U.S. individual life insurance sales increased to $2.9 billion in the second quarter, and 49% of the new premiums came from buyers who wanted to use life insurance to accumulate cash, according to new issuer survey data from Wink.
Overall sales were up 2.7% from the second quarter of 2024, but results for individual insurers varied widely.
Pacific Life led the market, with $165 million in premiums from new sales, up 22% from the total it reported for the year-earlier quarter.
Pacific Life and six other insurers — MassMutual, National Life, Transamerica, Prudential, Mutual of Omaha and Nationwide — reported sales totals over $100 million. Four of the seven giants recorded year-over-year increases over 15%, one reported a 3% increase, and two let sales drop.
What it means: Mutual funds, annuities and cryptocurrency may have the buzz, but some Americans are still using life insurance to build value.
Market details: Wink found that the average annual premium was about $8,400 per policy and the average death benefit was about $399,000, meaning that buyers received an average of about $47 in death benefits per premium dollar.
The average issue age was 47.
Registered investment advisors might have helped with many of the purchases, but life insurers counted RIAs as the source of just 0.2% of the sales.
Broker-dealers accounted for 8.2% of sales; career agents, 12%; and independent agents, 72%.
Digital services and AIs might be contenders someday, but direct response channels generated just 4.9% of the premiums from new sales.
Credit: peopleimages.com/Adobe Stock
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