurance. Keep it simple...buy Term and do your investing elsewhere. Why would you investment money into a product that when you die your family doesn't get it???

Milton cuts to the chase and makes two very important points:
1) there is only one reasons agents sell cash-value life insurance: COMMISSIONS.
2) Cash-value life insurance IS term insurance - it just has a savings element attached to it that performs very poorly and has too many "gotchas".

Life insurance isn't complex and this book explains why.

... The information in Arthur Milton's book is required reading for anyone who wants to prevent the deception of the insurance industry from wrecking their lives financially, and the lives of their descendants. ...

This book is well written which makes it a usefull tool to improve my English.The content is OK, but nothing worth it to rave about.(Perhaps,the author need to visit Continent of Asia little more often.)

This is a good book -- it tells what we already know. Too bad that the author could not predict any of these events -- but then of course hindsight is always 20/20! I do not think this book helps one to do business in Asia. One major drawback - the author seems to have no understanding of Asian business and seems not to have sullied his conclusions by speaking with any Asians. Read this book for a glimpse of perfect hindsight -- but read also "New Asian Emperors: the Overseas Chinese their Strategies and Competitive Advantages" by George T. Haley for a more fair appraisal of the Asian situation and a terrific understanding of Asian business.

The Auther explain the underlining historical events ( e.g. the ups and down of dollar Yen exchange rate) that lead to the boom and bust of the Asian economics. He also account for the 1994 Mexico financial crisis in similar manner. Useful for understanding events shaping the world's economics.