November 16, 2008
I am a Certified Financial Planner™ working with a firm that has about 700 clients. I am a member of the Financial Planning Association and fully support the proposed rule on Indexed Annuities.
I have worked in the employee benefit and financial planning fields for over 30 years and have in-depth experience with annuities. When used in the right situations, they are a very appropriate product as part of an overall financial plan. However, currently there are numerous examples of where annuities are sold by insurance agents to customers who are not aware of what they are buying, its costs or whether it fits into their overall plan (in many cases because the insurance salesperson has no qualifications to make a broad financial planning assessment). Current state regulation is inconsistent. The proposed SEC rule is both reasonable and balanced.
I encourage the SEC to adopt File No. S7-14-08: Rule on Indexed Annuities. Thank you for the opportunity to provide input. If you have any questions, you can contact me via email or at the number below.
John M. Burns, FSA, CFP®
JMB Financial Planning