First Guaranteed Income Rider Comes to FIAs

Lincoln Financial’s i4LIFE Indexed Advantage is the first guaranteed income benefit rider to appear on a fixed indexed annuity (FIA), an annuities market expert said.

Guaranteed income benefits riders have been a staple of variable annuities for years.

“It is the first guaranteed income benefit to be introduced in the indexed annuity market,” said annuity market expert Sheryl J. Moore, president and CEO of Moore Market Intelligence and Wink Inc.

Wink publishes the life and annuity industry data tracker, Wink’s Sales & Market Report.

“I am anxious to hear salespeople’s reactions to the rider,” Moore said.

Guaranteed income benefits allow the annuity contract holder to annuitize the annuity’s benefit base and collect a minimum payment amount if policy owner decides to annuitize.

GLWBs promise a minimum payment amount if the policy owner elects to take withdrawals against the annuity’s benefit base.

Income riders on FIAs have been of the GLWB variety – until now.

Lincoln’s i4LIFE Indexed Advantage is available on the company’s New Directions 8, OptiBlend 7 and 10, and OptiChoice 5, 7 and 9 FIAs, families of FIAs sold by commission-based advisors.

Lincoln charges 0.95 percent annually of the FIA account value to pay for the income guarantees with i4LIFE Indexed Advantage, Lincoln said in a news release.

The rider for the index family is derived from an older cousin, the i4LIFE Advantage rider, available on the company’s variable annuity product line since 2000.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Writer Cyril Tuohy has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. Cyril may be reached at cyril.tuohy@innfeedback.com.

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Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. He can be reached at cyril.tuohy@innfeedback.com.