March 2010
The Popularity of Immediate Annuities
Single premium immediate annuities are experiencing a rebirth. The financial media — and even President Obama’s Middle Class Task Force — are highlighting the immediate annuity as a viable financial planning tool.
To help you make the most of this renewed interest, we’ve recently updated our immediate annuity sales materials and are working now to bring out a new, online quote-request tool.
The new system will be easy to use. You’ll just provide us a few details and a member of our sales support team will email you the requested illustration.
We’ll also be adding a quote tool in the Individuals area of our site. It will help consumers to understand how annuities work and see the potential they offer.
Look for more information about the new tools soon!
Sincerely,
Rich Lane
Director, Sales & Marketing
2010 IRS Required Minimum Distribution FAQs
In January, the annual IRS Required Minimum Distribution information packets were sent out to all qualified policyowners who would be age 70½ or older in 2010. Since then, we’ve been fielding questions regarding this information. Here’s a recap to help you answer your clients’ questions about this important annual requirement.
Take Notice of The Standard’s Renewal Rates
By Mark MacGillivray, Regional Sales Director
Recently one of our brokers called and said, “Mark, I just received my first renewal statement for your IGA. I had to call you because I was very impressed to see that my client’s renewal cap actually went up 2%!”
These types of calls are fun to receive from my perspective as a Regional Sales Director with The Standard. Over my career, I’ve worked for two of the largest fixed-annuity carriers in the country. Given the way most companies treat renewal rates, I didn’t receive many calls like the one above.
Are you in the habit of looking beyond the first-year rate on renewable annuities? It could pay off for your clients. Let’s look at two key points regarding renewal rates: accessibility and history for index annuity renewals and all the other non-MYGA annuities we issue.
Use of Professional Designations
Read about current best practices for professional designations in annuity sales.
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