Two insurers have announced changes to variable annuity products.
Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Lansing, Mich., a unit of Prudential P.L.C., London, has added 5 "investment strategies" subadvised by the investment advisory unit of Standard & Poor's, New York, for buyers of annuities in the Perspective family.
The strategies include a screen for 30 stocks with a favorable combination of return on capital and valuation multiples; a screen that selects 30 stocks by choosing 3 companies with the highest indicated annual dividend yield from each of 10 sectors; a screen that chooses 30 large stocks using S&P quality rankings and credit ratings; a screen that selects stocks based on total yield figures; and a screen that blends use of the other 4 screens.
Jackson National also has added the LifeGuard Select guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit, which offers a 7% bonus for each year over a 10-year period, if no withdrawals are taken in that year, and the FutureGuard 6 guaranteed minimum income benefit, which offers annual withdrawals up to 6% of the "roll-up component of the benefit base, without reducing the benefit base."
