That things are bad is no secret.  But every once in a while, as we slog through this meltdown, a statistic or set of data just pops out and reminds you that no matter how bad you thought things were, they’re worse.

What did it for me this week was reading through LIMRA International’s release on first quarter sales figures of the spectrum of life insurance products.

Even old-timers might have a hard time remembering when sales took such a nosedive, since as LIMRA’s CEO Bob Kerzner remarked, “…the last time quarterly sales dropped this much was in 1943.”  (And if you’re one of those who can sit around the cracker barrel and reminisce, “If you think this is bad, sonny, you should have been around in the summer of ‘43…”, well, all the more power to you.)

Overall, LIMRA reports, premium from individual life sales dropped, slid, plunged, plummeted, nosedived (take your pick) an amazing 26% from the year before.

Every product line was hit, LIMRA says, with variable life premium off a massive 61%.   Universal life, down 33%.  Variable UL, off 61%. 

The only two lines that didn’t enter double-digit loss territory were term (off  4%) and whole life (down 5%).

Additionally, totals for face amount and number of policies sold were off 8% in both cases.

These stats alone show how much people are hurting and how far down on the totem pole life insurance (unfortunately) sits when filling your stomach, keeping the roof over your head or the repo guys at bay are more important and pressing than what’s going to happen if you die.  Some of these people, after all, feel like they’re dying every day.

Once again I had the privilege of being a judge in the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education’s RealLIFEstories program. (To call it a ‘contest’ makes it seem a little too tawdry, although there is a definite competitive element involved.)

There a few things that bring you so close to the noble calling that so many long-time agents give as their reason for getting into-and even more important, continuing in-the life insurance selling business.

Having done this judging before, I was well aware that I needed to prepare myself for an emotional onslaught.  Most, if not all, of these stories are tear-jerkers in the best sense of the word.  They pack a wallop. 

I’m not going to go into particulars here, but you can always count of a number of the stories recounting early and unexpected deaths, with grieving families left behind to grieve, but also in much better condition to bear that grief because life insurance proceeds took care of immediate and long-term financial needs.

One other consistent factor in these stories is how often agents go above and beyond the selling of a policy.  Servicing the policy takes on a whole other meaning and dimension when you read about how involved some agents become in taking care of the survivors in the aftermath of a family’s tragedy.

(Just as an aside, I’d like to offer one bit of advice to any agent considering entering their own story: Presentation matters.  Just as life insurance doesn’t sell itself, but has to be sold, so it is with RealLIFEstories entries.  A well-told story creates much more resonance than a bare-bones accounting of what happened-thus upping its chances of being a winner.)

In any case, it is good to be reminded about the raison d’etre of life insurance and the good that it does.  In this sense, LIFE’s program has a very important mission within the business.

The 4 finalists in this year’s round of entries will (as is customary) be featured in a special section in Newsweek sometime in the early fall, bringing these stories to a wide swath of the public.  In addition, these stories will be available to agents to use in their own struggles to convince often reluctant clients to plunk down some premium dollars.

I know times are tough for many life insurers right now.  And I’ve heard that some companies are cutting back on their budgets for LIFE. This may be understandable under the circumstances, but it is also short-sighted. 

Agents don’t give up when the going gets tough, and neither should companies. In good times and bad, LIFE happens.

Well, here I am in a place I never expected to be-the blogosphere.  Part of what this proves, I suppose, is that if you stick around long enough you’re going to be doing a lot of things that were never in the original game plan.

In my close to 29 years at National Underwriter (and I know a lot of you are thinking ‘how the hell has he lasted that long!’), I have seen amazing changes in the way news and commentary are delivered to our readers. Not only have I been witness to these changes, but I’ve been in charge of implementing them here at the Underwriter.  Honestly, that’s what’s kept the job so much fun and so challenging over the years. 

This is a great business to cover, contrary to the widespread misperception of the life insurance and health industry.  What the agents and companies in this business do touches nearly every life in the United States in one way or another.  This is a business founded on noble principles and aspirations, which continue to inspire the overwhelming number of practitioners, producers and companies.

I have no problem recognizing that when I see it, as I have done many times in print.

But as the Japanese haiku poet, Basho, once wrote, “And yet, and yet.”

Those ‘and yets’ have been what my column has been about over the years and what you can expect-even more frequently!-in my new blog.

I like to think I call things as I see them and try to do it entertainingly.  This blog is your opportunity to reciprocate in kind-and I’m hoping a lot of you will take advantage of the bracing world of interactivity.

But enough of niceties, let’s get to it.  Check out the next entry.