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Annuity Sales ‘On An Upswing’; Second Quarter Data Confirms

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Total annuity sales were up in the second quarter, according to Beacon Research and Morningstar sales data.

The combined sales of fixed and variable annuities totaled $60.7 billion, compared to sales of $57.7 billion in the first quarter of 2019, according to data reported by Beacon Research and Morningstar.

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The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New York filed an appeal Monday challenging a New York Supreme Court ruling upholding Regulation 187. The state’s new regulations governing annuity and life insurance sales, Regulation 187 is viewed by the industry as being too punitive.

Actress and model Brooke Shields, 54, is a near perfect fit for this year’s Life Insurance Awareness Month campaign, said Faisa Stafford, president and chief financial officer of Life Happens. So far, more than 60 million people have seen either Shields’ television or radio ads.

State insurance regulators moved briskly through four topics as they try to thread the needle between suitability and fiduciary in crafting an annuity sales model law.

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–ADISA, the nation’s largest trade association for the retail alternative investment space, announced today that its government relations team met with regulators in New Jersey earlier this week to discuss the state’s impending fiduciary rule. ADISA board member and former president, John Grady, along with Thomas Rosenfield, attended the meeting.

Great American Life Insurance Company ® is pleased to announce its fee-based fixed-indexed annuity, Index Protector 7, is now available on BNY Mellon’ s Pershing registered investment advisor custody platform. According to Tony Compton, Great American Life Vice President of Broker/Dealer and RIA Sales,“ Great American is committed to supporting the RIA…
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners creates model laws for states to pass.

After roughly 18 months of meetings, the group is in tentative agreement on a best interest standard for annuity sales. But New York officials are adamant that the standard apply to in-force policies, a move other regulators are hesitant to make.

Sep. 16– Good question, and yes, everyone’s asking. The U.S. economy has experienced 10 recessions since 1950, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. The most severe was the Great Recession of 2008-2009, and the mildest was 2001, according to Dan Roccato, president of Quaker Wealth Management in Moorestown, N.J..

Leading direct-to-consumer life insurance provider Vantis Life Insurance Company has introduced a new series of annuity products available for direct purchase online. Vantis Life is rated A+ by A.M. Best, the world’ s most authoritative insurance rating and information source. Since 1942, Vantis Life Insurance Company has specialized in providing…

–Following the recent IRS Private Letter Ruling allowing favorable tax treatment of advisory fees from non-qualified annuities, Nationwide Advisory Solutions continues to optimize its retirement income solutions built expressly to fit the way RIAs and fee-based advisors work, launching a new lifetime income rider and two new enhancements to…

HOLON, Israel, Sept. 16, 2019/ PRNewswire/– Sapiens International Corporation,, a leading global provider of software solutions for the insurance industry, announced today a new partnership with Atos, a global leader in digital transformation with 120,000 employees in 73 countries. As part of the partnership agreement, Sapiens will provide their software…
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The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New York filed an appeal Monday challenging a New York Supreme Court ruling upholding Regulation 187. The state’s new regulations governing annuity and life insurance sales, Regulation 187 is viewed by the industry as being too punitive.

If you want to convince someone of the need for an annuity, position it as part of a strategy instead of merely presenting it as a product.

Pacific Life Insurance Company just introduced Protected Investment Benefit, an optional benefit available with certain Pacific Life variable annuities. As a long-term investment designed for retirement, a Pacific Life variable annuity can provide guaranteed lifetime income and unlimited growth potential. “When clients are closing in on retirement,…

The 57- year-old from Ogemaw County in northern Michigan recently won $17 million on the ticket he ended up buying the next day, according to the Michigan Lottery. “I usually buy a Lotto 47 ticket every Friday along with a Mega Millions ticket,” the man, who chose to remain anonymous, told the Michigan Lottery. “I got up Sunday and checked my ticket with my phone,” he told…
Ash Brokerage and AIMCOR have reached a deal to join forces.

Ash Brokerage, a Fort Wayne, Ind. brokerage general agency, is becoming a member of the AIMCOR Group. A national insurance marketing organization, AIMCOR distributes and services life, disability, LTC and annuity products through a variety of independent and other channels.

Between your 401 or pension, your IRA and Social Security, you hope to have enough to enjoy a comfortable retirement lifestyle. Yet, you may want, or need, to find other financial resources one of which might be a fixed annuity, which offers a guaranteed interest rate and can be structured to provide a lifetime income stream.

Accenture today announced that Principal Financial Group (R) has implemented the Accenture Life Insurance& Annuity Platform to enable its digital growth strategy with enhanced service levels and operating efficiency. “ALIP will help us improve our customer and advisor experience by providing the foundation to enhance our digital capabilities, deliver…

If you participate in a pension plan at work, you might be offered a buyout at some point. This could happen if your employer wants to shrink its future pension obligations or if your company has been bought, and your new employer decides to terminate your existing pension plan. Other sources of retirement income- If you don’t think you will have enough money from…
Brooke Shields succeeds racecar driver Danica Patrick as the face of Life Insurance Awareness Month.
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Actress and model Brooke Shields, 54, is a near perfect fit for this year’s Life Insurance Awareness Month campaign, said Faisa Stafford, president and chief financial officer of Life Happens. So far, more than 60 million people have seen either Shields’ television or radio ads.
Pension buy-out sales continue to set records, LIMRA reports.

U.S. single-premium pension buy-out product sales surpassed $4.7 billion in the second quarter 2019, which is the 18th consecutive quarter of $1 billion+ sales. This also represents the second consecutive quarter of sales over $4.7 billion, according to the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute.

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America announced today that it has received a favorable private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service regarding the tax treatment of advisory fees taken from nonqualified, fee-based annuities. About Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, one of…
Many seniors are not prepared for the cost of retirement.

The Life Insurance and Annuities Committee established the Retirement Security Working Group during the NAIC Summer Meeting in New York City earlier this month. The group’s efforts could include working with the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation commissioner to develop new lifetime income products.

Aug. 24– ALBANY– Veterans in the Empire State are getting some extra protections against potential scammers known as “pension poachers.” The measure, dubbed the Pension Poaching Prevention Act, will help stop scammers who profit by selling unsuspecting veterans financial products they don’t need or charging them to apply for benefits from the U.S. Department of…
Annuities are attractive for advisors and clients because they offer income retirees cannot outlive.

Second-quarter annuity sales were up sharply again across the board, continuing a sales rebound that began with the defeat of the Department of Labor fiduciary rule early in 2018. Sales were led by fixed indexed annuities. In the first six months of 2019, FIA sales were $38 billion, an increase of 18%, compared with the first six months of 2018, LIMRA reported.

Aug. 21– Two life insurance companies have agreed to pay more than $117,000 to refund 25 Pennsylvanians who were sold financial products that unnecessarily cost them thousands of dollars, the state Insurance Department said Tuesday. A pair of agents from Pittsburgh, Donald L. Gilberg and Nicole P. Gilberg, convinced consumers to replace their annuities with new…

CUNA Mutual Group issued the following news release:. CUNA Mutual Group today announced the launch of Zone Income Annuity, which includes features that address all phases of retirement, including a protected lifetime income feature that locks in a minimum income stream to the policyholder for life. “One of peoples’ biggest fears–and they share it every day…

Legal and General Group, a provider of insurance, savings and investment management products, issued the following news release, dated August 14:. Legal& General today announced that in H1 2019 it completed a bulk annuity transaction with the Hitachi Data Systems Retirement Benefits Plan, covering around 120 members. This is the third transaction between Legal&…

Variable annuities are complex insurance products— so complex that what people actually buy and what they think they’re buying may be quite different. Sales of variable annuities have slowed in recent years but were still estimated at about $100 billion in 2018. Insurance companies have different policies about how money gets paid out when someone dies, and…
Industry representatives fill the room for the Annuity Suitability Working Group meeting at the Midtown Hilton in Manhattan. (Photo by John Hilton)
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State insurance regulators moved briskly through four topics as they try to thread the needle between suitability and fiduciary in crafting an annuity sales model law.

Acting Albany County Supreme Court Justice Henry Zwack ruled that the New York State Department of Financial Services was within its authority when it issued Regulation 187. The regulation took effect Thursday for annuity sales in New York, and will extend to life insurance sales in six months.
Many seniors are not prepared for the cost of retirement.

Forty percent of non-retired Americans say that “how much income they’ll have in retirement” is the most important question they face about retirement. And eight in ten (80%) non-retirees indicate they lack a specific financial plan that they follow. One-third are not preparing for retirement because they don’t have enough time.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners creates model laws for states to pass.

The Annuity Suitability Working Group aims to tentatively finalize a standard for annuity sales by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Fall Meeting in November. Debate over whether to add “prudence” to the model law dominated another 90-minute conference call Monday.

Retirement is the time in your life when you can throw off the shackles of your daily responsibilities and truly enjoy the fruits of everything you spent years working toward. It’s an empowering feeling and you’ve earned it. You’ve planned and you’ve saved, but now that you’re here, don’t make the mistake of believing your financial planning is over.

The Annuity Suitability Working Group is working through five questions in a bid to finalize an annuity sales model law that regulators have been working on for more than a year. Members are focusing on insurers in a bid to rein in annuity sales incentives.

Principal Financial Group issued the following news release:. Principal Financial Group (R) today announced that Scott Boyd has joined the company as Head of Sales for Workplace Savings and Retirement Solutions in the Retirement and Income Solutions division, effective August 12, 2019. Prior to joining Prudential, Boyd worked as a strategy consultant for…

In this AM BestTV episode, Ken Johnson, senior director, and Thomas Rosendale, director, both of AM Best, examine how changes in product mix and asset allocation, along with a focus on asset liability and enterprise risk managements, will likely affect life/annuity insurers in the event of an economic slowdown. v= la719 to view the entire program.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners creates model laws for states to pass.

The Annuity Disclosure Working Group is studying a proposal to increase the time indexes must be in existence to be used in annuity illustrations from 10 to 15 years. But regulators are having difficulty getting past a couple of key issues.

Although retirement is a milestone for all working adults, decades of hard work may not pay off if you haven’t planned for your financial needs once a regular paycheck stops coming. According to research by the Insured Retirement Institute, millions of Baby Boomers stepping into their retirement years have unrealistic expectations and lack a full…

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s office said the state may push for a best-interest annuity sales rule similar to New York’s if the NAIC doesn’t tighten up its annuity sales proposal. An NAIC working group has two conference calls and an in-person meeting to discuss the rule over the next two weeks.

Jul. 18– CHARLOTTE, N.C.– A south Charlotte financial adviser is accused of bilking his clients and a national insurer out of at least a half-million dollars and spending the money on himself, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed on Thursday. Sampson Pearson sold life insurance products and annuities as an independent contractor for Milwaukee-…
AmeriLife Group, which markets and distributes annuity, life and health insurance products, has acquired a majority interest in Brookstone Capital Management

AmeriLife Group, an independent marketing organization, has acquired a majority interest in Brookstone Capital Management, an advisory firm. The combined organization will have more than $3.5 billion in annual life, health and annuity premiums and $2.7 billion in assets under management (AUM).

Allianz Life, a provider of retirement solutions, including fixed and variable annuities and life insurance for individuals, issued the following news release:. According to the 2019 Life Insurance Needs Study from Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, women lack familiarity with a number of important benefits offered by permanent life…

Athene USA, a leading provider of retirement savings products, announced the launch of Athene ® Amplify, a registered index-linked annuity with design features that set it apart in a fast-growing product category. Athene ® Amplify is issued by Athene Annuity and Life Company, a subsidiary of Athene. “Athene Amplify, our first registered index-linked annuity,…

A magistrate judge denied a motion by Ohio National to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed in March by Stephen Cook, a Dallas-based advisor affiliated with Triad Advisors. Judge Stephanie Bowman also recommended that the case be consolidated with a similar one brought by LPL Financial broker Lance Browning.

–To help jump-start retirement planning, the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council has released the first video in a three-part series designed to educate Americans about getting ready for life after work. “The best option for retirement is a diversified portfolio,” said Jim Poolman, Executive Director of the IALC. “We hope to use these videos to help pre-retirees…

Dodgers and Golden State Warriors, pocketed about $9 million in the scheme. Criminal charges have not been filed against Sugarman– the son-in-law of entertainment and sports mogul Peter Guber– but the SEC has requested that the court order him to “disgorge all ill-gotten gains.” The SEC alleges Sugarman orchestrated the tribal bond scheme along with business…

–A practical new calculator is helping independent agents show their annuity and life insurance clients the tax benefits of two products over one. The Prosperity Select Combo Calculator, created by Oxford Life Insurance Company ®, offers an instant comparison of the after-tax value of an annuity purchase versus the after-tax value of an annuity-life…

Jul. 7– In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the most significant retirement-savings bill in more than a decade. It’s called the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement, or the SECURE Act of 2019.. –529 plans. 529 plans would be expanded to pay for expenses related to an apprenticeship or to pay back as much as $10,000 in student loans.

Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts delay RMDs like nothing else can. They also protect against market risk, a key when clients are thinking longevity.

Although many precursors to the 2008-2009 financial crisis are repeating today, AM Best believes the life/annuity industry is much more resilient than a decade ago and well-positioned to navigate future challenges. Macroeconomic conditions in the United States soon became more unfavorable as the effects of the subprime crisis started to emerge.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners creates model laws for states to pass.
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An insurance commissioners’ working group opened up a new comment period and scheduled two 90-minute conference calls in a bid to finalize an annuity sales model rule. Comments are being accepted until July 10 on two topics: conflict of interest and the care obligation.

TIAA launched a new brand and advertising campaign that takes a different approach to encourage people to think about how they are planning for retirement. “We can all relate to the feeling of running out of things we love and rely on– whether it’ s your favorite TV series or milk for your coffee,” said Mark Elliot, Chief Marketing Officer of TIAA.“ We want to tap into…

Horace Mann Educators Corporation today announced that a subsidiary of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated, a leading global life reinsurer, has reinsured a $2.9 billion block of Horace Mann’ s annuity business effective April 1, 2019. In addition, Horace Mann announced that it has entered into a new five-year $225 million revolving line of credit,…
Many families are struggling to make ends meet despite the strong economy.

Many people worry about running out of money in retirement. Getting rid of a car could save you nearly $9,000 a year, which is the average cost of car ownership according to AAA. A study for the National Bureau of Economic Research found that delaying the start of retirement from age 62 to age 66 could raise someone’s annual, sustainable standard of living by 33%.