November 13, 2008
My name is Craig J Ruffolo. I am a member of the FPA and support the proposed rule placing the supervision of Equity-Indexed annuities under the SEC. I began my career in financial services with the life insurance division of the Principal Financial Group. In addition to having a life/health insurance license, I earned my FLMI designation (Fellow, Life Management Institute). I also have my Series 7 and Series 65 licenses and have recently obtained the status as a CFP ® certificant. I have worked in financial planning now for 11 years.
I see the temptation of focused insurance professionals to have a product that feels more like an investment. I have also seen the wisdom of firms like the Principal Financial Group, who along the way of developing their own Equity Indexed Annuity but the supervision of the product under their investment division rather than their insurance division. It only makes sense since it sounds so much like a market-oriented investment to the general public. If it makes sense to the larger product distributors, it should only make sense for it to be regulated by the corresponding regulatory agency.
Thks Craig J. Ruffolo