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Don’t lapse into temptation: a behavioral explanation for policy surrender

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  • Nolte, Sven
  • Schneider, Judith C.

Abstract

Many policyholders surrender their life insurance policies early, leading to substantial monetary losses for private households. Surrender can be explained rationally if it constitutes the last resort providing liquidity in the event of an urgent need of cash. Yet we find clear evidence in German panel data that for more than half of all surrendered contracts investors had cheaper options available to provide the required liquidity. This finding demonstrates that there must be other factors influencing this important life decision. We provide a behavioral explanation, focusing on the role of individual decision heuristics, financial literacy, and financial advice. In particular, we show that financial literacy and financial advice can mitigate the behavioral temptation to lapse, while the tendency to rely on heuristics increases lapse probability.

Suggested Citation

  • Nolte, Sven & Schneider, Judith C., 2017. "Don’t lapse into temptation: a behavioral explanation for policy surrender," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 12-27.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:79:y:2017:i:c:p:12-27
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2017.02.011
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    2. Kubitza, Christian & Grochola, Nicolaus & Gründl, Helmut, 2021. "Life insurance convexity," ICIR Working Paper Series 42/21, Goethe University Frankfurt, International Center for Insurance Regulation (ICIR).
    3. Cheng, Chunli, 2022. "Beyond death: The impact of a population-wide health shock on life insurance," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Marco Aleandri & Alessia Eletti, 2021. "Modelling dynamic lapse with survival analysis and machine learning in CPI," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 44(1), pages 37-56, June.
    5. Mathias Valla & Xavier Milhaud & Anani Ayodélé Olympio, 2023. "Including individual Customer Lifetime Value and competing risks in tree-based lapse management strategies," Post-Print hal-03903047, HAL.
    6. Berdin, Elia & Gründl, Helmut & Kubitza, Christian, 2017. "Rising interest rates, lapse risk, and the stability of life insurers," ICIR Working Paper Series 29/17, Goethe University Frankfurt, International Center for Insurance Regulation (ICIR).
    7. Ballotta, Laura & Eberlein, Ernst & Schmidt, Thorsten & Zeineddine, Raghid, 2021. "Fourier based methods for the management of complex life insurance products," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(PB), pages 320-341.
    8. Axel Möhlmann, 2021. "Interest rate risk of life insurers: Evidence from accounting data," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(2), pages 587-612, June.
    9. victor Lyonnet, 2018. "Asset-liability management in life insurance: Evidence from France," Working Papers 2018-12, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    10. Mathias Valla & Xavier Milhaud & Anani Ayodélé Olympio, 2023. "Including individual Customer Lifetime Value and competing risks in tree-based lapse management strategy," Working Papers hal-03903047, HAL.
    11. Chiang, Chia-Chun & Niehaus, Greg, 2024. "Market discipline and policy loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    12. Cassandra R. Cole & Stephen G. Fier, 2021. "An examination of life insurance policy surrender and loan activity," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 88(2), pages 483-516, June.

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