A Flexible Asset to Stay Ahead of Changing Times

Guardian Reinvents Current Assumption UL with Hybrid Offering

NEW YORK, N.Y., January 25, 2011 - The flexibility that is the hallmark of universal life insurance has been taken up a notch with the release of a new Hybrid Current Assumption Universal Life product by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), New York, N.Y.

“As a result of ongoing economic uncertainty, people naturally tend to gravitate toward guarantees,” noted Michael Ferik, FSA, Guardian Senior Vice President, Individual Life. “At the same time, they want to maintain a certain degree of flexibility in order to react to life’s unexpected changes. We listened to the marketplace and feel that very few products offer as compelling a combination of flexible payments, low-cost guarantees and superior cash value as this one.”

The Hybrid Current Assumption UL allows policy owners to vary the amount or timing of their premium payments, depending on current circumstances, Ferik explained. In addition, they may opt for Guardian’s brand-new Secondary Guarantee Rider, an optional secondary death benefit guarantee that is competitive to approximate life expectancy.

“Layering the Secondary Guarantee Rider onto our base product creates a powerful hybrid in the marketplace, one that provides a long-term guarantee and doesn’t force you to forego the savings component just to get that guarantee,” said Ferik.

The Power of Cash

The ability to accumulate cash value can be a particularly beneficial product feature for individuals and businesses alike. Guardian’s minimum guaranteed interest crediting rate of 3.5% for the life of the policy is among the highest in the industry, according to Ferik. Policy owners may also opt for an all-new Cash Value Enhancement Rider to provide even more cash value (equal to the first year’s premium).

How can policy owners use cash value accessed early in the life of the policy? Sample “living benefits” that can be funded this way include:

• Giving a business that has funded its Key Person insurance plan with Hybrid Current Assumption UL added flexibility for loans or to be used as collateral to help the business grow; or
• Enabling the trustee of a trust structured around Hybrid Current Assumption UL to have financial options if he or she chooses to fund the trust differently in the future, therefore fulfilling his or her fiduciary duty to the client and heirs.

“This product’s versatile design recognizes that people’s business and personal financial strategies are entirely unique and can change,” said Guardian’s Ferik.

According to the Life Insurance Market Research Association (LIMRA), universal life sales are enjoying a resurgence, increasing 8% in the third quarter of 2010. Compared to the same quarter of the prior year, the total face amount of UL policies sold was 32% higher, and the number of UL policies sold was 23% higher. Ferik believes Guardian’s Hybrid Current Assumption UL will build on that industry wide momentum.

“With its competitive premiums, long-term secondary guarantees and cash values that can be accessed to address a broad spectrum of business circumstances or estate-planning needs, this hybrid offering rounds out our Individual Life portfolio and signals our strong commitment to the brokerage market,” he said.

Wendy Webster Coakley, Guardian

413-395-4467 or wendy_coakley@glic.com

A mutual insurer founded in 1860, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) and its subsidiaries are committed to protecting individuals, business owners and their employees with life, long term care insurance, disability income, group medical and dental insurance products, and offer 401(k), annuities and other financial products. Guardian operates one of the largest dental networks in the United States, and protects more than six million employees and their families at 120,000 companies. The company has more than 5,400 employees in the United States and a network of over 3,000 financial representatives in more than 80 agencies nationwide. For more information about Guardian, please visit www.GuardianLife.com.

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