A SPIA For Two Debuts

"The design contrasts with traditional period certain and single life and refund SPIAs, which have one annuitant and a beneficiary," he says. "It is also different from traditional joint contracts, which pay for the entire lives of both annuitants."

In this contract, it does not matter when the first annuitant dies, says Mettler, because the second annuitant payments start at the time of this death, whenever that occurs. By comparison, he says, with a traditional period certain and life annuity contract, no one knows when the annuitant is going to die, so the other party–the beneficiary–could receive little or nothing.

By limiting the survivor payment duration to 5 to 20 years, the design helps boost the annual income payout, as compared to traditional joint contracts, he says.

Maximum issue age, for the oldest annuitant, is 90. The policy can be issued with a single premium of $5,000 to $500,000. It is available in all states except New Hampshire.