Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company added a new annuity to their SecureLiving Fixed Index Annuities suite of products. The SecureLiving Index 5 is a single premium, fixed deferred annuity with a 4 percent guaranteed minimum accumulation value meant to give clients an alternative option to CDs and Money Market accounts in this era of historically low interest rates.
The contract value is not only protected from downturns in the S&P 500 Index but also guarantees 104 percent of the premium when the surrender period ceases (less adjustments for withdrawals) no matter how the market behaves. At the outset of the second year of the contract, owners are able to withdraw 10 percent of the contract value each year without a surrender charge or market value adjustment. A bailout provision included in the product allows for the annuity owner to withdraw the whole contract value of the annuity without incurring a penalty as long as the declared annual cap strategy falls below the contract's bailout cap. The product has six interest-crediting strategies: two fixed rate options and four index crediting rate options.
In other insurance news:
Security Benefits Life Insurance Company announced an interest-crediting option for its Total Value Annuity. The Total Value annuity — one of the top-selling fixed indexed annuities in the country — will now be able to offer clients the Transparent Value Blended Index Account, which utilizes a proprietary process — Required Business Performance — to blend a large-cap stock index and U.S. Treasury index to mitigate the impact of equity market volatility while simultaneously increasing diversification and the potential to receive interest credits.
