ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Life insurance settlement company The Lifeline Program today released a consumer video on what makes a life settlement company successful. Featuring testimonials from employees and senior executives, the video offers a glimpse inside a 20-year-old company that helps seniors unlock the hidden value of life insurance to help fund retirement. The video offers insight into how the company is run as well as its promotional relationship with television legend Betty White.

“Our video explains what makes our company different and why we believe that life settlements will soon become a key part of every senior’s retirement plan.”

A life settlement is the sale of an existing life insurance policy, by an elderly policyholder, for more than the current cash surrender value. A settlement is a unique alternative to surrendering a policy or letting it lapse and can be offered on term, whole or universal life policies.

“We have always believed that our employees are the greatest advocates for our company and for life settlements,” said Stephen Terrell, executive vice president of The Lifeline Program. “Our video explains what makes our company different and why we believe that life settlements will soon become a key part of every senior’s retirement plan.”

Life insurance settlements are gaining in momentum for a number of reasons, according to Terrell. The year 2011 is already being called the year of the Golden Boomers as more and more seniors begin to retire. At the same time, this is the best-insured generation of all time, and analysts have predicted that life insurance settlements could be a $100 billion industry over the next ten years.

“When you add the market factors with the common desire among boomers to gain the most from their assets, the overwhelming conclusion is that life settlements will have a banner year,” said Terrell.

The video was produced by Fisheye Media Productions of Alpharetta, Ga. http://www.fisheye.tv.

The Lifeline Program is a life settlement provider based in Atlanta, Ga., and is a division of Wm. Page and Associates, Inc. Founded in 1989, the company assists seniors with retirement planning options and actively partners with insurance agencies and broker dealers to establish life settlement business lines. For more information on life settlements, contact Stephen Terrell of The Lifeline Program at 770-724-7300 or visit www.thelifeline.com.

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A recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that nearly one-half of Baby Boomers and Generation Xers are at risk for not having enough savings to cover basic retirement living expenses(1). Personal finance resource Bills.com recommends creating more realistic and aggressive savings strategies to close this anticipated retirement cash gap.

“Pension plans and Social Security are no longer secure retirement options for most Americans — leaving many workers to fend for themselves in retirement,” said Ethan Ewing, president of Bills.com. “A healthy combination of budgeting, saving and leveraging of assets can turn most lean retirement budgets into nest eggs that will make it possible for retirees to realize the golden years they deserve.”

EBRI’s Retirement Readiness Rating™ discovered that because many Americans are living longer, saving less, and planning poorly for health care costs, most will not have enough money to pay basic living expenses throughout retirement. To help combat this troubling trend, Bills.com shared eight strategies for making the most of retirement.

1. Budget for Reality
It is easy to plan for retirement using suggested averages and advice from friends and family, but this can often fall short of what is required for an adequate nest egg. If you envision a luxurious retirement full of travel and free from money worries, then do your research. Understand the implications of inflation, taxes, and actual living costs. Do not underestimate how much money you’ll need after leaving the workforce.

2. Automate and Prioritize Savings
A common excuse offered to justify avoiding retirement contributions is “next year.” Enough “next years” will get you nowhere. It is imperative that you begin saving early and often. The power of compounding interest will make contributions in your twenties worth much more than the same investment in your forties. Automate savings so that you don’t have a choice. It is also imperative that parents put money into their retirement plan before funding a college savings program. You can always find loans for college, but not for retirement.

3. Eliminate Debt
One of the most important ways to enter retirement is debt free. Subtracting principal and interest payments from a fixed income is an easy way to expand debt instead of eliminating it. By paying off outstanding debt before you enter retirement, you can build a more accurate fixed budget and avoid the risk of falling behind or defaulting on payments.

4. Diversify Savings
There is no one magic investment vehicle for retirement savings. With a realistic retirement goal in mind, seek help from a variety of financial advisors to understand what options exist and which are best for your individual needs. Annuities, life insurance, 401(k) plans, and IRAs all present viable and unique options.

5. Play Catch Up
Older workers should take advantage of tax laws designed to help them save more money for retirement. Those workers who turn 50 in the calendar year and have met their maximum retirement contributions can make catch up contributions. For a traditional 401(k) plan, this can be an additional $5,500 in 2010 that is eligible for an employer match. Additional information is available on the IRS website.

6. Social Security Buy Back
If you are already retired or collecting Social Security, a little known strategy for collecting additional benefits is to cancel your current benefit level and then re-apply for greater benefits at a higher age. This is possible because the amount of benefits is calculated based on age — so the older you begin, the higher the monthly payout. In order to qualify, recipients must first pay back benefits they have received to date. For more information, visit the Social Security Administration website and download Social Security Form 521.

7. Leverage Your Assets
If you find yourself entering retirement without the cash reserves you’d hoped for but with some assets at your disposal, you can still enjoy a comfortable retirement. Individuals in search of cash who have a life insurance policy they no longer need can sell it in a life settlement. This can often return up to 300 percent of the cash surrender value on a policy(2). A reverse mortgage allows those 62 and older to receive monthly or a lump sum payment in return for the equity they’ve built up in their homes. For more information on a reverse mortgage visit the Bills.com Reverse Mortgage Center.

8. Consider a Second Career
While many people decide to work longer into retirement to save additional cash or delay tapping their nest eggs, many also look to second careers that are both personally and financially rewarding. A second career can be a good idea because you can match the demands and hours to supplement your retirement income, leaving you with both more free time and less financial stress. Examples of second careers can be working as a consultant, for a non-profit, or in a creative field such as writing.

Individuals with specific questions about retirement or how to best grow their next egg can use the Bills.com Ask Bill service to receive free, personalized answers to their questions.

About Bills.com

Bills.com is the leading resource for free and personalized money help. Founded by a group of financial experts committed to helping consumers save time, money and stress, Bills.com is designed to give consumers confidence in making money decisions. The site offers useful information, powerful tools, and real money experts to give consumers the information they need in the way they want it.

(1) Jack VanDerhei, The EBRI Retirement Readiness Rating™: Retirement Income Preparation and Future Prospects, July 2010, EBRI Issue Brief #344, Employee Benefit Research Institute

(2) Data Collection Report 2006, Life Settlement Association (LISA)

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NEW YORK, June 14 /PRNewswire/ — In a new survey aimed at better understanding the financial outlook and retirement needs of Americans, Ipsos found that more than half (60%) of 1,082 adults aged 25 and older were trying to meet basic financial needs and savings goals while only one in five were actively building savings and investments for added financial security and to improve their lifestyles. This data suggests that the much discussed corporate economic recovery has yet to trickle down to Main Street.

In fact, the ongoing emphasis on safety and security seems particularly evident considering that, despite exceptionally low yields, the financial product used more than any other was traditional savings (71%), with life insurance, the next closest, used by half (50%).

When discussing their retirement outlook, a majority of respondents said they expect to retire between the ages of 62 and 70 and anticipate being in retirement for over 15 years (19.6 years on average). Eight out of ten said they believe that Social Security will not provide enough income to live in retirement.

Additionally, 38% of those surveyed feel unlikely they’d have enough money to cover basic monthly expenses in retirement and half feel unlikely they could maintain their standard of living. This suggests that many Americans may be overly optimistic about retirement given their stated estimates for basic monthly expenses in retirement. Among those surveyed, current retirees said they need $2,857 per month and those not yet retired said they’ll need $3,987. Simple math suggests that those not yet retired will need over $935,000 to cover basic monthly expenses over the course of their projected retirement.

Despite the disconnect between what Americans think they’ll need in retirement, and what they actually have, a majority recognize the necessity for investments that provide a fixed monthly payout in retirement.

To this end, and given discussions in Washington about the possibility of a rule change that would allow annuities in 401(k) plans, those surveyed were asked about the potential for a fixed-rate annuity being added to the investment options available in 401(k)s. Almost three quarters (73%) said they would like having this option available and, most compelling, 83% of those ages 25-34 felt the same way. While few (14%) felt they had a very high level of knowledge about annuities in general, 60% felt this 401(k) annuity option would be good for retirement.

While responses to the Departments of Labor and Treasury’s Request For Information on the proposed rule changes surrounding the use of a guaranteed income component in 401(k)s have been diverse, this nationally representative survey suggests that the American people are not only open to the idea of devoting a portion of their 401(k) to an annuity product that would provide a guaranteed income in retirement, but a strong majority would embrace it.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted April 21 to May 4, 2010. For the survey, a national sample of 1,082 adults aged 25 and older from Ipsos’ U.S. online panel were interviewed online. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of 1,082 and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points 19 times out of 20 of what the results would have been had the entire adult population aged 18 and older in the United States had been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

News Releases are available at: http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/

Source: Ipsos Marketing

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 17 /PRNewswire/ — MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division will present a live webcast for retirement plan intermediaries and sponsors entitled “Liability-Driven Investing for Small and Mid-Size Plans ($20M – $100M)” on Tuesday, June 29 at 2 p.m. ET. The live one-hour webcast will be moderated by Charles Ruffel, founder and director of PlanSponsor magazine, and presented by Marc Condon, assistant vice president and actuary, and Doug Steele, director, investment management for MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division.

The webcast will explore the theory and practice of liability-driven investing (LDI) and why it makes sense right now. Topics will include how to reduce volatility in annual pension funding, how to manage pension assets in the context of liabilities, and how to implement cost-effective strategies for achieving more predictable plan funding levels. A Q&A will be conducted at the close of the session.

“Liability-driven investing has been eagerly embraced by large pension plans and, at MassMutual, we believe LDI can be a viable solution even for smaller retirement plans with $20 million to $100 million in assets,” says Bill Silvanic, FSA, senior vice president and chief financial officer for MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division. “We are seeing strong interest in LDI and this webcast will give retirement plan intermediaries and sponsors important information to help them determine if LDI should be considered as a solution for their plan needs.”

There is no fee to attend but advance registration is required. Intermediaries and plan sponsors may register by visiting http://ww2.plansponsor.com/events/MassMutualLDI. For more information about MassMutual Retirement Services, please contact your advisor or call MassMutual at 1-866-444-2601.

About MassMutual

MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division has been serving retirement plans for more than 60 years. It offers a full range of products and services for corporate, union, nonprofit and governmental employers’ defined benefit, defined contribution and nonqualified deferred compensation plans. It serves approximately one million participants.

Founded in 1851, MassMutual is a leading mutual life insurance company that is run for the benefit of its members and participating policyholders. The company has a long history of financial strength and strong performance, and although dividends are not guaranteed, MassMutual has paid dividends to eligible participating policyholders every year since the 1860s. With whole life insurance as its foundation, MassMutual provides products to help meet the financial needs of clients, such as life insurance, disability income insurance, long term care insurance, retirement/401(k) plan services, and annuities. In addition, the company’s strong and growing network of financial professionals helps clients make good financial decisions for the long-term.

MassMutual Financial Group is a marketing name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) [of which Retirement Services is a division] and its affiliated companies and sales representatives. MassMutual is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts and its major affiliates include: Babson Capital Management LLC; Baring Asset Management Limited; Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC; The First Mercantile Trust Company; MassMutual International LLC; MML Investors Services, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC; OppenheimerFunds, Inc.; and The MassMutual Trust Company, FSB.

For more information, visit massmutual.com.

Copyright © 2010 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and affiliates, Springfield, MA 01111-0001.

NEW YORK, June 7 /PRNewswire/ — Post-economic downturn, disciplined cost containment and operations management in all aspects of life and annuity businesses offers carriers a key competitive advantage, according to Deloitte’s “Life Insurance Operations (LIONS) and Annuity Contract Expense (ACES) Benchmarking” studies, released today.

“Despite the relative maturity of insurance as an industry, the 14th Annual LIONS and ACES studies reveal that growth through cost containment and efficiency remains a real possibility for carriers that commit to identifying and executing on strategic opportunities,” said Joe Guastella, Deloitte’s global insurance practice leader.  “The economic downturn placed an even greater focus on the role of managing the costs associated with doing business in all industries, with particular importance to insurance.”

“When you look at life insurance and annuities, the path for growth aligns closely with the impending baby boomer retirement trend.  In order to execute on this once in a century opportunity, carriers should review operations and expenses now and make the necessary adjustments,” said Richard T. Roth, head of Deloitte’s global benchmarking center. “When viewed in this context, the urgency to act becomes clear.”

LIONS survey findings include:

• Economies of scale in life insurance that are in use are more elusive than anticipated; other factors such as choice of service model, call center utilization and degree of automation are more important to expense levels.
• Requirements costs continue to be a significant portion of life insurance new business expenses. Low-cost performers have a new business processing expense of just $1.07 per $1,000 of new business face amount, 10 percent lower than the median.  New business service-delivery times are also shorter among the low-cost performers across all face amounts.
• Opportunities remain for savings through outsourcing, even in mature areas. Low-cost performers have an 11 percent lower in-force administration processing expense per in-force administration transaction versus the median and are pioneering the use of interactive voice response (IVR) technologies.
• Linking total information technology (IT) spend to strategic objectives encourages focus. Both median and low-cost performers are willing to spend more on technology to drive down other costs and improve quality and service.
• Low-cost performers spend 29 percent less on finance than the median.

ACES survey findings include:

• Marketing, product and distribution (MPD) expense continues to grow, representing the largest share of adjusted line of business expense at 38 percent. As a percentage of expense, low-cost performers spend five times more than the median on developing and maintaining products, but 11 percent less than the median on overall MPD processing.
• Over the last five years, total annuity new business unit costs have increased at an annual rate of 1.8 percent. Variable annuity low-cost performers spend 11 percent less than the median on new business, while fixed annuity low-cost performers spend 38 percent less.
• With respect to call center staffing models and tools, variable low-cost performers spend 17 percent less than their median counterparts and are doing well in leveraging self-service opportunities and utilizing e-service at much higher levels than the median.
• Fixed annuity growth for the median was more than 150 percent, and in some organizations, the growth exceeded 200 percent. The move to fixed annuities is not a result of new organic growth, but rather due to significant turnover of existing portfolios.
• Corporate overhead represents the second largest share of adjusted line of business expense at 33 percent.
• Enhanced technology decision-making processes could enable better competitive value. IT cost as a percentage of adjusted line of business expense is twice as high for low-cost performers as it is for the median. However, low-cost performers invest much less on discretionary spend than the median, and considerably more than the median on infrastructure and maintenance.

Executive summaries of the study results are available at www.deloitte.com/us/lifeinsurancemetrics andwww.deloitte.com/us/annuitymetrics.

Genworth Financial, Inc has introduced a new product, Total Living Coverage® Annuity, that will help customers achieve financial security and independence. TLCA links the safety and tax-deferred growth of a single premium non-qualified deferred annuity with a long term insurance rider to provide long-term care benefits. Additionally, claim payments for long-term care expenses are tax-free.

According to Genworth Financial, the advantages include:

• Dependable and stable growth
• Protection in the event of a long term care need with guaranteed
• renewable long term care insurance
• Simplified underwriting process
• Optional inflation protection
• Waiver of monthly long term care charge provision

TLCA would be a good option for individuals who are near retirement and have assets they want to protect, foresee the potential need for long-term, and have a large amount of investable assets ($200,000 or more).

“With Total Living Coverage Annuity, consumers use their annuity value to purchase long term care insurance coverage up to three times the amount of their single premium, creating a pool of benefit dollars for long term care expenses paid first from the annuity value and then from the remaining pool,“ said Buck Stinson, President of Genworth’s U.S. Life Insurance Products

Well might the reader understand that the credit crunch has landed Americans on a fixed income in an especially sorry state, especially when the fed puts a freeze on their Social Security income.  For the afflicted geriatrics, a heretofore stigmatized source of financial relief is drawing greater popularity in recent months: many seniors possess some life insurance and can effect a “senior settlement.”  In a life insurance settlement, the policyholder sells his policy in exchange for a portion of the death benefit.  He gets to make use of some money when he needs it, and when the seller dies, the buyer is assured of a death benefit in excess of the amount he paid for the settlement.

Alas, state governments are also hard pressed for cash at present, and none of them budgeted and saved as carefully as our insured seniors did.  In reaction to the rising popularity of life insurance settlements, government officials have dipped their hands in even deeper.  April legislation raised taxes on sales of life insurance settlements and declared, moreover, that whereas life insurance death benefits are normally protected from taxation, the death benefit shall be taxed for the buyer of a settlement.

Thus, both buyer and seller are left with less incentive to enact their business, but the policyholder has scanty alternative.  If cash is already short, his policy risks lapsing because of nonpayment.  Surrender is preferable to lapse, but it is not likely to recover as much capital as settling would do.

This matter bears effects on a grander scale, as well: the imposed dis-incentive impairs the life insurance industry’s—an industry which asserts never to have defaulted on a legitimate claim—ability to adapt itself to the upset economy in a time of financial straits.  It is hard to drum up sympathy for the industry, though.  For the past fifteen years (or perhaps since the days of the robber barons) big business has been a popular target.

Regrettably, the imbroglio of legislation makes it nigh impossible for any but specialists to discern exactly how legal measures such as those mentioned here harm them.  Policyholders who wish to sell their life insurance policies for a settlement are advised to consult a tax advisor.