Subject: File No. S7-14-08
From: Betty Goodwin

August 21, 2008

I work with seniors and the Baby Boomers, and I find that they are worried about being at the end of their accumulation stage in life and are now in the preservation stage of their life. It changes a persons "risk tolerance' and perspective when they don't have time to recoup their losses.I helped a man whom was 60 and the mutual funds he had invested in crashed and he was genuinely AFRAID he would outlive his money. I assisted him with annuities and he told me he now can sleep better. He now knows the worst case scenario EXCEPT if he should have a HUGE emergency and need to liquidate--he realizes his surrender penalties are steep. He also realizes that he has other avenues to use in a pinch and can get to 10% with no penalty. What would happen if he needed his money on that same HUGE emergency and had to cash in on a day when the market was way way down? Which would you rather have the options of lifetime income and the knowlege of exactly what your early penalty is or take your chance on the market? This bill would hurt our seniors who are looking to PROTECTION not market downturn. Many clients have told me that their securities representative told them just hold on its bound to come back up. How long will it take for them to be where they were to start with? Also are there any other products that offer a guaranteed lifetime income anywhere? I think we better take that into consideration since approximately 155 of seniors are living to 100. If they use CD's or mutual funds--could they outive their income--darn tootin they could--but with annuities they can sleep at night knowing they will not outlive their money. Even you SEC can see the value in that.