August 12, 2008
The SEC's proposed ruling to regulate FIXED INDEXED Annuities goes beyond any powers conferred upon the SEC. FIXED INDEXED Annuities (there are no such thing as an Equity Index Annuity) are not securities and are governed and regulated quite effectively by the individual State's Departments of Insurance. The securities industry should attempt to model an such an effective regulator.
These programs are insurance products that provide all the guarantees inherent to an insurance contract. The persons to whom we discuss this option, are savers not investors and if the individual makes the decision to utilize these vehicles, they do so with their SAVINGS.
Retirees, Senior Citizens, older Americans - by whatever name anyone chooses to call them - are savers NOT Investors. It might serve the SEC to come to grips with this tenet.
It's particularly comical - but not funny - that the commissioners chose to view Dateline's "Tricks of the Trade" expose as justification for proposing this rule. In Mr. Hansen's quest to "sell" his story, under the guise of responsible journalism, he and his co-horts insulted every professional, as well as the American public, villifying some fine individuals. Now, two wrongs make a right.
The SEC does not have the expertise, nor the proper values to deny access to alternative savings vehicles and should spend the time trying to carry out the duties of protecting their own investors.
The insurance industry has set the standard for determining proper suitability and ONLY recommending those strategies which assist the individual saver in meeting the goals that are important to them.
The securities industry has done such a wonderful job for the Manufacturing Industry (are there any manufacturing jobs left) and the banking industry (SIV, CDO's, ARS's). The american people will not allow them to take away their last bastion of safety.
The SEC ws created to protect the American public from fraudenent practices, not deny them SAFE alternatives. Start earning your pay and start practicing some integrity.
If you want to clean up the abuses in your own industry, start modeling your activities after the Insurance Industry