Global Atlantic Financial Group - Leaders Insights Summer 2020 | Page 15

IUL MARKETS
KEY INSIGHTS
ON THE STATE
OF THE INDEXED
UNIVERSAL LIFE
MARKET
TOM DORUSKA, head of Life Product
Development at Global Atlantic, recently
shared his expert perspective on the
Indexed Universal Life (IUL) market. Tom
has been in the IUL arena from its inception
and has personally experienced all the
developments that have shaped the IUL
marketplace into what it is today.
Here are three key insights Tom shared
on the state of IUL—past, present, and
future.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF IUL
“The IUL value proposition has always
been downside protection with upside
potential, and that hasn’t changed. Over
15 years, I’ve seen carriers come and go
in this space. They think it’s going to be
easy. Throughout this time, the market
has stayed true to its roots, but we’ve
gone through swings where there has
been increased focus on the downside
protection—such as the no-lapse
guarantee—and now we’re in a period
where the focus has turned more toward
upside potential.”
THE MARKET’S CURRENT FOCUS
“What we’ve been seeing over the last 18
to 24 months is a lot of focus on trying to
accelerate that upside potential for indexed
credits with features called multipliers,
buy-ups, or add-ons. Every enhancement
that meets clients’ needs is a good one,
but when you focus too much on the upside
potential, as I think some products are,
you put at risk some of that downside
protection as a result of the potential
effect of the add-on charges. We don’t
want to lose sight of the fact that these
are long-term products. If there’s anything
I don’t like about this current focus, it’s the
lack of balance and the overemphasis on
making the illustration look good at the risk
of fundamentally addressing the client’s
needs. That will change over time.”
THE FUTURE OF IUL AND GLOBAL
ATLANTIC’S INNOVATIVE APPROACH
WITH GLOBAL ACCUMULATOR
“We’ve launched our Global Accumulator
product to address the market’s interest in
those ‘multiplier’ designs, but we’re doing
it in a way that we feel better balances
the risk and reward for the customer. We
start with a base product that has the
strong IUL value proposition, then offer
what we call SMART Add-Ons—”SMART
Buy-Up Secure” and “SMART Buy-Up
Performance”—to potentially accelerate
the accumulation potential of the policy
over time. They’re smart because they’re
only available when the policy has met
certain benchmarks. These benchmarks, or
‘guard rails,’ were put in place to take a more
balanced approach. So, Global Accumulator
meets the market demand for buy-ups
but stays true to the long-term nature of
the IUL value proposition for the benefit
of the consumer. I feel that this approach
bodes well for the future by meeting client
needs—and growing the market—while
addressing risk.”
For more information on Global
Accumulator IUL with SMART Buy-Ups,
visit theSMARTIUL.com.
Tom Doruska, SVP,
Product Development
Global Atlantic
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