Subject: File No. S7-14-08
From: Christine Scherr
Affiliation: President of Scherr Service, Inc.

September 10, 2008

As both a consumer and the owner of my own company, I am all in favor of efforts to improve sales practices to insure that all sales are suitable for the consumer. However, proposed SEC Rule 151A is unnecessary and that the protection for clients is already in place and this has the potential to negatively impact not only the insurance companies and agents, but consumers as well.

Indexed annuities are fixed products that, like a traditional declared rate fixed annuities, guarantee a minimum interest crediting rate and provide the opportunity to earn interest credits in excess of that guarantee. While both products expose the consumer to fluctuating levels of annual excess interest credits, in both cases the consumer has no risk of loss of premium or prior credited interest unless the policy is surrendered during the surrender period in which case a surrender charge may apply.

This securities regulation will add little benefit to consumer protection. Both the design and sale of annuities are highly regulated by state insurance departments as are the companies who manufacture and sell them.

The guarantees provided by an indexed annuity offer consumers significant protection against investment risk. With the DJIA suffering a decline in excess of 20% from its October 2007 record, the fixed index annuity purchaser is protected and will not lose any principal due to such market performance.

By taking away the ability for independent insurance agents who are state licensed to sell these products and requiring that only registered representatives or SEC-licensed broker-dealers have access will dramatically change the sales process and the availability of these products to consumers.

As an independent business owner, a licensed insurance agent and the owner of 3 fixed indexed annuities myself, I see this as a detriment to consumers. They will have much more limited access to a product that has its place in financial planning for many, many people.

It is not just the matter of getting licensed to become a registered representative or the cost to do so. Once licensed as a rep, there are ongoing costs to maintain that status and as a good business person, I will have to evaluate the financial impact of that committment. Many, independent agents may decide that it is not worth the investment in the long term if they are only interested in the fixed index market. This will leave much less access for the public to employ the benefits of a fixed index annuity in their own retirement planning.

At a minimum, I would like to see SEC Chairman Cox extend the comment period for additional input.

Sincerely,

Christine Scherr