Subject: File number S7-14-08

August 27, 2008

Florence Harmon
Acting Secretary
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-0609

Florence Harmon:

I am a licensed insurance professional for over 37 years. I am writing to you because I do not support the adoption of proposed Rule 151A, which would classify most indexed annuities as securities. I am very concerned that the application of proposed Rule 151A would one day not be limited to indexed annuities and that other annuity and insurance products that happen to fit the criteria set out in the rule would be brought within the scope of the rule. I urge you to withdraw the proposal.

I firmly believe that people who promote unsuitable sales and engage in misleading sales practices should be aggressively prosecuted and subject to meaningful sanctions. Every industry has a few "bad apples", and the insurance industry along with strong state regulation provides adequate consumer protections. However, concerns about suitability, disclosure and marketing methods, however valid, are not the relevant criteria for determining whether a financial product is or is not a security. Properly structured indexed annuities do not share the same investment risk as investment products such as mutual funds and individual stocks, since with an indexed annuity the risk of a downturn in the related index rests with the issuer of the product and not the consumer. Index annuites provide the consumer with a product, that if classified as a security, the availablity of which will be severely reduced.

In my opinion indexed annuities should continue to be treated as insurance products, and the state insurance regulatory structure is the appropriate means for addressing the concerns raised by the SEC. The professional organization I belong to, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, is committed to working with the NAIC and state insurance commissioners towards the goal of having every state adopt and vigorously enforce the NAIC's model regulations on annuity suitability and disclosure. I also support NAIFA's recommendation that a state regulatory body be designated to develop standards for indexed annuity product design so that inappropriate indexed annuity products would be prevented from reaching the marketplace.

For these reasons, I urge the SEC to withdraw the proposed rule. Thank you for your consideration of my views on this matter.

Sincerely,

Stephen L. Harris, CLU, ChFC