The 5-Minute Advisor – August 14, 2026
Same Partner – New Way to Work
We’ve made the Thompson experience simpler, faster, and easier to navigate.
Our updated website and redesigned portal put the information, tools, and support you need closer at hand—so you can spend less time searching and more time serving your clients.
The most important part hasn’t changed: the people, expertise, and responsive support you count on from Thompson are all still here.
Take a look around and see how the new experience can make selling life insurance easier.
Lincoln MoneyGuard for Long Term Care Planning
Clients who keep putting off LTC funding usually just need proof the money does not disappear if they never use it. Lincoln MoneyGuard solves that with three guaranteed outcomes built into one policy.
Why agents lead with this policy
- 100% guaranteed: as long as the client pays premium, the illustration is not a projection, it is the outcome.
- Flexible funding: one lump sum or spread payments over up to 10 years, rates lock in either way.
- Streamlined underwriting: no exam, generally no records ordered.
- No elimination period: once the client qualifies, benefits start immediately. This alone changes the value proposition.
- Couple’s discount: choice of 3% or 5% compound growth.
- Benefit transfer rider: unique to Lincoln, lets a beneficiary take the death benefit as is or apply it toward their own MoneyGuard policy.
Sample illustration: $100,000 single premium, issue age 60
Two ways to structure the same policy. Growth option maximizes the LTC and death benefit. Vested option guarantees 100% of premium back by year 11, in exchange for a lower benefit. Full guarantees and footnote disclosures are in the illustration images below.
| Year | Death Benefit | Monthly LTC Benefit | Surrender Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth Option | |||
| 1 | $174,740 | $7,281 | $70,000 |
| 10 | $174,740 | $9,500 | $70,000 |
| 20 | $174,740 | $12,767 | $70,000 |
| Vested Option (100% Return of Premium) | |||
| 1 | $145,616 | $6,067 | $70,000 |
| 10 | $145,616 | $7,915 | $97,000 |
| 20 | $145,616 | $10,639 | $100,000 |
Have a client in their late 50s or 60s sitting on an LTC decision? Send us their info and we will run a personalized MoneyGuard illustration this week.
Lower rates for OPTerm now available
Pricing you can count on from Banner Life Insurance Company.
Starting today (August 11, 2026), you’ll see lower rates from Banner Life.
Giving your clients access to affordable term life insurance isn’t a strategy or a sales plan – it’s business as usual for Banner Life. It’s how we got to be the #1 term life insurance carrier in the U.S.,1 and it’s what you can expect from us day in and day out.
We’re dropping rates on OPTerm, so whether your client needs 10 years of coverage or 40, we’ll be there for them and for you. It’s not about the numbers, but you can expect to see us at the top of the rankings about 88% of the time.2
That’s what a trusted partner does. You can count on us to make it easier for you to do business every day, not just when it’s convenient.
See updated Administrative Guidelines
Annuities Snapshot
Highest Rate in Year 1 (Guarantee Years & Surrender Years Match)
| Guarantee/ Surrender Yrs |
AM Best Rating |
Carrier Name | Product Name | 1st Yr Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-year | A+ | Athene | MaxRate 3 ($100K+) | 5.30% |
| 4-year | A+ | Integrity Life | MultiVantage 4 ($20K+) | 5.05% |
| 5-year | A+ | Athene | MaxRate 5 ($100K+) | 5.55%* |
| 6-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 6 ($100K–$249,999) | 9.60% |
| 7-year | A+ | Athene | MaxRate 7 ($100K+) | 5.65%* |
| 8-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 8 ($100K–$249,999) | 5.15% |
| 9-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 9 ($100K–$249,999) | 5.15% |
| 10-year | A | Lincoln Financial Group | MYGuarantee Plus 10 ($100K+) | 5.50% |
Highest Average Yield with Equal Surrender & Guarantee Period
| Guarantee/ Surrender Yrs |
AM Best Rating |
Carrier Name | Product Name | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 3 ($5K–$99,999) | 5.00% |
| A+ | Athene | MaxRate 3 ($10K–$99,999) | 5.05% | |
| A | American National | Palladium MYG 3 ($250K+) | 5.25% | |
| A+ | Athene | MaxRate 3 ($100K+) | 5.30% | |
| 4-year | A | Corebridge Financial | AP VisionMYG 4 ($100K+) | 4.80% |
| 5-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 5 ($5K–$99,999) | 5.10% |
| A+ | Athene | MaxRate 5 ($10K–$99,999) | 5.30%* | |
| A+ | Athene | MaxRate 5 ($100K+) | 5.65%* | |
| 6-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 6 ($5K–$99,999) | 9.50/4.50 · Avg 5.32% |
| A | American National | Palladium MYG 6 ($100K–$249,999) | 9.60/4.60 · Avg 5.42% | |
| A | American National | Palladium MYG 6 ($250K+) | 9.75/4.75 · Avg 5.57% | |
| 7-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 7 ($5K–$99,999) | 5.20% |
| A+ | Mutual/United of Omaha | Ultra-Premier 7 ($25K+) | 5.45% | |
| A+ | Athene | MaxRate 7 ($100K+) | 5.65%* | |
| 8-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 8 ($5K–$99,999) | 5.05% |
| A | American National | Palladium MYG 8 ($100K–$249,999) | 5.15% | |
| A | American National | Palladium MYG 8 ($250K+) | 5.30% | |
| 9-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 9 ($5K–$99,999) | 5.05% |
| A | American National | Palladium MYG 9 ($100K–$249,999) | 5.15% | |
| A | American National | Palladium MYG 9 ($250K+) | 5.30% | |
| 10-year | A | American National | Palladium MYG 10 ($5K–$99,999) | 5.05% |
| A | Lincoln Financial Group | MYGuarantee Plus 10 ($100K+) | 5.50% |
*Athene MaxRate — see product rate sheet as some states differ in rate %.
American National (ANICO) offers higher interest rate for the Palladium MYG MAX (No Liquidity, except RMD’s). Be sure to check ANICO current rate sheet.
2026 Data Breach Trends
Your company does not have to get breached to spend this year explaining a data breach notice to an employee.
The ITRC’s H1 2026 Data Breach Report puts hard numbers behind that. 471.2 million victim notices went out in six months, already past all of 2025’s 297.5 million. One vendor breach, Instructure’s Canvas education platform, accounted for 58 percent of that total on its own. Insider wrongdoing events jumped sevenfold. Only 24 percent of notices told anyone how the breach actually happened.
This week’s article breaks down what the H1 2026 numbers mean for a company your size heading into the second half of the year. Inside, we cover:
- Why one vendor breach can generate more notices than every other breach in the report combined
- The insider threat number that jumped 700 percent, and why it is smaller, and scarier, than it sounds
- The stat that means most breach notices you get this year will not tell you anything useful
- Three specific access reviews you can run this month with no new budget
- What 471 million notices actually means for the odds your own employees get one
Six months in, 2026 has already outpaced all of last year. The second half is not slowing down.
Get the full breakdown and see what to check before Labor Day
