New to Annuities

[R. Paul Aguirre]

Hi guys so I recently got my annuities cert and am being deemed the "go-to-guy" at our agency in regards to annuities. Do any of you have a fact finding sheet or suggestions that might help me when asking for information from our clients or agents? I know life insurance well but when it comes to clients needs in annuities at this point I can say I am next to clueless. Any help would be great.

 

[patch36]

You get a big case and want help I'll fly out and write it up for a 50% commission split. You are not going to learn enough here to make you the annuity go to guy.

Annuities are not easy. It takes a broad range of experience to write a suitable and appropriate annuity. Your buddies are either inexperienced in annuities or lazy.

 

[insuranceexec]

Good luck. I find the annuity market is much like the game of Othello;

"It takes a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master."

If you have any direct questions; let me know and I will do my best to help you.

 

[InsureGuy5]

Surprising - annuity business can be somewhat profitable. Start by asking the clients if they have any cd's and what the interest rate is. Then find out what their tax bracket is. Then talk about tax deferral and lifetime income streams.

There is quite a bit of annuity information on our site as well as some online presentations. Feel free to take a look.

 

[Charpress]

Surprising - annuity business can be somewhat profitable. Start by asking the clients if they have any cd's and what the interest rate is. Then find out what their tax bracket is. Then talk about tax deferral and lifetime income streams.

Don't forget to mention caps, spreads, participation rates, MVA, and withdrawal penalty periods. Then move on to company solvency and NAIC guarantee funds.

If you want to limit things to CD replacements, then talk about MYGAs and back again to tying money up, withdrawal penalites, and how the money is insured (or not insured).

No, there is much too much about annuities to take an easy route. Clients have to go through a learning experience to figure out whether an annuity is the thing for them and you have to know enough to be the teacher.

 

[padthaiforlunch]

Until tomorrow. Gafri is unleashing the FIA for dummies. ROP built in; bail-out provision; Options are m.a., pt-to-pt or fixed.

Interesting commission options as well. Can still get 1st year lump, but have option of taking a % of account value for each year the client has annuity. So you can create a stream which increases in up years.

 

[R. Paul Aguirre]

Thanks for the replies guys. Ok I swear this isn't spam but I was directed to a website that has been very informative- once again I am not tied to this site at all I just thought I would share with you guys. annuityadvisors.com This place is the shiznit. This shows you the top rates for MYG 1-10 on the front page then you can go a little deeper and look through the top indexed, traditional and immidiate as well as more myg's. You still have to send a written request for illustrations though, but not everything can be perfect.

 

[dgoldenz]

Until tomorrow. Gafri is unleashing the FIA for dummies. ROP built in; bail-out provision; Options are m.a., pt-to-pt or fixed.

Interesting commission options as well. Can still get 1st year lump, but have option of taking a % of account value for each year the client has annuity. So you can create a stream which increases in up years.

Is there a product brochure available yet for this?

 

[patch36]

Here is a link to that product. I have not looked at it closely yet.

Safe Return Annuity

 

[Norwayguy]

Until tomorrow. Gafri is unleashing the FIA for dummies. ROP built in; bail-out provision; Options are m.a., pt-to-pt or fixed.

Interesting commission options as well. Can still get 1st year lump, but have option of taking a % of account value for each year the client has annuity. So you can create a stream which increases in up years.

I wouldn't term this product a FIA for dummies....You need to understand how the Return of Premium feature works...and how the Bail out caps work to properly explain to your customer how this works...this is a perfect example

Customer deposits 100K into Safe Return FIA and in year 1 gets an 8% return on policy aniversary the clients sees policy B sold by another company is offering a 20% cap and Great American is offering only a 10% cap and remembers that you mentioned bailout provisions and return of premium and said this is the FIA for dummies client wants to move 100% or fully surrender Safe Return to transfer to policy B so client elects to pull money out but is upset because he transfers only 100K to policy B Great American keeps the 8K yes there is a waiver of the surrender charge and client redeems 100% or purchase payments. Also there is a 2 year 100% commission charge back on this product.

Also these additional guarantees for the client have a cost. If you compare Safe Return to Flexmax a product with a lower minimum, shorter surrender and about 1.25% higher caps but without the additional bailout features so you need to explain all this to your client.