Allianz 222 Fixed Indexed Annuity

[scagnt83]

What is a proprietary product other than something only some IMOs and agents can offer. Isn't Allianz Preferred similiar in that way?

Exactly.

Anyone who has worked as a Captive/Semi-Captive can clearly see the similarities.

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I get that there isn't a best annuity company nor was I arguing that I think Allianz is. However, there is usually a company that an agent will be partial to. I rarely find it to be the case that business will be split evenly between more than a few carriers. I was just wondering what you have written the majority of (as it stands for this year). That would be why I asked who you think should be number one.

As it stands for this year GA.
Overall probably LFG... maybe AE... but AE is only for the inflation options on the Income Rider. (though the AE rider isnt as competitive as it used to be a few years ago)

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Like I said, I have been around it my whole life. Without going into detail I am well aware of a captive environment.

Its clear you do not grasp the overall mindset and intent of an agent in that role, and how the Allianz Preferred program is similar to it.

Until you walk in those shoes, 6 months of experience marketing to the other side isnt going to make you aware of a thing. I dont care how long you have "been around the business". (that just means someone in your family (or a very close family friend) was probably once captive and now probably runs or works for the IMO you now do) (nothing wrong with that (or any variation of it), but it makes you far from an expert on a captive environment. there are clear similarities in intent between the two. whether you are able to see it or not it is there)

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Again, I wouldn't argue that their incentives are good for the industry (the same way override sharing isn't great for the FMO industry). My point was simply, they are smart to do it. It clearly works for getting them business.

So you think it is smart to for them to hurt the industry that you, I, & Allianz's employees feed our families by working in?

Sure it might make them volume king for a while. But what happens when their antics shoot the industry in the foot and it bleeds out? Then they are king of nothing...

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By your own admission, you don't write their products so I don't know how you would be able to comment on their current service or products. It's not some B rated carrier that has been around for 5 years. My grandma is able to still be in her house right now because of an Allianz policy that she holds. No, I'm not saying Allianz is the only carrier that would have done this for her. However, it happens to have worked out fantastic for her so far.

Just because I dont write their products does not mean I do not know what they offer and how they stack up against other carriers.

And as you pointed out what the Indexed Annuity did for your grandma was because of the product, not necessarily the company.

It is clear you are biased towards Allianz for multiple reasons. Like I said, nothing wrong with that considering your job and what your company seems to sell the most of. I have run into plenty of Allianz policies that performed perfectly fine over the years. And plenty of policies I have sold from other carriers have performed just as well.

If Allianz was the hands down winner by far in a competitive analysis I would use them. But they havent been yet.

So lets take a page from Stand The Annuity Man, and "Professionally and Respectfully Disagree"about certain aspects of the intent of the Allianz Preferred Program.
And agree that you really like Allianz, and I dont so much, but would use them if it was truly best for the client.

 

[SanDiego619]

Exactly.

Anyone who has worked as a Captive/Semi-Captive can clearly see the similarities.

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As it stands for this year GA.
Overall probably LFG... maybe AE... but AE is only for the inflation options on the Income Rider. (though the AE rider isnt as competitive as it used to be a few years ago)

----------




Its clear you do not grasp the overall mindset and intent of an agent in that role, and how the Allianz Preferred program is similar to it.

Until you walk in those shoes, 6 months of experience marketing to the other side isnt going to make you aware of a thing. I dont care how long you have "been around the business". (that just means someone in your family (or a very close family friend) was probably once captive and now probably runs or works for the IMO you now do) (nothing wrong with that (or any variation of it), but it makes you far from an expert on a captive environment. there are clear similarities in intent between the two. whether you are able to see it or not it is there)

----------



So you think it is smart to for them to hurt the industry that you, I, & Allianz's employees feed our families by working in?

Sure it might make them volume king for a while. But what happens when their antics shoot the industry in the foot and it bleeds out? Then they are king of nothing...

----------




Just because I dont write their products does not mean I do not know what they offer and how they stack up against other carriers.

And as you pointed out what the Indexed Annuity did for your grandma was because of the product, not necessarily the company.

It is clear you are biased towards Allianz for multiple reasons. Like I said, nothing wrong with that considering your job and what your company seems to sell the most of. I have run into plenty of Allianz policies that performed perfectly fine over the years. And plenty of policies I have sold from other carriers have performed just as well.

If Allianz was the hands down winner by far in a competitive analysis I would use them. But they havent been yet.

So lets take a page from Stand The Annuity Man, and "Professionally and Respectfully Disagree"about certain aspects of the intent of the Allianz Preferred Program.
And agree that you really like Allianz, and I dont so much, but would use them if it was truly best for the client.

You're right we don't need to keep this going. There's always someone on the other side of the fence (like I said previously). GA is a fantastic company (they're probably a very close 4th for us). I love every person I talk to when I call into their team. I obviously get I'm not going to talk you into writing Allianz (not that I ever had intention to convince anyone here) but I really think it's madness if you use AE for an inflation hedge that you wouldn't write an Allianz product. Haha we don't need to get back into it but them giving pay raises on the index gains is fantastic. Anyways. Really this same argument would have happened if it was about AE or EQ or whoever (probably mostly AE as Mr. Noble is one of the most down to earth men I've ever met). But this one happened to be an Allianz convo so I ran with it.

And honestly, if there is a carrier to worry about that may "bleed out the industry" it's SBL. Should be interesting to see what things change with them in the coming years (if they're even still around)

 

[InsuranceCat]

Aggressive income riders attached to FIAs with high payouts are approaching SPIAs in that there is almost no hope for indexed gains or any gains in the contract, especially down the road say 5 years from now. One curious thing to see is if regulators will start regulating them with regulatory parity, similar to the way how the no-lapse life insurance industry has changed.

222 has a built in complimentary income and 5-year death benefit enhancement. GA has an income and death benefit rider that I like as well. In both cases, I feel the benefit rider ratcheting is "meaningful" rather than an accounting phantom number that has no meaning.

One unexpected difficulty I ran into when writing these products is that I can tell some people get antsy seeing their life on a ledger. People freak out when they see that 52 becomes 53 which becomes 54 and before you know it becomes 85 and beyond. Most people have unrealistic estimations of longevity and often underestimate elder expenses and overestimate their capabilities to self-fund/retain that risk (such as LTC).

 

[SanDiego619]

Most people have unrealistic estimations of longevity and often underestimate elder expenses and overestimate their capabilities to self-fund/retain that risk (such as LTC).

Seems to be so true. Staying with the 222, luckily there is the built in income doubler for a LTC purpose.

 

[InsuranceCat]

That complimentary Allianz Income Multiplier benefit is helpful! Last time I checked, it wasn't available in California :(

 

[SanDiego619]

That complimentary Allianz Income Multiplier benefit is helpful! Last time I checked, it wasn't available in California :(

That's because we're awesome here in California! Ha

 

[AllenChicago]

Monday, February 15, 2016

A college planning specialist recommended this Allianz-222 Fixed Index Annuity today. He said this is a great vehicle for transferring "Cash Equivalent" assets to a non-cash asset (Annuity) when family income is scrutinized. Also, it has a 22% up-front bonus. Normally it's 15%, but until Feb 22nd, it's 22%. Sounds gimmicky to me. Is this a respected company?

Is the Allianz-222 FIA still a good product and company? I haven't written an annuity in 6 years and am out of touch with the latest trends. If this is a good product, I'll figure out how to contract and roll the $80k from the Money Market to the Allianz-222 myself. (BTW.. It's just a Money Market that my wife started 25 years ago with IDS, and has $$ deducted from her teacher salary every month.) Not saving it for anything specific.

Thanks in advance for constructive feedback and advice.

-Allen

 

[DHK]

Allianz is a good, well-rated company. Personally, I have a hard time understanding their products, but I might not have tried all that hard either.

Is it a good product? I don't know.

Keep in mind that non-qualified annuities are retirement products. Gains are withdrawn and taxed at ordinary income tax rates. If you access the annuity prior to age 59 1/2, your gains are subject to a 10% penalty. (Your cost basis comes out tax-free.)

That 22% is probably only added to your income base for lifetime income and is not a "walk-away value" even after the surrender period is over.

If you decide to contract, I'm sure there are plenty of people here who would offer you a contract. Just read up on it all and decide for yourself.

 

[Tahoe Ray]

Monday, February 15, 2016

A college planning specialist recommended this Allianz-222 Fixed Index Annuity today. He said this is a great vehicle for transferring "Cash Equivalent" assets to a non-cash asset (Annuity) when family income is scrutinized. Also, it has a 22% up-front bonus. Normally it's 15%, but until Feb 22nd, it's 22%. Sounds gimmicky to me. Is this a respected company?

Is the Allianz-222 FIA still a good product and company? I haven't written an annuity in 6 years and am out of touch with the latest trends. If this is a good product, I'll figure out how to contract and roll the $80k from the Money Market to the Allianz-222 myself. (BTW.. It's just a Money Market that my wife started 25 years ago with IDS, and has $$ deducted from her teacher salary every month.) Not saving it for anything specific.

Thanks in advance for constructive feedback and advice.

-Allen

It's the #1 selling annuity in the country.

I wouldn't use it for accumulation though. Those bonuses are for the income/DB values, it has a 4.75 cap, and their illustrations are very funky (showing no 0 credit years on the non guaranteed scale).

If you want pure accumulation, Libertymark (an Americo product distributed through Legacy) and Athene have much strong products IMHO.

Athene even has a liquidity rider on their 10 year and offers a 5 year product as well. LibertyMark has a 7 year product and is a 5×5 (will allow a 5 year annuitization meaning that you can get all of your money back over 5 years after the 5th year) on the 10 year product.

 

[AllenChicago]

It's the #1 selling annuity in the country.

I wouldn't use it for accumulation though. Those bonuses are for the income/DB values, it has a 4.75 cap, and their illustrations are very funky (showing no 0 credit years on the non guaranteed scale).

If you want pure accumulation, Libertymark (an Americo product distributed through Legacy) and Athene have much strong products IMHO.

Athene even has a liquidity rider on their 10 year and offers a 5 year product as well. LibertyMark has a 7 year product and is a 5×5 (will allow a 5 year annuitization meaning that you can get all of your money back over 5 years after the 5th year) on the 10 year product.

Thank-you for the thorough response, Tahoe Ray! Since we're doing this to move funds from liquid to non-liquid for Student Loan purposes, "accumulation" is not the driving force for the transaction.

It's good to know that it's the #1 selling annuity in the country. I feel more at ease with this College Planning company now. I'll just let the Education Planning advisor do the transfer, be thankful for the 22% up-front bonus, and be done with it. Thanks again.

-Allen