Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe the basic types of financial products and identify the financial needs these products are designed to address; explain the steps in the control process and describe the important control mechanisms insurance companies use to measure, evaluate, and improve their operational performance; describe the major categories of life insurer investments and explain how insurers use the required rate of return, the risk-free rate of return, and the risk premium to evaluate these investments; describe how insurers determine the values for a product’s cost of benefits, operating expenses, and investment earnings and how they evaluate product performance; describe how insurers use cost-benefit analysis, rightsizing, outsourcing, remote work arrangements, and information technology to manage general and administrative expenses; explain how insurers use information technology to manage and improve the customer experience and key business processes; perform present value calculations, explain how the present value of an annuity is calculated, and describe insurer applications of present value; and describe the ratio-based systems used by regulators and rating agencies to monitor and evaluate insurance company solvency and profitability.