III IC-26 study plan
III IC-26 · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Life Insurance Finance
Map the full Life Insurance Finance (IC-26) syllabus into a one-page checklist that names each subtopic and rates your current confidence from 1 to 5
Define the core statutory financial statements for a life insurer and label the line items that differ from GAAP presentation
Explain how reserves, premiums, and claims flow into the balance sheet and income statement by tracing a single simplified policy through one reporting period
Build a personal glossary of 30 finance terms you cannot yet define from memory, with a one-sentence definition each
Your checkpoint
A one-page syllabus checklist with confidence ratings plus a 30-term glossary written in your own words
Life Insurance Finance
Distinguish statutory accounting principles from GAAP for life insurers and list at least eight specific recognition or valuation differences
Compute a simplified statutory balance sheet from a supplied set of asset, liability, and surplus figures without reference notes
Describe the role of the valuation actuary and identify which assumptions most affect reported reserves
Summarize how surplus and capital requirements constrain a life insurer's ability to write new business
Your checkpoint
A worked statutory balance sheet exercise with correct surplus, plus a two-column table of at least eight statutory-versus-GAAP differences
Life Insurance Finance
Explain the purpose and mechanics of life insurance reserves and contrast the net premium, gross premium, and modified reserve methods
Calculate a terminal reserve for a simple whole life policy using a provided mortality table and interest rate
Identify which reserve assumptions are locked in at issue versus which can be revisited, and state the financial statement effect of each
Describe how reserve strengthening or weakening affects surplus and reported earnings
Your checkpoint
A reserve calculation worksheet showing your steps and a short written explanation of how a change in the interest assumption moves surplus
Life Insurance Finance
Explain the components of life insurance company surplus and how it is reported and regulated
Describe risk-based capital for life insurers and identify the major risk categories it captures
Trace how a decline in the RBC ratio triggers regulatory action levels and what management responses follow
Connect reserve adequacy, asset valuation, and capital into a single narrative of insurer solvency
Your checkpoint
A one-page solvency narrative linking reserves, asset valuation, and RBC, plus 20 practice questions you write and answer yourself
Life Insurance Finance
Break down life insurance product pricing into mortality, interest, expense, and lapse assumptions and state the profit signature of each
Compare the financial economics of term, whole life, universal life, and annuity products from the insurer's perspective
Explain how crediting rates on interest-sensitive products affect spread income and reserve adequacy
Identify the main sources of disintermediation risk and describe how product design mitigates it
Your checkpoint
A product comparison matrix covering at least four product types across pricing assumptions, profit drivers, and key risks
Life Insurance Finance
Explain the role of reinsurance in life insurance finance and distinguish yearly renewable term, coinsurance, and modified coinsurance
Describe how reserve financing transactions affect statutory reserves and surplus, and identify the regulatory scrutiny around them
Analyze how a ceding commission and experience refund provision shift economics between cedent and reinsurer
State the disclosure and risk-transfer requirements that determine whether a reinsurance arrangement receives reserve credit
Your checkpoint
A reinsurance decision memo recommending one structure for a hypothetical block, with your reasoning and the reserve-credit conditions it must satisfy
Life Insurance Finance
Explain how investment strategy and asset-liability management support life insurer obligations across the yield curve
Describe how credit losses, interest rate shifts, and duration mismatch each flow through to surplus
Apply the concept of cash flow testing to a simplified liability profile and describe what a failed scenario implies
Identify the reporting and governance controls that surround asset valuation and derivative use
Your checkpoint
An asset-liability management case write-up with a duration mismatch example and the surplus impact quantified
Life Insurance Finance
Synthesize all prior weeks into a single integrated model of how a life insurer's financial statements respond to a shock in mortality, interest rates, or lapses
Complete a timed set of practice questions across the whole domain and log every miss by root cause
Re-teach your three weakest subtopics from memory on blank paper and compare against your notes
Finalize your formula and definition sheet down to only items you still miss
Your checkpoint
A timed practice test score log with root-cause analysis and a one-page final cram sheet limited to your remaining weak points
Milestones
Week 2: You can produce a simplified statutory balance sheet and correct surplus from raw figures without consulting notes, and you can name at least eight statutory-versus-GAAP differences unprompted
Week 4: You can explain reserve methods, RBC action levels, and the surplus linkage in a five-minute spoken walkthrough without notes, and your self-written 20-question set scores at least 80 percent on a retake
Week 6: You can compare three reinsurance structures on reserve credit, surplus impact, and risk transfer, and justify a recommendation in writing
Week 8: Your timed practice score is stable across two sittings and every logged miss has a named root cause with a matching remediation step