The life insurance products carriers are offering have been meeting the needs of the retirement community, but of greater concern to the industry is the younger generation, according to Rachel Alt-Simmons, senior analyst at TowerGroup.

"You have this next wave of millenials rolling through, and their saving and spending behaviors are very different," says Alt-Simmons. "The retiring generation traditionally has been a generation of savers. The new generation is a generation of spenders."

The issue will be how insurers can get that younger generation to invest in long-term products and developing those lifetime relationships, she points out. Some recent pension reforms have helped, particularly with participants having to opt out rather than opt in for their 401(k) plans, but Alt-Simmons indicates she has been shocked at some of the plan participation rates she has viewed. "Why would you not want to put in a little bit of money when you see how it can grow over time?" she asks. "Younger people need to get over the live-for-the-moment mentality and think about the future. How the product companies help them with that is the real challenge. You have cultural issues you are trying to address with financial products, and getting those things aligned may be challenging."