U.S. individual life insurance application activity was soft in March when compared with March 2021, according to the new the new MIB life application activity report.
The overall level of activity was 7.7% lower last month than in the year-earlier month, MIB says.
MIB — a Braintree, Massachusetts-based underwriting data-sharing consortium — creates monthly life activity statistics based on the volume of applications flowing through its systems.
MIB says the sharp activity drop in March may reflect the lingering effects of COVID-19 disruption.
When compared with activity for the last “normal” first quarter — the first quarter of 2019 — activity for the first quarter of this year is up 5.8%, according to MIB.
What It Means
The MIB life application activity reports may give you an early hint about what your clients and prospects, and the U.S. economy as a whole, are thinking about their finances.
MIB reports also have a bearing on income planning, because consumers use many of the permanent life policies they buy, such as universal life policies and whole life policies, in retirement income planning and long-term care planning.
The Details
Here are the activity change figures, broken down by age group, for March:
- Ages zero-30: down 8.2%.
- Ages 31-50: down 8.4%.
- Ages 51-60: down 8.2%.
- Ages 61-70: down 6.9%.
- Ages 71 and older: up 0.9%.
The Policygenius Price Index
Policygenius, a life insurance web broker, uses its term life pricing information to provide monthly term life price index reports.
The company bases the index on prices for coverage with a 20-year-level premium term.
The lowest price shown is for coverage for a 25-year-old female nonsmoker who wants $250,000 in death benefits; The highest price is for a 55-year-old male smoker who wants $1 million in death benefits.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, prices have held steady between August 2020, when Policygenius created the index program, and the present.
This month, the lowest price in the tables fell a penny — to $14.25, from $14.26.
The highest price, for the 55-year-old male smoker, fell 90 cents ——to $1,019.02, from $1,019.92.
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