Annuities Industry

News

SEC Still Rattling Sabers at EIAs

If a proposed rule is adopted, only those with securities licenses could sell EIAs, which would be regulated the same way securities are regulated.

AIG SunAmerica Offers Flexible, Extended VA Roll-Up

With AIG SunAmerica's new variable annuity living benefit option, the income base may increase each year for up to 15 years, even if withdrawals are taken.

Many Insurance Executives Predict Higher M&E, GLWB Fees

Some 65% of executives expect 
charges for lifetime withdrawal guarantees to go up and about 55% expect fees for minimum withdrawal guarantees to rise.

Get a Second Life, Aviva USA Tells Agents

Aviva USA is inviting current and prospective agents to the company's “private island” in the Internet-based virtual world, Second Life.

First Quarter 2008 VA Net Sales Rise 12.3%, to $7.2 billion

Year-over-year, net sales of variable annuities rose in the first quarter of 2008, while total sales were up a half-percent. But total VA assets fell in the first quarter compared to the last quarter of 2007.

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Articles

No Guarantees For Guaranteed Income

BOSTON-Retirement income planners, along with mutual and insurance fund executives, are wracking their brains to come up with new products that are low cost, easy to use and easy to sell. So far, that is the $70 trillion-dollar question for which no one looking at the rollover potential of the Baby Boomer market has been able to come up with the answer.

Hybrid Income Products Breed Concern Among State Regulators

Applications for a flurry of new investment products, in which guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits (GLWBs) are attached to managed accounts, lie pending before the Securities and Exchange Commission. But state insurance and securities regulators in some states, including New York, Florida and Alabama, have concerns about the products, which straddle the line between investments and insurance.

Structured Products' Blend Safety with Upside Potential

These principal-guaranteed investments often combine a fixed income investment with equity or commodity futures. Popular among retail investors in Europe and Asia, they haven't caught on so far with U.S. advisers. But that's expected to change.

Annuities Remain Best Bet For Retirees

Outside of a defined benefit plan, traditional life annuities issued by insurance companies are the best ways to reduce longevity risk for women. Yet few retirees purchase them, according to a recent report entitled, 'Evaluation of Approaches To Reducing Women's Longevity Risk.' The report, by Beverly Orth of Mercer Human Resource Consulting, confirms the conventional wisdom that variable annuities, though popular as tax-deferral vehicles, are almost never annuitized. She attributes that to a lack of education about annuities and the media's negative portrayal of them.

A Crisis with a Gender Bias

The great open secret of the Baby Boomers' retirement crisis is that, if left unaddressed, the impact of the predicted shortfall of retirement income will weigh much more heavily on women than on men.

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