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- From: bd670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Russell I. Dyreng)
- Newsgroups: misc.invest
- Subject: Re: Variable Annuity Life Insurance Plans...
- Date: 23 Nov 1992 23:32:53 GMT
- Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
- Lines: 53
- Message-ID: <1erpn5INN391@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu
-
-
- >I would appreciate some pointers on Life Insurance plans that I
- >have heard called "Variable Tax Deferred Annuity" plans. A
- >Prudential sales-critter is pushing us towards one. I am
- >self-employed and this seems like a good way to bury a little
- >cash white "covering my a**". Is this true?
- >
- >I know you have to look out for the "Modified Endowment"
- >clauses. Outside of that are there other things we should be
- >asking this guy?
- >
- >Are there other companies offering better plans than Prudential
- >has?
- >
- >What tax benefits / problems am I looking at?
- >
- >Thanks in advance,
- >Karl
-
- Some things that I would personally look at are:
-
- 1. The types of funds that you can move your money in and out
- of. Are they good, solid, well managed funds? Also in the same
- vein, do you have a variety of funds available? I would want
- one that allows me to move my money between stock funds, bond
- funds and money market funds, not just a variety of bond and
- balanced funds. I have understand that one time Prudential
- didn't offer a stock fund. I don't know if this is still the
- case, but I would check it out.
-
- 2. What types of loads and commissions are there? With
- annuities you particularly have to watch for back-end fees, such
- as surrender fees. Some companies charge as high as 10% in the
- first year, and then decline annually by one percentage point
- for the next TEN years. Most have some sort of a surrender fee.
- I would try to find one as low a surrender fee as possible, also
- one with a short term. You may not like the company, or even
- find a better deal after a while.
-
- I have noticed a direct correlation between the agressiveness
- of the sales person and the amount paid by the "stickee" in
- commissions.
-
- I know of a few companies that have reasonably good variable
- annuities with relatively low fees. I don't have them in front
- of me right now though. If you are interested, drop me a line.
-
- Good luck.
- --
- Russ
- bd670@cleveland.freenet.edu
- Remember-any advice that I give you may be worth exactly what
- you paid for it.
-