A New Annuity Selling System for Annuity Leads and Insurance Leads. Write at ...Allstate Corp. has agreed to pay former employees $4.5 million to end a 5- ...Allstate continues to deny that a hiring moratorium it adopted in 2000 as ... http://www.allstateannuityforms.com 2012-02-22T23:24:12+01:00 text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/annuities-101.html One of the four main varieties--an immediate annuity--can sometimes make sense. The rest? Not so much. TRADITIONAL DEFERRED FIXED ANNUITY How it works: An insurance company invests your money in bonds, crediting your account with a set portion of the interest. after a holding period, you have the option of receiving a guaranteed monthly sum for life. Bottom line: MONEY usually doesn't recommend these products, in part because they Tend to carry high surrender charges. VARIABLE ANNUITY How it works: You control how your money is invested--in stock funds or bond funds, for example--and your payments rise and fall along with the value of your account. Variables are riskier than fixed annuities but can pay more too. Bottom line: Generally an inferior choice, thanks mostly to high fees. INDEX ANNUITY How it works: This deferred fixed annuity pays interest tied to the performance of at least one stock market index. A cap (currently about 4.5%) limits how much you can earn each year. When you cash out, your account value is compared with a guaranteed minimum (usually 87.5% of your premium plus interest of 1% to 3%); you get whichever is higher. Bottom line: The negatives--including complexity, high expenses, and low returns--Outweigh the positives. IMMEDIATE ANNUITY How it works: A fixed annuity with no deferral period, it starts paying guaranteed lifelong income right away. Bottom line: Putting part of your portfolio into an immediate annuity can be a good idea if you're a retiree worried about outliving your money. text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/annuity-sales-increases-a-surprise.html Both fixed and variable annuities posted sales increases in June, and while that combo isn't quite as rare as summer snow, it was enough to raise eyebrows. "There's just so much instability out there, so many unknowns, that things have gotten quirky," says Scott Stathis, managing director of Kehrer-Limra. Annuity sales through financial institutions were $3.7 billion, a 7% increase from the prior month, according to the Kehrer-Limra Monthly Bank Annuity Sales Survey. Since the start of the year, total annuity sales in banks have surged 48%. And compared with June of last year, sales are 31% higher. June was also the first time since 2006 that both fixed and variable annuity sales through banks grew. The spike came after two months of declines, which is more typical. Variable annuities had a particularly stellar month, reaching $2.1 billion - the highest level since November 2007. Variable annuity sales through financial institutions have risen 69% since the beginning of 2011 and were 52% higher than in June 2010. "VA sales have been on a slow and steady upward trajectory for the last 18 months," Cappelletti says. "Although there have been short-term peaks and valleys, over the long term bank-sold VAs have performed well." Fixed annuity sales increased nearly 3% in June after two months of double-digit declines. Although the monthly growth rate was low, year-to-date fixed sales were up 28%. The year-over-year comparison was also favorable, registering a 12% advance, according to Kehrer-Limra. Interestingly, sales rose despite further deterioration in the average effective yield of five-year products, according to the Kehrer-Limra Fixed Annuity RateWatch. The spread between the yield on five-year CDs and the average effective yield offered by fixed annuities guaranteed for five years fell from 13 basis points in May to negative 9 basis points in June. This is the first time the rate spread has... text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/bank-annuity-income-resilient.html Last year was the worst year for bank-sold annuities in the past decade - yet banks' income from the products seems to have defied gravity, posting just a small decline. What's going on? It appears that banks have shifted significantly to a fee-based sales approach for the products, away from the old up-front commission model. "I think this is an increasing trend," said Michael White, the president of the research firm Michael White Associates in Radnor, Pa. Last year, total annuity sales through banks declined 25% from the previous year, which itself was down 18% from the year before that, according to another research firm, Kehrer-Limra of Windsor, Conn. The $33.2 billion of annuities that banks sold in 2010 was the lowest level since the $31 billion sold in 2000. Yet data from the Michael White-ABIA Bank Annuity Fee Income Report showed that income from annuities was down just 1.8%. In 2010, bank holding companies took in $2.57 billion from annuities sales, down from $2.62 billion in 2009, according to the report, which was released April 19. The report is based on data from all 6,927 commercial and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-supervised banks as well as 911 large top-tier bank holding companies. It appears that more of the annuity revenues accruing to bank holding companies are in the form of asset fees or trailer commissions, which make sellers less dependent on front-end commissions from new sales, according to Valerie Barton, executive director of the American Bankers Insurance Association, which sponsored the report. The biggest banks led the decline in annuity fees last year, the report indicated. Nearly three-fourths of bank holding companies with more than $10 billion of assets earned annuity commissions of $2.43 billion, a decrease of 2% from their $2.48 billion of annuity fee income in 2009. That category of banks constituted 94.4% of... text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/bank-sales-of-annuities-surge.html As banks and insurers compete in the lucrative retirement market, new numbers showed a marked uptick in the sale of annuities at bank holding companies in the first half. According to the Michael White-ABIA Bank Annuity Fee Income Report, annuity income earned by bank holding companies hit a record $1.53 billion in the first half. That's an increase of 25% from $1.22 billion earned in the first half of last year. The bank holding company annuity report is compiled by Michael White Associates and sponsored by the American Bankers Insurance Association. It is based on data from all 6,805 commercial and FDIC-supervised banks and 934 large top-tier bank holding companies operating on June 30, 2011. Of the 934 large bank holding companies 383, or 41%, participated in annuity sales activities during the first half. Wells Fargo & Co. led all bank holding companies in annuity commission income. Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Regions Financial Corp. rounded out the top five in the category of largest banks. Among bank holding companies with assets between $1 billion and $10 billion, leaders included Stifel Financial Corp., National Penn Bancshares Inc. and Old National Bancorp. Among bank holding companies with assets of $500 million to $1 billion, leaders were Northeast Bancorp, First Citizens Bancshares Inc., and Van Diest Investment Co. Banks were not the only ones whose annuity sales surged. In August, Limra International Inc. reported robust gains in annuity sales among life insurers. text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/four-rules-to-score-a-variable-annuities-win.html Americans are born with an instinctive desire to duck taxes. That explains how tax-deferred variable annuities have grown into a business with $140 billion in annual sales. Much of this investment is foolish, since the buyers are spending more in fees and sales commissions than they could possibly be saving in taxes. But if you know when and where to buy, you can come out ahead. A deferred annuity is a portfolio of stocks and bonds--a mutual fund, that is--to which is applied a thin veneer of life insurance. The tax code's favorable treatment of life insurance is enough to turn the product into something like an IRA. Annuity profits compound tax free until you take them out. That sounds marvelous, but remember two things. One is that an annuity delivers only a delay in a tax bill, not an elimination of it. The other is that there is no tax shelter so good that it cannot be destroyed by stiff fees. Melinda Steuer, a Sacramento, Calif. attorney who represents unhappy investors in lawsuits against annuity vendors, has seen many a policy costing 2.5% to 3.1% of assets annually. These fees are roughly four times what investors would pay at a low-cost vendor like Vanguard or Fidelity. Fidelity and Vanguard offer good deals because they do not pay commissions to anyone to hustle deferred annuities. They're more likely to talk you out of buying than into buying. In contrast, most of the suppliers in this industry--firms like Prudential, Jackson National and Lincoln National-- sell through experts skilled in persuading people to overpay for financial products. And why do people buy? They are so bedazzled by the idea of beating the IRS that they can't think straight. Also: The product is, or rather can be made to be, complicated. The most common complication is a money-back guarantee. If... text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/get-payouts-straight-from-your-401k.html FINANCIAL ENGINES, AN INVESTMENT ADVISER THAT MANAGES 401(k) accounts, recently introduced the first retirement-income strategy designed specifically for 401(k) plans. It combines a professionally managed retirement-income account with an optional annuity to provide guaranteed lifetime income later in retirement. Five years before you retire, Financial Engines will gradually reallocate your 401(k) portfolio into a bond-heavy mix that will reduce the risk of large stock market losses just before retirement. Then, when you're ready to start receiving payouts, it will manage the portfolio to create steady, reliable (but not guaranteed) income. The strategy involves investing the bulk of the portfolio in a bond ladder to create an income floor and allocating about 20% of the assets to stock funds to create growth potential. A small portion of the portfolio (about 15% of the assets) is set aside and invested in bond funds; that money may be converted to a lifetime annuity anytime up until age 85. The feature, known as Income+, is available at no additional cost to participants in Financial Engines' managed-account program. So far, Aon Hewitt, ACS, ING, J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services and Mercer have agreed to offer the new program to their clients this year. text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/holding-company-annuity-sales-jump.html Annuity fee income at bank holding companies shot up 28.4% in the first quarter, to more than $748.2 million, according to the Michael White-ABIA Bank Annuity Fee Income Report. In the year-earlier quarter, bank holding companies reported sales of $582.6 million. First-quarter annuity commissions rose 2.6% sequentially from the $729.5 million recorded in the fourth quarter. The report was released July 18. The $748.2 million in annuity sales income marks the most bank holding companies have garnered since the first quarter of 2007. The report, compiled by Michael White Associates and sponsored by the American Bankers Insurance Association, tracks annuity sales and commissions from 6,850 commercial and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-supervised banks and 942 top-tier bank holding companies. In the first quarter, 40% of the bank holding companies sold annuities. Their $748.2 million in annuity commissions and fees accounted for 11.9% of their total mutual fund and annuity income ($6.31 billion) and 15.8% of total bank holding company insurance sales volume ($4.73 billion). Of the banks surveyed, 12% sold annuities in the quarter, earning $204.2 million in annuity commissions, or 27.2% of the banking industry's total annuity fee income. Banks' annuity production rose 9.7% year over year. Seventy-four percent of bank holding companies with more than $10 billion of assets earned first-quarter annuity commissions of $708.3 million, constituting 94.7% of total annuity commissions reported by the banking industry, up 29.3% from $547.8 million in annuity fee income a year earlier. Bank holding companies with assets between $1 billion and $10 billion recorded a rise of 13.9% in annuity fee income. text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/keeping-your-money-safe-with-caveats.html The stock market's recent gyrations sent retirement investors scurrying for shelter. Galliard Capital Management's stable-value funds, offered in 401(k) and other retirement plans, drew more than four times the usual inflows in August. Investors in retirement plans administered by Wells Fargo moved $850 million into the funds that month, while at Aon Hewitt, a benefits manager, about $1 of every $5 transferred by plan participants was put in a stable-value fund. Why the stampede? In unpredictable times, stable-value funds seem like an unbeatable deal, offering better returns than money-market funds without the volatility of stocks. The average stable-value fund yielded 2.55 percent at the end of August compared with 0.02 percent for the average taxable money market fund, according to data from Hueler Cos. and iMoneyNet. In August the funds had a total return of 0.22 percent, compared with the 5.68 percent decline in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. Yet "investors should realize they're riskier than money funds" and may contain restrictions on transfers and withdrawals, says Jeff Elvander, chief investment officer for Aliso Viejo (Calif.)-based 401(k) Advisors, which consults for employers. Stable-value products come in several varieties and are engineered to preserve principal. Some stable-value funds hold short-term and medium-term bonds and buy insurance on their portfolios. This allows the funds to maintain principal and make interest payments when savers redeem their shares in down markets. Stable-value investments can also be insurance contracts such as annuities issued directly to a company plan. Overall there was about $540 billion invested in stable-value products as of December, according to the Stable Value Investment Assn. Investors in stable-value funds generally face restrictions on how or when they can transfer or withdraw their money. For example, investors usually can't move their money to competing investment options such as short- to intermediate-term bond funds for 90... text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/new-ways-to-pay-for-long-term-care.html These policies combine life insurance or an annuity with long-term-care protection. IN THE AFTERMATH OF WELLPUBLICIZED premium hikes for long-term-care insurance and the departure of some key insurers from the market, many consumers are skittish about buying coverage. But the need for protection isn't going away. The median cost of one year in a private room at a nursing home topped $77,000 in 2011, according to a recent survey by Genworth, and the cost is increasing at a rate of about 5% per year. Round-the-clock home care runs even more. If you don't want to buy -- or can't qualify for -- standalone long-term-care insurance, here are three other ways to protect your retirement savings from the potentially devastating cost of long-term care. And if you don't use the benefits for long-term care, the insurance goes toward a death benefit or an annuity. Life insurance combo policies. Several companies have introduced new policies that combine life insurance and long-term-care protection. You invest a lump sum or pay premiums for a limited time, and you're guaranteed to get either long-term-care payouts or a death benefit. For example, if a 55-year-old man invested $10,000 per year for ten years in Lincoln Financial's Money-Guard Reserve Plus policy, he'd have a pool of $320,000 in benefits to pay for long-term care, available as a monthly payout of $6,669 for up to four years. If he died without using the long-term-care component, his heirs would get about half of that -- $160,057 -- as a death benefit. Or, if he used some of the money for care, the death benefit would be reduced by the amount that was used to pay for his care. These policies may be appropriate for people in their fifties and sixties who still need life insurance but who also want protection against... text/html 2011-12-20T22:42:42+01:00 http://www.allstateannuityforms.com http://www.allstateannuityforms.com/general/prepare-your-portfolio.html HOW TO INVEST BEFORE AND DURING RETIREMENT TO GENERATE INCOME AND GROWTH Many preretirees leave their investment asset mix alone until the day they retire and then consider making changes. That proved to be a disastrous strategy for those who planned to retire in 2008 and 2009, as they watched the stock market plunge more than 50% (and much of their savings along with it). Here are some guidelines for how to rejigger your investments five years before you retire to protect your income for the first five years in retirement-and how to position the balance of your portfolio for growth for the next 25 years. FIVE YEARS BEFORE RETIREMENT PROTECT A PORTION OF YOUR INCOME STEP 1: ADD UP YOUR CURRENT SAVINGS List the value of all of your retirement accounts STEP 2: SEE HOW MUCH IT WILL GROW BY RETIREMENT Multiply by 1.28 (Assumes 5% annual growth) STEP 3: LIST MONTHLY CONTRIBUTIONS Include your contributions and any employer match STEP 4: ESTIMATE FUTURE VALUE OF CONTRIBUTIONS Multiply by 68 (Assumes 5% annual growth) STEP 5: PROJECT YOUR TOTAL SAVINGS AT RETIREMENT Add the amounts in steps 2 & 4 STEP 6: DETERMINE THE AMOUNT TO PROTECT NOW Multiply the amount in step 5 by 0.22 This is how much you should transfer now to create income for your first five years of retirement. You can use a five-year CD, stable value fund, or five-year fixed annuity. *To estimate how much annual income your projected savings would generate, multiply by 0.05. If that's not enough to supplement your Social Security benefits, see the accompanying article for ways to rescue your retirement. WHEN YOU RETIRE INVEST TO GENERATE INCOME AND GROWTH PURCHASE A FIVE-YEAR IMMEDIATE FIXED ANNUITY. Use the money you transferred to a fixed account in step 6 at left. This will create an income stream for your...