U.S. life insurance application activity continued its rise above par value jumping 1.9% in September year over year, according to the latest version of the MIB Life Index.
This is the first truly solid gain since last June when the Index rose by 3.3%. Principally driven by another strong performance in older age application activity, the MIB Life Index is now at par value, 0.0% YTD.
The MIB composite Index was down -0.3% year-over-year in the third quarter. September’s application activity was up 4.9% from that of August, typical for a summer-ending back to work month (not to mention Life Insurance Awareness Month).
The September increase follows a 0.5% year-over-year increase in August, but activity was down 3.2% in July.
Older age life insurance buyers (ages 60+) outpaced all other Life Index age groups, up 12.5% in September year-over-year; posting double-digit gains in 7 of the last 9 months. Ages 45-59 got a jump in September up 2.7% year-over-year; posting gains in 7 of the last 9 months. Application activity ages 0-44 continues to lag all others, down -2.2% in September year-over-year; posting losses in every month of 2019.
YTD application activity is down -4.4% for ages 0-44; ages 45-59 gained ground over last month, up 0.7%; and ages 60+ are up 11.9% YTD September.
The MIB Life Index is the life insurance industry’s timeliest measure of application activity across the U.S. Released to the media in the second week of each month, the Index is based on the number of searches member company underwriters perform on the MIB Checking Service database. Since the vast majority of individually underwritten life premium dollars in the U.S. include an MIB Check as a routine underwriting requirement, the MIB Life Index provides a reasonable means for estimating new business activity.
Interested people can review MIB’s “2019 At-the-Half” video and, or login to the Enhanced Life Index Portal to download the 2018 MIB Life Index Annual Report at no charge or register to view at: www.mibsolutions.com/regLI.
