November 13, 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
I am a member of FPA and I support the proposed rule. I have been in the financial planning industry since early 1999. I am series 6, 63, 66 and 7 registered and am Life and Health Licensed in numerous states. I received the CFP® designation in 2006. One of the biggest obstacles that face some of the new clients that are referred to me is how are they going to get out of or at least income from the Equity Indexed Annuity (EIA) that the last three different agents sold them. I was referred a client from an attorney to review one of her clients investment accounts. When the client came to the office I found that they had been sold 5 different EIAs with no less than 10 year surrender terms. They were both planning to retire in about 3-4 years. That was not the worst of it. They were currently be solicited by another agent of another insurance company to 1031 all of those policies into one with the new company with a promise that they will be able to bonus them to make up all of their surrender costs and one convenient matter left out of the discussion was that fact that they were also moving from a 10 year surrender, which 1-2 years were already gone, to a new 15 year surrender term. In the mist of all of the confusion this older couple was sold an Equity Indexed Universal Life Insurance Policy were the uneducated agent first tried to 1031 one of the annuity policies into the life policy for the initial funding. All of these problems are not just unique to my client. These problems could be rectified with the proper oversight. These products are harder to understand and have little transparency. The rule is a reasonable and balanced approach to enhancing state enforcement efforts. Our vulnerable aging population needs additional protection from aggressive sales agents who all too often mislead customers regarding the benefits of an indexed annuity. They do not fully disclose liquidity risks, surrender charges, and other suitability factors are not always clearly disclosed or understood. Not all states have adopted suitability standards for annuity sales, nor do most insurance commissioners have adequate enforcement resources available. And to make a problem worse, some agents misrepresent themselves as offering a single retirement solution when in fact retirement planning is generally a complex planning process. It is time for a change and to uphold the rule.
Stephen Close, CFP®
Close Financial Services, Inc.
President/LPL Registered Representative
Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC