Advisors Excel Introduces a New Fixed Annuity Offering Gains Protection and Growth Opportunity During Bear Markets

TOPEKA, Kan., April 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Until now, fixed index annuities designed for retirement income have not been able to solve for substantial growth opportunity when markets decline. Today, Advisors Excel is one of a select group of distributors to offer the Total Value Annuity (TVA) from Security Benefit Life Insurance Company. "TVA is a fixed index annuity that provides solutions where other retirement income strategies fall short," said David Callanan, Co-Founder at Advisors Excel.

Unlike other fixed index annuities on the market, the Total Value Annuity offers protection for both purchase payments and previous gains, as well as the opportunity for income growth even when the stock and bond markets decline simultaneously.

It's one thing to minimize losses when the markets tank, but quite another to provide the potential for gains. The Total Value Annuity offers a unique index interest crediting option not directly tied to stock and bond markets. Instead, it's linked to the proprietary, new Annuity Linked TVI (ALTVI) – an index comprised of 24 highly liquid futures contracts representing physical commodities, global currencies and U.S. interest rates. The ALTVI uses a disciplined process to take advantage of market movements with long and short positions to capture gains and minimize volatility.

Policyholders have the flexibility to allocate assets among three different crediting options – interest rates linked to the ALTVI, the S&P 500 (excluding dividends), and a guaranteed fixed interest rate.

Additional features of the Total Value Annuity may include:

• Up to 10% bonus on purchase payments made in the first contract year.[1]
• Up to 10% free withdrawals each year
• No restrictive asset allocation
• Nursing home and terminal illness waiver
• Optional guaranteed income for life rider with double benefits for home healthcare, or
• Optional death benefit rider

Last year, Advisors Excel teamed with Security Benefit Life and Innovation Design Group to bring the Secure Income Annuity to the market. This was the first-ever proprietary product release from an Independent Marketing Organization (IMO), and the most successful product launch in the history of the industry. The Secure Income Annuity quickly became a leader in the retirement income planning market with approximately 700 producers writing over $1.2 billion in business in the first nine months alone.

Now, Advisors Excel and Security Benefit have taken the retirement-income solution one step further. This year's launch of the Total Value Annuity builds on that success by providing the potential for positive growth during stock and bond market declines. Its functional design addresses long-term growth and protection challenges with benefits that are easy to explain: An upfront bonus for long-term contract holders, the ability to deliver positive returns in a bearish market, access to free partial withdrawals, a nursing home and terminal illness waiver, and optional riders for guaranteed lifetime annual income or a death benefit.

Advisors Excel co-founder Derek Thompson observed, "The Total Value Annuity solves for ongoing growth, protection and flexibility throughout retirement. It's the powerful solution the income industry has been seeking to help retirees prepare for the challenging issues facing retirement." These challenges include market volatility, the timing of market losses, long-term inflation, longevity risk, access to cash for emergency expenses, long term care coverage, guaranteed lifetime income and legacy planning.

The TVA may be purchased up to age 80 with nonqualified money or through a traditional or Roth IRA. This is an excellent option for individuals wanting to roll over money from a 401(k) or other employer sponsored plan when they retire or separate from service. The minimum purchase amount to get started is $25,000.

This fixed index annuity also has a bonus feature that gives the contract up to an 8% credit to the policyholder's account value for purchases made in the first year, or up to a 10% credit for purchases made in the first year with the inclusion of the lifetime annual income or death benefit rider. The bonus does have a recapture schedule so the policyholder needs to be able to hold the annuity throughout the surrender charge period in order to avoid any portion of the bonus being recaptured.

The Total Value Annuity Lifetime Annual Income Rider also offers the Home Healthcare Doubler. It allows policyholders to double their Lifetime Annual Income for a maximum of five years if they are unable to perform two of six basic activities of daily living set forth in the rider. There is a minimum age limit of 50 and a two-year waiting period to use this feature of the rider, and a physician's statement is required each of the five years a client wishes to use this rider feature. The physician must certify that the policyholder cannot perform at least two of six basic activities of daily living.

A differentiating benefit from other fixed index annuities is that the Total Value Annuity protects purchase payments and previously credited interest if the market declines, while at the same time provides the potential for gains via an interest crediting account option that does not move in tandem with stock or bond markets. Given the volatile stock market and low interest rate environment of recent years, the Total Value Annuity is designed for risk-averse retirees who need growth but cannot afford losses during retirement.

[1] Depending on state, age and purchase of rider

About Advisors Excel
Advisors Excel is an independently owned Insurance Marketing Organization (IMO) focused on helping independent advisors around the country increase their annuity and life insurance business. Founded in 2005 and based in Topeka, Kansas, Advisors Excel has quickly become the fastest-growing IMO in the industry, skyrocketing from humble beginnings to over $2.65 billion in premium this past year. 

88-00001-28  2012/03/29

For more information: Josh Jones, Advisors Excel -- (866) 363-9595
[email protected]

SOURCE Advisors Excel