All Weather Companies

[Charpress]

Personally, I don't see how you can fit 2 or 3 companies into the spectrum of what people need in the way of annuity products.

I really don't know how I could play the annuity game without at least 7 companies -which would include American Equity and Great American, to provide what I would be willing to put people into.

 

[Mac1958]

Personally, I don't see how you can fit 2 or 3 companies into the spectrum of what people need in the way of annuity products.

I really don't know how I could play the annuity game without at least 7 companies -which would include American Equity and Great American, to provide what I would be willing to put people into.

Yeah, I have to admit that you may well be right, and that I'm still a little undecided on how to proceed. A while back I was in touch with Jack Keeter Marketing (among others), and perhaps I'll give them a ring.

I can see the advantage of calling one source with an overview of each individual case and getting their input. I was just trying to avoid contracting with a ton of companies. Maybe not such a great idea.

Great advice, thanks.

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[Norwayguy]

I can see the advantage of calling one source with an overview of each individual case and getting their input. I was just trying to avoid contracting with a ton of companies. Maybe not such a great idea.

Great advice, thanks.

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I can feel you on the one source piece...But you have to realize that companies turn on and off the spicket and if you really stick to just 2 companies you will enter a period of time when both your companies will not be competitive against what else is out there....Now your fine as long as your client never compares products but once they do your dead.

I also echo the comments on Allianz, I just did a google search for Allianz Annuities and both of these articles are on the first page. Not to mention I believe it was dateline that did an annuity sting a couple of years ago and made Allianz the poster child for sleazy insurance companies

Allianz Deferred Annuity Lawsuits

Did Allianz mislead older buyers on annuity sales? | StarTribune.com

 

[scagnt83]

I also echo the comments on Allianz, I just did a google search for Allianz Annuities and both of these articles are on the first page. Not to mention I believe it was dateline that did an annuity sting a couple of years ago and made Allianz the poster child for sleazy insurance companies

Thats the thing, even selling one of their decent contracts comes with increased liability just because of all the bad press out there.

Just a question to throw out there on the subject of selling an Allianz product:
If you did not tell a client that Allianz is the subject of multiple class actions, and that they were once threatened with a cease and desist order by their own home state in relation to one of their annuity products; could this potentially be considered an omission by a court of law if a consumer filed a complaint down the road??

Its a well known fact about the company that you are advising the client to place their assets with; and many clients would find it a relevant fact when making a decision, and more so, I would think that a judge or jury would consider it to be a relevant fact to the past decision making process of a now unhappy client...
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I can feel you on the one source piece...But you have to realize that companies turn on and off the spicket and if you really stick to just 2 companies you will enter a period of time when both your companies will not be competitive against what else is out there....Now your fine as long as your client never compares products but once they do your dead.

I would definately agree with this.

When you show a product and the customer tells you that the agent down the street showed them some other product that had a better rate; you have not boxed yourself into the non competitive products. All you have to do is tell them that you have access to that company as well, and that if they feel that product is a better fit you can certainly place them in it.
Then as long as the prospect likes you/trusts you more, then you should retain the business.

 

[Mac1958]

When you show a product and the customer tells you that the agent down the street showed them some other product that had a better rate; you have not boxed yourself into the non competitive products. All you have to do is tell them that you have access to that company as well, and that if they feel that product is a better fit you can certainly place them in it.

Then as long as the prospect likes you/trusts you more, then you should retain the business.

This is reasonable - Companies are constantly changing rates, benefits and riders, and I don't know how anyone can be guaranteed that they're getting the very "best" at any given time. Constantly chasing the very "best" would probably drive me (and my clients) crazy.

Also, for the people I'm working with on FIA's, it's no more than maybe 20% of their overall portfolio, and I'm managing the rest. So I'm not too concerned about losing many people to someone who's only doing annuities. Plus, the firm I'm with is also doing their taxes, legal, estates, etc., so the relationships are pretty strong.

A thought about Allianz, though: I know they've been in hot water, yet they continue to do a ton of annuity business. I was at an Allianz seminar last week, and the other reps there were all pretty comfortable with them. Sounded like Allianz had made many changes in their plans over the last few years.

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[Charpress]

I haven't sold any Allianz in a little while, but at once point I was a Platinum producer with them.

I have visited their home office several times. The Minnesota Attorney General who brought the suits is right down the street.

I can tell you that Allianz was a target of the brokerage industry and ambitious politicians because they were (and are) the biggest. The MasterDex 10 was one of the first products out there that gave people an indexing choice. Sure, hard to get out of. I used it originally as a good IRA fit because people tend to not want to just liquidate an IRA.

Anyway, sure there are better products -now. Including better products from Allianz. And to their credit, they retroactively changed the term of existing policies to make them more consumer friendly.

In any event, at this point in time there are better products in most situations then Allianz products, although I really like their income riders that allow the payments themselves to be indexed and go up every year.

The "Bad Press" out there on the Web is about 90% BS.

 

[annuityseller]

Everyone one always goes after the top dog, they had issues before but have done a great job of fixing the huge problems they had years ago. No I don't sale them .

 

[JFBAgent]

The bad stuff folks are talking about are the result of Allianz of early 2000's. I steared clear of them at that time for these reasons.

Gary Bhojwani (current CEO) has brought them to a much better place. Their current annuities do not work like the old ones. They do not require annuitization, etc. - the agents who say this haven't taken a look at the products for years.
In the FIA market, they have a strong 5 year, 10 year, and 10 year bonus annuity...all walk away products.

Give them a call. That's what I did...I was impressed with how they are committed to the suitability process.

 

[HarryRenard]

Their current annuities do not work like the old ones. They do not require annuitization,

Give them a call. That's what I did...I was impressed with how they are committed to the suitability process.

Are you sure about that? Not all of their products are walk away.

On suitability they are tough, they do phone interviews with everyone over 75 and the agent can not be present.

 

[JFBAgent]

Are you sure about that? Not all of their products are walk away.

On suitability they are tough, they do phone interviews with everyone over 75 and the agent can not be present.

The only one that requires annuitization is the MasterDex 10 Plus.

The Endurance Elite is a five year walk away, the Endurance Plus is a ten year walk away, and the MasterDex X is a ten year bonus walk away.

Their FastTeam will tell you that they envision leading the FIA industry in suitability. Seems they want to avoid any problems in the future by beating the SEC, Finra to the punch.