Prudential Product Overview: NEW PruLife Founders Plus UL (replaces Hartford Founders Plus UL)

Overview:

  • Revisions made during the conversion presents an odd pattern of behavior. Most solves improved, with the exception of standard non-tobacco risk class; however, the improvement wasn’t very defined. The changes appear to look like an interest rate increase, with the best improvements being at the younger ages, limited pays (up to 11%). The new PruLife Founders Plus UL was released with an improved interest crediting rate of 4.0% (from Hartford’s 3.75%), but that is not enough to justify the large shifts in competitive positioning. Overall, even with the improvements, PruLife Founders Plus UL falls within the mid-tier from a premium ranking perspective. See attachedfor more detail.
  • Prudential now offers two competing products with the new PruLife Founders Plus UL and their PruLife UL Plus. Both are current assumption universal life products; however, Prudential touts that the Founders Plus UL offers a balance between death benefit protection (with an extended no-lapse guarantee) and accumulation. From the attached , you’ll notice that, with the exception of the younger ages and tobacco risk classes, the new PruLife Founders Plus UL is much more competitive from a premium standpoint. From an accumulation standpoint, UL Plus appears to be stronger because the premium is higher. If one were to match premiums and run both products, Founders Plus UL should be a stronger accumulation product (especially if one utilizes the Plus Account). Founders Plus UL offers additional “flare” with the ability to diversify interest crediting account options (Fixed Account or Plus Account with an index interest option), as well as offering the Benefit Access Rider. PruLife UL Plus has a lower minimum death benefit ($25,000 vs $100,000). Both products offer the Age Last Birthday advantage.

The attached includes all of the products we benchmark (22 Products Considered):

  1. OLD Hartford Founders Plus UL Ranking for $1 CSV @ 121 for $1,000,000 face amount (single, short & full-pay scenarios)
  2. NEW Prudential Founders Plus UL Ranking for $1 CSV @ 121 for $1,000,000 face amount (single, short & full-pay scenarios)
  3. New vs Old Ranking Changes for $1 CSV @ 121 for $1,000,000 face amount (single, short & full-pay scenarios)
  4. Percent premium is above best rate for $1 CSV @ 121 for $1,000,000 face amount (single, short & full-pay scenarios)

Rates were updated on the LifeTrends website on Monday, January 6th.