Term Life Activity Keeps Booming

By Allison Bell

News November 08, 2024 at 04:18 PM

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Term life policies were more popular with U.S. consumers applying for individual life insurance in October and universal life policies were not, according to new application activity data from MIB Group.

MIB, an organization that helps life insurers share some of the information used in the underwriting process, says consumers filed 13% more applications for term life coverage last month than they filed in October 2023 but 19% less for universal life.

Whole life application activity was down 2% year over year.

Overall application activity fell 0.8%.

MIB bases the activity data on its application review system volume.

Age breakouts: Here's what happened to activity for each age group between July 2023 and the latest month:

Ages 0-30: -0.6%
Ages 31-40: +1.9%
Ages 51-60: -3.7%
Ages 61-70: -6.0%
Ages 71 and older: -2.2%

Policygenius: A web broker, Policygenius, now prepares monthly term life price index charts. The lowest price shown is for a 25-year-old female nonsmoker who wants $250,000 in death benefits.

The highest price is now for a 60-year-old male smoker who wants $1 million in coverage. The highest price present in both 2023 and this year is for a 55-year-old male smoker who wants $1 million in coverage.

For the 25-year-old, the lowest rate fell to $14.29, from $14.59.

For the 55-year-old smoker, the highest rate rose to $1,010.11, from $1,006.88.

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