November 13, 2008

Subject: File No. S7-14-08

Dear Sir,

I am writing in favor and in support of the proposed Equity-Indexed Annuity Rule allowing for SEC oversight of indexed annuity sales in addition to the state oversight by insurance commissioners.

I have been active in the financial service industry for over 25 years. I am a member of NAPFA (National Association of Personal Financial Advisors) and the FPA (Financial Planning Association). I have served as an expert witness in cases where annuities were sold in unsuitable and imprudent situations. I have personally seen the losses many unsuspecting consumers have had to endure due to the abuses sales people have perpetrated in the sale of these complicated products.

Increasingly, with the aging of the population, I am seeing a growth in the abuse of sale practices in the sale of these products to retirees who have no idea what they are buying. These products are extremely complicated even to a trained, experienced professional. How in the world is an ordinary consumer going to be able to understand them?

These annuities are typically loaded with liquidity risks, excessive surrender charges, and high expenses that erode any hope of them ever delivering any meaningful rate of return. The insurance company issuing the annuity and the annuity sales person are the only real winners. The consumer being sold the annuity is generally the loser as well as the one paying the price.

I speak in support of the Equity-Indexed Annuity Rule as a means to help curb these abusive sales practices and the misleading tactics that I am increasingly seeing being targeted on the elderly.

Respectfully,

John E. Bergland, Jr.

John E. Bergland, Jr., M.Div., M.C.E., CFP®, AIF®
NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor