November 14, 2008

Subject: File No. S7-14-08

I'm writing to you today as a financial planner and as a member of the Financial Planning Association who supports the Equity-Index Annuity Rule. This product needs the oversight of the SEC to prevent many of the abuses I see when it is sold. The public, especially the elderly, fall prey to aggressive salesmen who don't have the interests of their customer at heart. The SEC, in conjunction with the states, needs to protect the uneducated and unsuspecting public from these sellers. This product is complicated enough that consumers (and many professionals) do not understand its intricacies with regards to surrender charges, suitability, liquidity and other risks. We need the SEC to be involved to prevent more people from being sold an unsuitable product for them.

Yours,

Ellen Willand

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Ellen M. Willand, MBA, CFP