Life Application Activity Rises. For ALL Age Groups

MIB Group Inc. says life insurance application activity increased in December for each of the three age groups it tracks.

The Braintree, Massachusetts-based industry consortium found that overall application activity was 1% higher in December 2017 than in December 2016.

That was down from an overall 1.2% year-over-year increase in November 2017.

But, in November, the overall activity level increased in spite of the fact that activity for people ages 45 to 59 fell 1%.

In December, here’s how year-over-year activity changes broke down by age group:

• Ages 0-44: +1.2%

• Ages 45-59: +0.6%

• Ages 60 and older: +1.3%

The December increase in activity for people ages 45 to 59 is the first, and only, monthly increase MIB has reported for consumers in that age group for 2017.

MIB life application activity for all age groups plunged 4.5% in the first quarter, and it was down an average of 1.7% in the second and third quarters. Because activity was so weak during the first three quarters of 2017, the activity level for the full year, for all age groups, fell 1.8%.

For all of 2016, for all age groups, the MIB activity level rose 1.3%.