Western National Life Insurance Company reported today it is teaming up with Griffin Financial Services, a sister-company of Home Savings of America, to develop a proprietary fixed annuity that will be offered to customers throughout the bank's 348 financial service centers in California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona.

Western National Life, which is the principal subsidiary of Houston-based Western National Corporation (NYSE: WNH), is a leading provider of fixed annuity products to the financial institution market and was one of the first to provide proprietary and private-label fixed annuities. The agreement with Griffin Financial Services is one of the largest of several announced by the 51-year-old life insurance company over the last 13 months.

Launch of the new annuity, which has been named the Griffin Income Builder Annuity, is expected in early May. Western National Life and Griffin Financial Services co-designed the flexible premium deferred annuity. Under the agreement, Western National Life will issue the product and provide marketing and administrative support. The annuity funds will be managed by Griffin Financial Services under specific guidelines provided by Western National Life.

Home Savings of America is headquartered in Irwindale, California and is the principal subsidiary of H.F. Ahmanson & Company (NYSE: AHM). The financial institution has assets totaling approximately $50 billion and deposits of $35 billion. In addition to its 348 financial service centers in four states, Home Savings of America operates 121 mortgage lending offices in 10 states.

Western National Corporation, headquartered in Houston, is the parent of Western National Life Insurance Company. With statutory assets of $8.6 billion, Western National Life is one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States. Founded in 1944, Western National Life is a leading provider of retirement annuity products.

The Board of Directors of Scottish Annuity & Life Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE:SCT) declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per ordinary share outstanding to be paid on March 12, 2002 to shareholders of record as of February 26, 2002.
Scottish Annuity & Life Holdings, Ltd. is a global life reinsurance specialist and issuer of customized life insurance based wealth management products for high net worth individuals and families. Scottish Annuity & Life has operating companies in Bermuda, Charlotte, North Carolina, Dublin, Ireland, Grand Cayman and Windsor, England. Its flagship subsidiaries, Scottish Annuity & Life Insurance Company (Cayman) Ltd. and Scottish Re (U.S.), Inc., are rated A (strong) by Fitch, A- (excellent) by A.M. Best and A- (strong) by Standard & Poor's.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Pacific Life Insurance Company's variable annuity materials were ranked #1 by financial professionals in an independent study conducted by the marketing consulting firm, Marketing Matrix International.

In the 2007 Marketing Matrix "Best Practices in Variable Annuity Sales Literature" study, Pacific Life ranked #1 in:

Best Overall
Visual Elements
Readability
Usability
Information Substance
Comprehension
Motivation

"Pacific Life consistently produces outstanding VA kits that advisers can use effectively with clients," said Marcia Selz, Ph.D., president and chief research director of Marketing Matrix. Serving the financial services industry since 1987, Marketing Matrix conducts a series of research studies on topics of interest to the investment, insurance, and banking industries. For the "Best Practices" studies, financial advisors participate in individual two-hour sessions that include literature assessment questionnaires and in-depth interviews.

According to Kathleen McWard, CFP[R], vice president, marketing, Annuities & Mutual Funds Division, "Pacific Life is committed to offering financial professionals the most informative and educational materials for their clients. We will continue to make enhancements to produce easy-to-understand marketing pieces to aid them in the sales process."

Founded in 1868, Pacific Life provides life insurance products, annuities, and mutual funds, and offers a variety of investment products and services to individuals, businesses, and pension plans1. Pacific Life counts more than half of the 50 largest U.S. companies as clients2 and is a member of the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA), whose membership promotes high ethical standards for the sale of individual life insurance and annuities. For additional information about Pacific Life, including its current financial strength ratings from A.M. Best, Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor's, and Moody's, visit the company Web site at www.PacificLife.com.

1 Product features and availability vary by state.

2 Data compiled by Pacific Life using the FORTUNE 500[R] list as of April 2007.

Pacific Life Insurance Company is licensed to issue individual life insurance and annuity products in all states except New York. Product availability and features may vary by state.

Variable insurance products issued by Pacific Life Insurance Company and mutual funds issued by Pacific Life Funds are available through licensed third-party broker/dealers and distributed by Pacific Select Distributors, Inc. (member FINRA & SIPC), a subsidiary of Pacific Life.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Phoenix Companies, Inc. (NYSE: PNX) today announced that Thomas Buckingham has been promoted to senior vice president, Product Development for Life and Annuity, reporting to Philip Polkinghorn, senior executive vice president and president, Life and Annuity.

"Innovative products are the heart of our business and we are committed to continuing this competitive advantage for Phoenix," Polkinghorn said. "Tom has the knowledge and skills as a product actuary and, over the past few years, has deepened his leadership skills and expanded his perspective through a variety of corporate rotational assignments, including as chief of staff to the CEO. His recent experience launching and leading the operational transformation of our Life business gave him unprecedented access to evaluate and improve the entire service platform for our customers and advisors. I've worked closely with Tom and it is gratifying we can fill this critical position with such strong in-house talent."

Buckingham previously was vice president, Life and Annuity Operations Transformation, responsible for leading the transformation to a new operational structure for serving life insurance clients and their financial advisors. Operations Transformation created service teams aligned to the company's distribution channels, implemented process improvement within those channels, and oversaw technology improvements to support the new model.

In his new role, he will be responsible for product creation, pricing, analysis and implementation. Also reporting to Buckingham are research and concept development, which is responsible for the annual Phoenix Wealth Survey of high-net-worth investors, and SEC and state compliance.

Buckingham joined Phoenix as an actuarial assistant in 1999 and served in increasingly senior actuarial positions, including distribution compensation, life product development and strategic development, before serving as chief of staff to Dona D. Young, chairman, president and chief executive officer.

He is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics and an M.B.A. in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Phoenix offers a full portfolio of life insurance products including universal life, variable universal life and term products, and the company's underwriting capabilities accommodate a range of customers and risk situations and address clients' estate, business and retirement planning strategies. Phoenix also offers a complete suite of annuity products with a full spectrum of optional guarantees, and with expert technical analysis of complex annuity contracts to help customers own the right products to fit their unique needs.

The values of life insurance and annuity liabilities move in opposite directions in response to a change in the underlying mortality. Natural hedging utilizes this to stabilize aggregate liability cash flows. We find empirical evidence that suggests that annuity writing insurers who have more balanced business in life and annuity risks also tend to charge lower premiums than otherwise similar insurers. This indicates that insurers who have a natural hedge have a competitive advantage. In addition, we show how a mortality swap might be used to provide the benefits of natural hedging.

If future mortality improves relative to current expectations, life insurer liabilities decrease because death benefit payments will be later than expected. However, annuity writers have a loss relative to current expectations because they have to pay annuity benefits longer than expected. If the mortality deteriorates, the situation is reversed: life insurers have losses and annuity writers have gains. Natural hedging utilizes this interaction of life insurance and annuities to a change in mortality to hedge against unexpected changes in future benefit payments.

The purpose of this paper is to study natural hedging of mortality risks and to propose mortality swaps as a risk management tool. Few researchers investigate the issue of natural hedging. Most of the prior research explores the impact of mortality changes on life insurance and annuities separately, or investigates a simple combination of life and pure endowment life contracts (Frees, Carrière, and Valdez 1996; Marceau and Gaillardetz 1999; Milevsky and Promislow 2001; Cairns, Blake, and Dowd 2004). Studies on the impact of mortality changes on life insurance focus on "bad" shocks, while those on annuities focus on "good" shocks.

Wang, Yang, and Pan (2003) analyze the impact of the changes of mortality factors and propose an immunization model to hedge risks based on the mortality experience in Taiwan. However, life insurance and annuity mortality experience can be very different, so there is "basis risk" involved in using annuities to hedge life insurance mortality risk. Their model cannot pick up this basis risk.

Marceau and Gaillardetz (1999) examine the calculation of the reserves in a stochastic mortality and interest rates environment for a general portfolio of life insurance policies. In their numerical examples, they use portfolios of term life insurance contracts and pure endowment polices, similar to Milevsky and Promislow (2001). They focus on convergence of simulation results. There is a hedging effect in their results, but they do not pursue the issue.

Our paper proceeds as follows: In Section 2 we use an example to illustrate the idea of natural hedging. In Section 3, using market quotes of single-premium immediate annuities (SPIAs) from A. M. Best, we find empirical support for natural hedging. That is, insurers who have better naturally hedge mortality risks tend to have a competitive advantage over otherwise similar insurers. In Sections 4 and 5 we propose and price a mortality swap between life insurers and annuity insurers. Section 6 is the conclusion and summary.

2. Introductory Example

If mortality improves, what happens to the insurer's total liability? We know that, on average, the insurer will have a loss on the annuity business but not on the life insurance business. And if mortality declines, the effects are interchanged. This section illustrates the idea of a natural hedge.

2.1 The Portfolio

At time 0, consider an insurer's portfolio of life contingent liabilities consisting of whole life policies written on lives at ages 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60 and single-premium immediate life annuities written on lives at ages 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, and 100. The interest rate is flat at 8%. Life insurance premiums and annuity benefits are paid annually. Death benefits are paid at the end of the year of death.

The net annual premium rate for one unit of whole life benefit is determined so that the present value of net premiums is equal to the present value of benefits. The annuity policy is purchased with a single payment. The expected loss of the portfolio is zero. However, this expectation is calculated under the assumption that the mortality follows the tables assumed in setting the premiums. If we replace the before-shock lifetimes with the after-shock lifetimes, what happens to the loss?

The overall mortality shock effect on an insurer is determined by its business composition, that is, the ratio of annuity business to life business. To study different outcomes under different business compositions and illustrate the idea of natural hedging, we introduce a variable r that is the ratio of annuity business to whole life business. For example, given r = 1 at time 0, if death benefits and annuity annual payments follow Table 1 for different ages, the present values of liabilities (or premiums) of whole life insurance and of annuities are equal. Suppose there is a mortality shock striking all ages evenly. We expect that an insurer with such a balanced business (where r = 1) will have the lowest volatility in cash flows. If r = 0.5 (or r = 2), it means the annuity business is half of (or twice) life business. A mortality shock in this case may impose a bigger problem in cash flow stability than when r = 1. However, in reality mortality operates within a complex framework and is influenced by socioeconomic factors, biological variables, government policies, environmental influences, health conditions, and health behaviors (Rogers 2002). Therefore, we use past mortality shocks to illustrate our idea of natural hedging.

As if the trauma of losing a loved one isn't massive enough, subsequently finding out that the deceased was not insured against unexpected death and therefore made no financial provision for their family or dependants makes the situation far worse.

The primary concern of any life insurance is the consideration of those left behind following the death of an insured person. Certainly, anyone who owns a mortgaged property which houses their family and is a joint or main breadwinner to that family should take out life insurance or assurance to protect their family's future.

On the other hand it may not be appropriate for everyone. For example a single person with no dependants and enough savings to cover the cost of their funeral may be ill-advised to take out a life insurance policy as they would be paying a premium in order to provide a cash sum merely to their estate.

While you cannot insure against death itself, you can insure against the potential financial misery that would ensue from an untimely death. Such life protection gives peace of mind to everyone involved; both the insured and their family know they are protected should the worst happen. Although the pain of losing a loved one takes time to get over, at least with the finances sorted there is one less thing to worry about.

Most insurers offer some form of life protection with benefits paid either as a lump sum or as a regular income to the beneficiaries. There will be considerations affecting the level of the premium paid for cover, such as whether the insured is a smoker or non-smoker, their age and medical history. But, once the risk is established most insurers offer a fixed premium and guaranteed payout for as long as the insured person requires the cover.

However, there are many different types of life insurance and the need for it varies according to individual circumstances, so anyone who may be thinking of taking out a policy to protect their family should get advice before they sign on any dotted line and commit themselves.

Buying life insurance is a way to protect our loved ones if anything should happen to us, touch wood, but mishap is unpredictable, we often see in the newspaper that those who are not insured asked for donations when something happened, of course we definitely don't want to fall into this category, we provide our loved ones the best we can.

Some may say I am single and why should I buy life insurance?. But would you want to get insured only after you got married? Some people bought their life insurance when they were young, and they may buy another one as a supplemental policy when they have more responsibilities. You might also want to buy life insurance to pay off debts and expenses; you have to think of your retirement and your children, and it is cheaper and more affordable to own a policy at an earlier stage of life.

Make a calculation

When you are getting a life insurance for yourself you need to make a calculation, you can pay your premium monthly or yearly, and after some years (depends on what type of policy you buy) you will have some cash value and it can pay for your premium automatically. You can also decide the duration, for example if you want to buy life insurance for yourself you can choose the coverage you need and make the term to be 20 to 30 years. If you are buying it for your children until they are independent or for their future education then it is better to make the term at 15 to 20 years.

The longer you delay the higher the premium

If a person buys a policy at the very early stage of his life he will pay only very little premium, unlike if a person buys a policy at the age of 40 or 50 he definitely needs to pay a very much higher premium with the same amount of coverage as the former. We can start off with a low coverage policy so that we find it affordable, in future if we earn a better income we can consider an additional policy if we find it necessary.

How to get free quote?

You can obtain free life insurance quote online, it is absolutely free, the insurance companies are happy to help you, all you need to do is to fill in the form, it is simple, and just choose the policy you want. The life insurance agents also can recommend suitable policy to their customers, they are happy to provide free quote for any one who is interested in knowing how much premium he has to pay according to his age.

A life settlement is the sale of ownership of a life insurance policy to another outside third party. The proprietor of a life insurance policy receives monetary funds for the policy. The buyer turns into the new proprietor as well as the beneficiary of the policy, is responsible for payment of all future premiums due, and is the one to collect the death benefit in its entirety which the original insured party passes away.

Individuals come to the decision to sell their life insurance policies for a variety of reasons. Some typical reasons include: changed financial needs, changed needs of dependents, inability to afford premium payments, and needing cash for present expenses.

Life settlements should be entirely comprehended prior to selling a life insurance policy. Any potential policy owners considering a life settlement should contact their life insurance agent or company for further information, consult a trusted financial advisor who is familiar with the individual financial necessities, and get in touch with the state insurance department for any additional information about current insurance laws.

Life insurance policy holders should also find out if they have any cash value in their policy. If there is cash value, the policy holder might be able to use a portion of it to meet any immediate financial needs and still retain the policy for any beneficiaries. The cash value may also be utilized as a form of security to obtain a loan from an outside financial institution. It is also essential to consider any and all sources of cash that may potentially meet any financial necessities at a lower price than a life settlement.

A tax advisor will be able to help policy holders to understand the tax implications of a life settlement. Proceeds from these types of settlements are not tax-free and creditors can claim any proceeds. A cash settlement can also cause policy holders to be ineligible for public assistance they were previously eligible for. In addition, policy holders will have to provide personal medical information, which may be a concern. They buyer will be aware of this information, so it is crucial to find out beforehand exactly what information is required and who else might be the recipient of that information other than the buyer. This will be very different from providers advertising life insurance no medical exam policies.

There are important decisions a policy holder must make prior to making a life settlement such as whether they want to sell their life insurance policy directly to a provider or a broker who will perform comparison shopping for them. If a policy holder opts not to use a broker, they should make sure to do the comparison shopping on their own and to not settle for the very first offer.

When working with a provider, make sure the provider will agree to place the settlement proceeds in escrow with an independent financial institution to ensure that all funds are kept safe during the course of the transfer. It is a good idea to check with state laws to determine whether there is a grace period of time to reverse the life insurance sale in the event that a policy holder changes their mind. Obviously if this happened, any funds accrued would have to be returned in addition to any and all premiums the buyer paid.

When you want to get life insurance it is always a smart move to get life insurance quotes. This will help you find the best policy for you at a price that you can afford. Now when you want to find instant life quotes there are a couple of different ways that you can use to accomplish this. You can visit insurance companies, talk to a broker or an agent or go online. Most people prefer to get online life insurance quotes for many different reasons.

Do you know why so many people prefer the instant life insurance quotes online? Here are some of the more common reasons but definitely not all of the reasons.

One: The first reason is one that is obvious, you can get life insurance quotes for free from the comfort of your own home. Getting anything for free these days is a big plus but being able to stay home to do it is another big plus.

Two: The internet makes it very easy for anyone to find online life insurance quotes at anytime of the day or night. So, this gives you flexibility in finding quotes without being pressured. You can get the life insurance quotes you need when you have time and then take time to make a decision.
Three: One of the best reasons to get instant life quotes is because you can compare the different quotes that you get. There are so many different sites online that you can get quotes from. You want to get as many quotes as you can before you make any decisions. This will help you find the best price for you. You don't ever want to get any type of life insurance without first comparing them because each one is different, which means each one will have different life insurance quotes for you.

These are just a few of the more common reasons that many people prefer to get instant life quotes. You just want to remember that before you decide to get any life insurance you have to take the time to get quotes, even if you don't want to do it online. Getting life insurance quotes is just being smart and making sure you are getting a policy that you can afford. So, don't rush your decision, compare them until you find the one that is best for you. Otherwise, you will end up wasting a lot of money you don't have to pay and could be using for other things.

Settlement Option: How a beneficiary is given disbursement of the death benefit. The company might pay one lump sum or institute a money market account in the recipient's name and supply the recipient the option of leaving the funds in the account or withdrawing some or all of it.

Suicide Clause: A life insurance policy will not disburse a death benefit if the owner of the policy commits suicide within the initial two years after purchasing the policy.

Surrender Charge: If you cancel an annuity or life policy ahead of time, the company may subtract a fee from the sum it owes you.

TAMRA: Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act. A 1988 Federal law that formed a new category of life insurance contracts. The contracts' policy loans and surrender costs are subject to taxation regulations comparable to deferred annuities.

Term Life: The most basic form of life insurance, it normally offers no cash value element. You pay a premium and the company guarantees to pay your beneficiary if you pass away. The policy lasts for a particular length of time or "term," such as 1, 5, 10, 15 or some odd years, or to an elected age like 65 or 100. If you are still alive at the close of the term, the policy terminates unless the company concurs to restore it. Renewal premiums are dependent on your current age. Sometimes called "temporary insurance."

Underwriting: The insurance company's procedure for deciding whom it will insure. An underwriter's verdict may be based on your application, physical exam, health records, and other information to conclude whether you meet the company's standard.

Universal Life: A flexible-premium life insurance contract which accrues values and pays a death benefit. You select the policy's premium and face total and you can alter these permitting the policy is in effect. It is feasible that the cash value will produce more than the guaranteed lowest interest rate. It is also feasible that the cash value will develop more rapidly than is necessary to cover the price of insurance.

Vanishing Premium: An insurance company's prediction on an illustration signifying that your policy could accomplish a position where you would not have to pay premium payments because the policy would have sufficient cash value to encompass the premiums.

Variable Life: A sort of whole life insurance in which the face quantity and cash value count directly on the investment performance of a particular fund. Reserves are put in investment accounts that are disconnected from the company's universal account. Most policies promise a lowest face sum, but a cash value minimum is hardly ever guaranteed.

Viatical Settlement: A concurrence to sell the rights of your life insurance policy to a different, unrelated person who becomes both the possessor and beneficiary of the policy.

Waiver of Premium: A stipulation that postpones your duty to pay premiums when you are immobilized or you meet some other policy prerequisite. This is a frequent feature in life insurance polices.

Whole Life: Life insurance with a savings aspect. Premiums normally are the same (rank) annually. When you are youthful, your premiums are more than the price of insuring your life at that point in time. The surplus amount builds up and resembles a savings account, called "cash value." This surplus is utilized by the company to insure you in the future, when your level premium is not sufficient enough to cover you.