While many advisors are well-equipped to help their clients evaluate their life insurance needs, some scenarios may call for outside-of-the-box solutions. Join NAIFA's Advisor Today on Thursday, December 8 at 2 pm eastern for the webinar, "4 Life Insurance Opportunities You May Have Missed," brought to you by Modern Life.

On November 29, Ohio National Vice President of Product Marketing Karl Kreunen will present "Skate Where the Puck is Heading: Indexed Whole Life as Your Product of Choice."

In the webinar, Kreunen will showcase Ohio National’s new Prestige 10 Pay Indexed Whole Life policy and discuss why it makes sense today and in the future. He will also give a demonstration of relevant sales applications for a multi-pay indexed whole life policy.

NAIFA and the Society of Financial Service Professionals will host an Advanced Practice Center webinar on Wednesday, October 12 at 2 pm eastern. Presented by John Hancock, join Matthew Gibson and John Snider II, JD as they share their insights in "Is Behavioral Insurance the Future of Life Insurance?"

Life insurance is a crucial part of any solid financial plan, but 41% of Americans say they don’t have sufficient life insurance coverage. That's why NAIFA partner Life Happens created Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM) and why NAIFA strongly supports efforts to promote the benefits of life insurance during September and all year long. For agents and advisors, LIAM is the perfect time to meet with your clients to make sure their life insurance coverage meets their needs. 

On August 31, join NAIFA-Past President Juli McNeely, LUTCF, CFP, CLU for “Risk Matters,” a Building Relationships Every Week (BREW) webinar from E4 Insurance.  

In this session, McNeely will share insights on how to help your clients evaluate risk and the importance of consistently analyzing risk. A loyal NAIFA member since 1996, McNeely is Past President of NAIFA-WI, a graduate of NAIFA’s Leadership in Life Institute (LILI), and a Financial Security Advocate.

On July 20, NAIFA participated in the #GettingMillennialsInsured Twitter chat hosted by LIMRA and the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). The chat was an informative and insightful discussion with LIMRA, ACLI, NAIFA partner Life Happens, and Life Happens President & CEO Faisa Stafford.

Participants discussed: 

• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer attitudes toward life insurance 
• How to increase awareness of the need for life insurance 
• How to dispel misconceptions about life insurance 
• How to increase access to life insurance 

Total U.S. life insurance new annualized premium increased 17% in the first quarter of 2022, representing the fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit premium growth, according to LIMRA’s First Quarter 2022 U.S. Retail Life Insurance Sales Survey.

“Nearly half of life insurers reported premium gains in the first quarter but the majority of the growth came from the top 10 carriers. Nine of the top 10 reported double-digit growth. Combined, their sales increased 32% from last year,” said John Carroll, senior vice president, head of insurance and annuities, LIMRA and LOMA. “While the overall number of policies sold was lower than the record sales set in first quarter 2021, policy sales matched pre-pandemic levels.”

NAIFA is a proud member of the Coalition for Annuity Awareness, and CEO Kevin Mayeux, CAE, has joined fellow association CEOs to celebrate and promote June as National Annuity Awareness Month. He contributed statements on NAIFA’s behalf to a video presentation and a press release put together by the coalition.

We are increasingly aware of the importance of staying secure in a world where cyber threats increase day by day. Heightened awareness around the Ukraine-Russia geopolitical tensions has taken cybersecurity to the next level. There are alerts and notices coming across multiple sources from regulatory bodies to industry-specific regulators, government agencies, consulting firms, and more. Samples include White House Cybersecurity Briefing,  CISA (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency), NYDFS, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity Intelligence Warning, and Accenture’s Cyber Threat Intelligence group.

Alongside these continued tensions between Russia and Ukraine is the potential for increased cyber threat activity. With military attacks, we should assume there will be accompanying cyber attacks.

Stephen Kagawa, FSS, LUTCF, founder and CEO of The Pacific Bridge Companies (TPBC), has a vision—to help families protect what they love through TPBC’s platform, Aloha Financial Advisors. As Kagawa explains, “Aloha Financial Advisors is all about doing good and having advisors who are rooted in their vision of a better world driven by their core values.”

Where It All Began

The story of Kagawa’s passion for reaching underserved communities goes back nearly a century. In 1933, his grandfather, Lawrence Takeo “L.T.” Kagawa, was disappointed to learn that life insurance companies either refused to write policies for people of color or demanded higher premiums than that of their Caucasian neighbors. He partnered with A.P. Giannini, founder of Bank of America and Transamerica, and helped bring affordable life insurance to all people of color.