November 14, 2008
My name is Jeff Hall and I am a member of the national chapter of the Financial Planning Association. I would like to say that I support the proposal allowing the SEC to oversee the sales of equity indexed annuities. I am licensed to sell securities and insurance and am also an investment advisor representative of a local firm here in Knoxville, TN.
* the rule is a reasonable and balanced approach to enhancing state enforcement efforts
* the vulnerable aging population needs additional protection from aggressive sales agents
* consumers are often mislead regarding the benefits of an indexed annuity
* liquidity risks, surrender charges, and other suitability factors are not always clearly disclosed or understood
* not all states have adopted suitability standards for annuity sales, nor do most insurance commissioners have adequate enforcement resources available
* some agents misrepresent themselves as offering a single retirement solution when in fact retirement planning is generally a complex planning process
* I also wonder if current agents selling these products would continue to recommend them to prospects if the commissions were not so high
Thank you,
Jeff Hall AIF®, CRPS