With a 3.4% decline, September marks the worst month of application activity for individually underwritten life insurance this year.  Activity through the first nine months is off 0.6% compared to the same period in 2010 despite unusual growth June through August.

The summer months brought increased activity and September was 5.2% higher than August, but well off the 9% - 10% pace of growth typically seen for this time period.  People age 60 and older continued to show growth with a 6.9% increase over 2010.