September 10, 2008
As an independent producer, my comments may seem a bit biased but I feel changing the status of Fixed Equity indexed Annuities to a securities product is WRONG, and Misleading to the public/industry.
Fixed annuities are Insurance products that are regulated by state dept. insurance comm. by it's nature an insurance product will be safe. The industry that has lost Trust/Mislead the public is Wall Street/Brokerage Firms, and Mutual Fund carriers.Those produts have lost people/small business millions of dollars and wrecked peoples retirement.Annuities is SAFE and the only complaint(micro. compared to the above products) have been Surrender charges(sometimes not being fully disclosed),those issues are being addressed by carriers as we speak. I feel the brokerage community is the Big lobby to push this thru, in order for them to significantly reduce alternative options.
I hope you listen to the Insurance industry an leave Fixed annuities as is, and let them continue to regulate. If any annuity needs to be regulated it should be Variable Annuities.
Regards,
C. Jackson