Those Bonus Annuities

[policy doctor]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Where can you go to get an annualized return of 7.29% in this ultra low-rate environment? [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]No, there aren't any "trust-me's", no "Gotcha's", and no "renewal sticker-shock". How would you like the combined guarantees of an MYG with the growth potential of an Indexed Annuity? Curious?[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] Keep reading...[/FONT]

The vast majority of Allianz annuity products require buyers to wait as long as 10 years to begin receiving benefits, then most are forced into annuitization for a minimum of 10 years, that's a 20 year annuity (you could've sold 2 annuities, twice the commissions for doing a better job for your clients)!​

At the death of the annuitant ALL of Allianz annuities forces a 5 year payout to the beneficiaries. [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Allianz locks in the interest rates at less than 1% returns for the 5 or 10 year payout periods, this wipes out the 10%/5% bonuses and the average returns are diluted over the 5 or 10 year payout periods. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]This upsets most clients making it very hard to ask for additional business and/or referrals.[/FONT]​

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']I believe most all of their (Allianz) annuity products are the worst annuities on the market today for your clients and I would not recommend buying or selling these products. [/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Recently, Allianz made this statement: Fewer than half of 1 percent of it's customers have ever complained, according to the company. [/FONT]​

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']But, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against insurers over annuity sales to the elderly. A judge in Minnesota ruled this year that just one class-action suit, against Allianz, could encompass as many as 400,000 plaintiffs. [/FONT]Over the last few years A.M. Best has downgraded the "A++" ratings of Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America to "A+" and as of March 31, 2007 they are only an "A" rated company.

There are many excellent annuity companies and products out there, because of the above, all the facts point out that Allianz does not seem to care about the consumer - your clients! Honest agents who really care about their clients should represent/offer consumer friendly products - BETTER COMPANIES AND PRODUCTS TO YOUR CLIENTS. Below you'll find some of the excellent annuity products that "BEAT ALL OF ALLIANZ PRODUCTS". Dare to compare our best annuities. ​

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

I like Equitrusts new 7 yr annuity that has a bonus.

 

[Winter_123]

I like Equitrusts new 7 yr annuity that has a bonus.

Allianz products are scary and it will only get worse as consumers hold the policies long enough to see how it actually plays out.

Equitrust is better but you have to look at the product and see if they lower your index crediting rate if you go with a plan with a bonus. They used to do that. Could be different now.

I prefer American Equity. They are number two behind Allianz in sales but they are vastly better for a number of reasons.

Winter

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Every company makes up for the bonus one way or the other.

 

[Winter_123]

Every company makes up for the bonus one way or the other.

That is true except my point is that some companies such as Allianz make up for it in more than one way. If you get a bonus you should expect to pay the piper somewhere such as length of the plan. Allianz takes you into a ten year plan that you have annuitize to get out of. Equitrust has or had (havent done any business with them in over a year) a huge bonus on one of its plans and you expect to be locked in longer but they lower the crediting rate as well. You are paying the piper in multiple ways with some of those plans. With American equity if you get the 10% bonus you need to go with the long plan but other than that there is no crediting difference between the 6 year plan and the 16 year plan and with all of their products you can just walk away at the end without having to annuitize if you dont want to. So yes, every company makes up for the bonus somehow but there are real differences to be understood. ING also frigs with the crediting rate as I recall except you have to be in a longer plan to get the better rate. Same with F&G's plans. Too many moving parts with some of those plans. I am going to focus on American Equity more in the future I think.

Winter

 

[Sir Ringo]

I like Equitrusts new 7 yr annuity that has a bonus.

Equitrust seems to always have a little something nice to offer, never marketed, but have studied them in the past. Gonna have to check out that 7 yr.

Anyone have any dealings with AmerUsLife? Now Aviva? Would like to hear your opinion if you have.

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

I sold 3 Amerus Multi points last year. It was a great fit for my clients.

 

[Sir Ringo]

I sold 3 Amerus Multi points last year. It was a great fit for my clients.

Would you be referring to the mca products?

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Thats what I meant, Multi Choice.

 

[slushhhpuppie]

I believe most all of their (Allianz) annuity products are the worst annuities on the market today for your clients and I would not recommend buying or selling these products.

Some investors (myself included) have no problem giving up liquidity for guarantees. Between the bonuses (now up to 20%) and no risk of principal loss (unless of course the money is w/d early), I recommend these when they fit the client.

Over the past few weeks my clients have been calling non-stop, all with the same concern, "I want to retire in (10,12,15,20) years; how exposed are we to market loss?"

From a performance standpoint, my EIA has beat some of my retail accounts as far as return (and risk) are concerned. 100% participation, 2.5% monthly cap, no spreads, domestic & international indexing.

I have about 35% of my personal retirement assets spread between 2 Allianz EIA's. Yes, they have a 10 year surrender, but the operative word is retirement assets..... not spendable assets.

Just my $0.02.