How it's worked out
Take the policies sold in a period. Count how many are still in force at the checkpoint, divide by how many were sold, and multiply by 100. You can count policies or count premium, and the two give different answers. Actuaries in the US report persistency both ways. Life insurers in India publish it on premium at the 13th, 25th, 37th, 49th and 61st month, under a rule from their regulator.
Worked example: say you sold 40 policies in 2025, worth S$120,000 of annual premium. By the 13th month, 6 have lapsed, and between them they carried S$24,000.
- By policy count: 34 of 40 still in force, so 85%.
- By premium: S$96,000 of S$120,000, so 80%.
Same book, two figures. The lapses were bigger than average cases, so the premium figure comes out lower.
A lapse costs you twice. Renewal commission on that policy stops, and a policy that lapses on or before 31 December doesn't count toward MDRT at all, unless it ended through death or a term conversion.
We couldn't find one public Singapore formula, from MAS or anyone else. Ask your agency how yours is measured and what level it rewards.
Where it shows up in your week
Persistency is set at the sale and kept by looking after the client. The life insurance commission calculator shows what lapses do to your renewal commission, with a still-paying rate for each year.
Related terms
Questions advisors ask
There's no single public benchmark. Your insurer or agency sets the level it rewards, so ask for your own figure and the bar it's measured against.
Near enough the reverse. Lapse rate counts the policies that ended in a period. Persistency counts what's still going, after every year's lapses so far.
Not if it lapses on or before 31 December, unless it ended through death or a term conversion.
Monthly, on the policies reaching their 13th month that month, so you can call each client whose second-year premium is due before the policy lapses.
Not from us, because there's no one public formula to build it on, so the count is your agency's. Ask yours how it's measured. To see what lapses do to your renewal commission, the life insurance commission calculator has a still-paying rate for each year.
Sources
- U.S. Individual Life Insurance Persistency, Society of Actuaries and LIMRA, 2019, read 2 November 2026
- A life insurer's FY2025 results release (India), note 6, under IRDAI circular IRDAI/NL/MSTCIR/RT/93/6/2024, read 2 November 2026
- Membership Information for the 2027 Million Dollar Round Table, MDRT, dated 15 October 2026, the in force rule, read 2 November 2026