MutualFundWire.com: MainStay Sales are Up 62 Percent in the First Half
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

MainStay Sales are Up 62 Percent in the First Half


The first half of 2011 brought a 62 percent increase in sales of New York Life's proprietary mutual fund family, company officials said Wednesday. Sales of MainStay Funds totaled more than $9 billion of sales in the first six months of the year.

Of the $9 billion, third-party channels accounted for more than $5 billion.
Company Press Release

NEW YORK LIFE REPORTS STRONG SALES INCREASES IN ALL MAJOR PRODUCT LINES FOR THE FIRST HALF OF 2011

Sales of Life Insurance, Income Annuities and Mutual Funds Continue to Surge

NEW YORK, N.Y., August, 24, 2011 – New York Life Insurance Company, America's largest mutual life insurer, today announced very strong second quarter gains in sales of life insurance, income annuities and mutual funds, as well as a solid increase in field force new hires in the first six months of 2011.

Sales Records Driven By Career Agents

Individual life insurance sales increased 13% through June compared with the first six months of 2010. This growth is being driven by agents, with life insurance sales through the company's national field force up 15% over the same 2010 period.* The company’s Custom Whole Life product, an innovative form of whole life that allows consumers to choose how long they pay premiums, continues as the most popular whole life product with a sales increase of 21% over the same period last year.

"With an unprecedented 12.1% life insurance market share**, solid growth across product lines, and an unbroken 5˝ year run of manpower growth, New York Life and its 11,900 agents across the country are living up to the challenge to provide growing numbers of people with the peace of mind that comes from being a part of New York Life. Our growth during the continued economic unsteadiness is a sign of the importance of knowledgeable advice from educated, professional agents,” said Mark Pfaff, executive vice president in charge of U.S. Life and Agency.

"Our sales numbers reflect the company's 166-year history of providing financial security to families in good times and bad, and continues in earnest this year with more than $2.4 billion paid to beneficiaries through mid-August," added Mr. Pfaff.

Mr. Pfaff noted that with 1,000 life insurers operating in the United States today, the fact that any one company has a double-digit market share reflects the faith people are placing in New York Life to protect their families and businesses. Company research indicates that no other life insurer has ever had a double-digit market share (10% or more) since LIMRA began keeping records, he said.

Income Annuity and Mutual Fund Sales Achieve New Milestones

New York Life continues as the market share leader in fixed immediate annuities*** with another record milestone of sales reaching over $1 billion in the first six months of 2011. This represents an increase of 26% over the same period last year, led by strong sales through New York Life agents and third-party distribution channels.

"As the industry leader in income annuities, New York Life is proud to be part of the solution for Americans who seek a safe and secure retirement income plan," said Chris Blunt, executive vice president in charge of Retirement Income Security.

Sales of New York Life's affiliated mutual funds (The MainStay Funds) are up 62%, totaling more than $9 billion in the first six months of the year, with strong performances from third-party channels accounting for more than $5 billion of the total. In Barron’s ranking of mutual fund families, MainStay Funds ranked third out of 46 fund families for the 10-year period ended December 31, 2010 − the second year in a row that MainStay commanded the number three spot.****

“More and more Americans are recognizing that New York Life and its affiliates can meet their comprehensive financial planning needs, which includes MainStay Funds, for accumulating assets. The continued solid sales growth reflects the increased appreciation of the Mainstay Fund’s accountability, integrity, and commitment to its clients – a powerful combination in today's marketplace,” said Mr. Blunt.

Field Force Increases Nationwide

While unemployment persists at high rates around the country, New York Life continues to hire. Recruitment of the company’s field force is up 8% for the first six months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. In addition, New York Life has dominated the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) in the United States for the 57th consecutive year, with 2,066 qualifying New York Life agents. MDRT granted membership to 10,252 agents in the United States making membership in this organization a distinguishing life insurance career milestone.

"The field force recruits over the past few years have been the most solid recruitment classes, continuing to break records in terms of sales for new hires, and we anticipate that the 2011 recruitment class will continue this success," said Rich Simonetti, vice president in charge of recruiting. "New York Life is committed to a robust, continued investment in our agents and we are excited to be hosting the company’s first national sales careers day in September, where our local offices will be open to the public to educate Americans on the benefits of a career with New York Life. Local communities across the country will have the opportunity to talk to managers and agents and see if the career is a fit for them."

New York Life Insurance Company, a Fortune 100 company founded in 1845, is the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States***** and one of the largest life insurers in the world. New York Life has the highest financial strength ratings currently awarded to any life insurer by all four of the major credit rating agencies. Headquartered in New York City, New York Life’s family of companies offers life insurance, retirement income, investments and long-term care insurance. New York Life Investments****** provides institutional asset management and retirement plan services. Other New York Life affiliates provide an array of securities products and services, as well as institutional and retail mutual funds.

Please visit New York Life's Web site at www.newyorklife.com for more information.

*New York Life counts Agency insurance sales of single premiums at 10%.

**Market share calculations based on New York Life’s analysis of results from LIMRA International, First Quarter 2011 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales Survey. Single premiums counted at 100%. Counting singles at 10%, New York Life also leads the industry with a 6.8% market share.

***Source: LIMRA International Source: LIMRA International, U.S. Individual Annuity Sales Survey, Fixed Immediates, First Quarter 2011 results. (Fixed Immediates include Fixed Period Annuities.)

**** Source: Barron's, "The Best Mutual Fund Families in 2011," February 7, 2011. See below About Barron’s Ranking.

***** Based on revenue as reported by “Fortune 500, Ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual),” Fortune magazine, May 5, 2011. See www.money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune for methodology.

******New York Life Investments is a service mark used by New York Life Investment Management Holdings LLC and its subsidiary, New York Life Investment Management LLC.

About the Barron's Rankings

To qualify for the Lipper/Barron’s Fund Survey, a fund family must have at least three funds in Lipper’s general U.S.-stock category, one in world equity (which combines global and international funds), one mixed-equity fund (which holds stocks and bonds), at least two taxable-bond funds, and one tax-exempt offering. Each fund's returns are adjusted for 12b-1 fees. Fund loads, or sales charges, aren't included in the calculation of returns, either. Each fund's return is measured against those of all funds in its Lipper category, such as, say, small-cap value. That leads to a percentile ranking, with 100 the highest and 1 the lowest, which is then weighted by asset size, relative to the fund family's other assets in its general classification, world equity, for instance. If a family's biggest funds do well, that boosts its overall ranking. Poor performance in a big fund would have the opposite effect. Finally, the score is multiplied by the weighting of its general classification, as determined by the entire Lipper universe of funds. The category weightings for the one-year results: general equity, 40.52%; world equity, 14.32%; mixed equity, 16.46%; taxable bond, 24.52%; tax-exempt bond, 4.18%. The scoring: Say a company has a fund in the general U.S. equity category with $50 million in assets that accounts for half of the company's assets in that category. Its ranking is the 75th percentile. The first calculation would be 75 x 0.50, which comes to 37.5. That score is then multiplied by 40.52%, general equity's overall weighting in Lipper's universe. So it would be 37.5 x 0.4052, which totals 15.2. Similar calculations are done for every fund in the study. Then, all the numbers are added up for a total score. The fund family with the highest score wins, both for each category and overall. The same process is repeated for the five- and 10-year rankings. Ranking data from Lipper. Reprinted with permission from Barron's.

Overall, MainStay Funds ranked 40 for the one-year period, 17 for the five-year period, and three for the 10-year period ended December 31, 2010, out of 57, 53, and 46 fund families, respectively. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All mutual funds are subject to market risk and will fluctuate in value.

For more information about MainStay Funds, call 800-MAINSTAY (624-6782) for a prospectus, and, if available, a summary prospectus. Investors are asked to consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus, and, if available, a summary prospectus, contains this and other information about the investment company. Please read the prospectus, and, if available, a summary prospectus, carefully before investing. Securities distributed by NYLIFE Distributors LLC, 169 Lackawanna Avenue, Parsippany, New Jersey 07054.



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