You can see the dramatic change after 1974. In 1980, when President Carter ran for re-election, prime interest rates were as high as 22%. It was difficult to buy a house, finance cars, or expensive appliances.

This interest abnormality had a dramatic effect upon not only the insurance industry, but also the savings and loan industry and banking in general. The Insurance industry had products that had been refined through hundreds of years to operate successfully at interest rates around 4¹/₂% to 5%.

Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, came quadruple interest rates. Overnight, the industry had horse and buggy products in a new jet age. It required the stuffy, tradition-ridden industry to take a critical look at its products and their approach to the insurance consumer. For the first time in history, the life insurance industry asked people what they would like to have in their insurance contracts. The consumers surprised the industry with the sophistication of their answers.