July 30, 2008
I have been in the Insurance industry for over 35 years and most of the issues that have threatened the survival of the agents has been up to agent organizations. The large insurance companies have never fought any of our battles and I guess they are not about to start now. There are many hardworking ,honest agents that will be put out of business if this fiasco happens. The reality is that this is like all things about Money and Power. The broker dealers and brokerage houses simply want to control the sale and make money on a product that is a pure insurance product. I'am 68 years old and have substantial IRA funds in a fFixed Indexed Annuity. I lost 25% of my funds when invested in a Variable Annuity and find the Fixed Indexed Annuity the safe harbour for my funds and many of my clients funds.
At a time of such financial turmoil it is a shame the dpeople who have worked hard will be displaced and there clients will be thrown to the dogs.
FINRA (neat made up name) is a joke they don't help people in distress just throw there weight around. I recently visited with a very humble senior couple that have worked their entire lives at low paying honest jobs. They had accumulated a large amount of money in Capito One Bank in CD's. They were called by a bank registered rep and told they could do much better with their money and were sold several Variable Annuities. These people have absolutely no idea about any financial options. Since ther bank called the moved ther Money and have lost over half of ther funds. They were referred to FINRA and received a package of information that would scare away anyone. They would have to travel at ther own expense from Pearl River louisiana the Tampa Fla. and pay all of ther own expenses and were assured that it might all be for naught. Why don't you spend some energy with people like these and doing some real good instead of having a Turf Fight that will hurt a lot of innocent people.
Sincerely,
Robert S. Belknap CLU