Investor's Notebook
STEPHEN CRANSTON: Universal life not transparent and too complex
I don’t have the time to read as much as I would like, in the foreign press, about insurance and investment. So I was grateful to have found a story spotter in Suzanne Stevens. She was a big cheese in Discovery marketing before getting the entrepreneurial bug and leaving to help launch BrightRock Insurance five years ago.When I asked her if the insurer was considering expanding from its current product range, which offers different streams of cover for different needs, into universal life, she sent me an article from The New York Times which explained why it was not on the cards.Universal life was the main wrapper for life products here in the 1980s and 1990s. It made sense in a high inflation environment, as part of the premium was paid into an investment account. In SA this was usually invested primarily in the JSE. In the US the investment account was more commonly used to invest in cash and bonds.Universal life faded away in SA because it was not transparent and too complex. Man...
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