July 8, 2008
I have been in this business since 1972 and cannot understand why the SEC continues to harass the fixed annuity market with this issue. The laws are very clear about what constitutes a fixed annuity and what doesn't.
(I guess I do understand, it is greed because the SEC isn't receiving any revenue when an Indexed Annuity is sold and they are losing money when the funds are rolled out of an equity product)
The SEC can't make the statement that annuities are no good because that would eliminate the Variable Annuity from their portfolio, which is interesting as now you can almost make a variable look like a fixed if you are willing to pay all the extra fees for all of the options.
If the SEC wins on this it will be the demise of the Index Annuity and the entire fixed annuity business will be affected. It should be mandatory for the annuity companies to get involved and save this business for us.