Last month we told you that voluntary sales, according to our annual U.S. Worksite/Voluntary Sales Report, were $6.644 billion, a 4.3 percent increase over 2012 results (adjusted for new companies and method changes).

It's that time again to tell you, in a series of articles, about our voluntary market sales results. To sum it up, it's good news: The industry had another solid year.

The Benefits Selling/Eastbridge Voluntary survey was conducted again this year, and more than 325 brokersa combination of employee benefit brokers, traditional voluntary brokers, enrollment companies, etc.responded.

The convenience of payroll deduction is one of the most important reasons employees buy voluntary products.

Years ago, voluntary represented a (relatively) new approach to benefits, and it had seemingly unlimited potential in terms of new account prospects.

Eastbridge coined the term groupification more than 15 years ago to describe the underlying direction of the voluntary industry.

There's plenty of discussion about private exchanges these days.

One of the top reasons that brokers say they dont sell more voluntary is that they dont think their clients would be interested.