Subject: File No. S7-14-08
From: loren h japel

July 10, 2008

i encourage support of sec 151 A. i have been an insurance agent for 31 years and have never sold an indexed annuity and will never sell one.
my experience has been that the marketers of indexed annuities use them to compete against mutual funds and variable annuities. they are not licensed to sell securities but they give people advice to cancel investments which is financial advice in itself.
these marketers do not explain the downsides of indexed annuities such as having to annuitize the proceeds and the larger than average surrender penalties for cancelling the annuity.
Most of the people i have talked to are disappointed in the sales person who put them into the indexed annuity but cannot find that representative anymore because he or she has left the business.
the indexed annuity is probably the best example of an investment product that needs regulation and needs to be specially licensed to be marketed in the United States.