Variable & Indexed Annuities
Found 35 Articles.
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Changing Variable Annuities
Investors flocked to variable annuities after the 2000 market crash. Insurers had enhanced the policies by offering guaranteed minimum rates of return, promising to make up for market losses, and other attractive terms. In the current environment, insurers are having a hard time keeping those promises. Low interest rates, lousy stock market returns, and other […]
Diving Into Those Guaranteed Variable Annuities
Investors steadily increased purchases of variable annuities with guaranteed benefits in recent years. These annuities clearly are striking the interest of a substantial number of investors. But they’re complicated, and I doubt most of the buyers fully understand them or know how to compare them to alternatives. There are several versions of variable annuities with […]
Evaluating Index Annuity Returns
Indexed Annuities can be a tough sale for insurance brokers, partly because they’re very complicated. A recent article in the Journal of Financial Planning appeared to cut through a lot of the problems by taking actual results from annuity contracts and showing that they outperformed a benchmark. But, not so fast. Robert Huebscher of AdvisorPerspectives.com […]
How to Build Your Own Equity-Index Annuity
Last month’s visit discussed equity-indexed annuities (EIAs). We reviewed their different elements, ad-vantages and disadvantages. This month we explain how you can generate very similar results by creating your own EIA. Remember the attraction of an EIA is you are assured in the worst case of a return of your principal after about 10 years […]
Are Variable Annuities Safe?
First to fall were the homebuilders and mortgage companies. Then the investment banks and a few commercial banks tumbled. Next in line in the financial crisis might be insurance companies. Insurers, especially those that issue a lot of variable annuities, are under scrutiny and facing skepticism about their financial stability. The focus of attention lately […]
Pros and Cons of the New Annuities
Variable annuities long have been a controversial financial product. They became more controversial and confusing as insurers added features to make them attractive to more consumers. The controversy heated up recently in the pages of Financial Planning, a magazine for financial planners. It started with a white paper issued by Ibbotson Associates in October 2007 […]
New Rules Protect Variable Annuity Shoppers
Better late than never seems to be a principle of regulators. In that spirit new regulations were issued recently covering the sale of variable annuities. Variable annuities are one of the most-discussed investment vehicles of the last couple of decades. They have had strong sales, as investors are attracted by mutual fund investments coupled with […]
How to Build Your Own Equity-Indexed Annuity
Equity-indexed annuities and other “structured products” have been hot sellers the last few years. Unfortunately, few people who buy or sell them really understand these investments. The investors are surprised that the returns are not as high as expected. The basic pitch of structured investments is a guaranteed return of at least the initial investment […]
