Whether 2012 was a good year for life insurance or not depends on the type of product you're examining. Whole life and indexed universal life saw significant sales increases in 2012, thanks to the fact that they can offer growth along with principle protection in this still-shaky economy. By the third quarter of this year, IUL represented 28 percent of the overall universal life market, a new record. However, low interest rates continued to hurt guaranteed universal life products, and sales of term and variable universal life products suffered, too.
Overall, though, 2012 delivered lots of positive signs for the life insurance industry. Application activity and total individual life sales were both up. More importantly, perhaps, application activity also increased among the 0 – 44 age group, a possible sign that younger people are shedding their reluctance to buy life insurance.
