Life and annuity issuers seemed a little quiet in the first quarter.
Was that because they were nervous about Washington, coping with asset management issues, or just too busy selling new annuities?
Investors are about to get new data, when the publicly traded issuers post earnings for the first quarter.
What it means: This is the time to find out whether insurers are saying the same things to investors that they're saying to you and your clients.
Public companies: In the United States, dozens of life insurers, including giants such as New York Life and MassMutual, are "mutual insurers," meaning that they're owned by their policyholders.
Others are owned by individuals, families or small investor groups and are classified as "privately held."
Mutual insurers and privately held insurers may prepare financial reports based solely on the statutory accounting principles rules used by state insurance regulators.
When insurers have more than about 2,000 shareholders, federal law classifies the companies as "public companies" and requires them to release quarterly and annual results prepared using the Financial Accounting Standards Board's U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
