November 13, 2008
To all concerned:
My name is Troy Sockler and I live in Colorado. I have been securities licensed and life/health licensed for over twenty years. I AM VERY MUCH IN FAVOR OF ADDITIONAL OVERSIGHT AND REGULATION for the Equity Index Annuity marketplace.
To let you know where I stand I must say that I have sold EIA contracts to several of my financial planning clients. There is a place for these products in certain financial planning situations. The abuse of these products is where a “salesperson” goes to the consumer, has the consumer lay out all of their financial products and then asks “How much of this are willing to lose?” of coarse the consumer says that they don’t want to lose any of the investments to which the salesperson agrees and advises that all monies should go into the Equity Indexed Annuity. The fact that the salesperson receives a hefty commission is never discussed. Note that I refer to a “salesperson” and not a “trusted advisor” because most of the people selling these products are committed to the financial planning process and either have never been securities licensed or have given up their securities license. They do not want oversight and accountability. They want to make the sale and move on to the next.
Thank you for your attention
Troy D. Sockler