Sagicor Life Insurance Company is part of the Sagicor Group that was founded in 1840 and is one of the world's oldest insurance companies. Sagicor Life Insurance Company that aims to provide customers with Wise Financial Thinking For Life is licensed to offer its products in 45 States including the District of Columbia. The company offers individuals a range of financial solutions that include life insurance, annuities and combination products. A brief overview of products from Sagicor Life Insurance Company is as follows:

American Equity Investment Life Insurance is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Equity Investment Life Holding Company--a company that develops, markets, issues and administers annuity and life insurance products.

American Equity is licensed to sell insurance and investment products in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

American Equity products fall into the following categories:

Fixed Indexed Annuities

Fixed Annuities

Life Insurance

The tough thing about classifying annuities is that the three common features described in the previous chapter can be mixed and matched to create a bewildering array of options.

For the purpose of simplicity, the following is a list of annuity types at the highest, most basic level.  The next chapter provides a full list that includes all of the different permutations.

Immediate Annuity

1) The money goes in “immediately” as a single premium payment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed Rule 151A would change the securities status of indexed annuities from fixed insurance products to registered, securities products.

The proposed rule would have a significant impact on their entire industry landscape.  SEC 151A would affect the way in which insurance companies develop fixed indexed annuity (FIA) products, how distributors sell the products, and ultimately the manner in which consumers purchase FIA products.

Total sales of fixed indexed annuities reached $8.3 billion during the second quarter of 2009.

This represents an increase of 18.3% from the previous quarter and an increase of 21.2% from the same period a year ago.

The sales momentum comes despite industry headwinds which include fewer insurance companies and fewer product offerings.

Aviva was the top insurance company in the space with a 20% market share while the top selling indexed annuity product was the MasterDex X from Allianz.

Source: National Underwriter

Concerned about the possibility of another market swoon?

Take a look at some of the living benefits features that can be attached to most variable annuity products to hedge market risk and lock-in a floor of income.

How about inflation risk?

Buy a fixed annuity with inflation protection.

How about capturing a portion of the market upside while also having downside protection?

This is the first part of an interview with Wharton Professor David Babbel.

Professor Babbel led the fixed indexed annuity study that is discussed in several previous posts on Annuity Digest.  These posts can be accessed by clicking here.

Part 2 of this interview will be posted later this week.  Annuity Digest would like to thank Professor Babbel for spending time with us for the interview.

The annuity industry is a large and increasingly important part of the financial services landscape.  Millions of Baby Boomers are retiring and will be in need of stable sources of income and protection from longevity risk.

Given the industry’s size and importance, the lack of positive press, prevalence of negative press, and general misunderstanding of the products is truly staggering—just tune in to any Suze Orman show that involves a question on variable annuities.