Allianz Life announces new Indexed Variable Annuity

September 18, 2013 at 10:25 AM
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Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) recently announced the launch of the Allianz Index AdvantageSM (Index Advantage).

The indexed variable annuity allows investors who are embattled in the low interest rate environment an opportunity for growth as well the comfort of protection.

Indexed Advantage seeks to balance growth while maintaining some element of downside protection all while offering unique product benefits.

Unlike variable annuities with Guaranteed Minimum Accumulation Benefits and waiting periods up to 10 years, the Index Advantage contains the opportunity for benefits to be protected every year. The product differs from fixed indexed annuities (FIAs) by increasing the amount of return potential by having higher cap limits on the interest credit coming from the growth of an equity index in exchange for less protection.

Another difference between the Indexed Advantage and FIAs is that protection is offered from the first 10 percent of losses per year compared to guarantees of no losses with traditional FIAs .

The product is currently approved in 43 states and contains two strategies: The Index Performance Strategy and the Index Protection Strategy.

Available indexes for the product are the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Index Russell 2000.

The Guardian Insurance and Annuity Company, Inc. (GIAC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Guardian Life Insurance Company (Guardian) announced the launch of several fund enhancements to The Guardian Choice and The Guardian Advantage fund line-ups.

Designed to increase investment options, flexibility and breadth of asset classes for plan sponsors using these options in their qualified retirement plans, Guardian has added 24 new funds to The Guardian Choice, bringing the total to 127. The Guardian Advantage gained five new funds, bringing the total to 99.

Guardian's new fund offerings give plan participants who prefer the 'Do-it-for-me' approach a wider range of options that allow them to tailor their investments to their specific risk tolerance.

Jefferson National recently announced that their Monument Advisor flat-fee variable annuity (VA) now includes 119 subaccounts with the 5-star Morningstar Rating and 80 subaccounts with the 4-star Morningstar Rating.

The combined 119 accounts are more than 10 times the industry average.

The Monument Advisor VA offers the industry's largest selection of underlying funds from companies such as PIMCO, Invesco, Janus and Putnam.

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