Guaranteed Living Benefit

Guaranteed living benefits (GLB) or living benefits are optional guarantees that can be embedded into variable annuity products. In the past, variable annuities could come with a guaranteed minimum death benefit (GMDB) which paid a minimum benefit upon death of the annuitant. Over the past decade, however, product development and innovation have flourished, and insurers offer income, accumulation, or withdrawal guarantees that can provide a significant measure of protection against market risk while the annuitant is alive. Some of these “living benefits” include: guaranteed minimum income benefit (GMIB); guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit (GMWB); guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (GLWB), and; guaranteed minimum accumulation benefit (GMAB). Guaranteed living benefits have proven to be incredibly popular. More than 95% of variable annuity sales in 2007 contained some form of living benefit. Guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits (GLWB) have proven to be one of the most popular guarantees.

Variable Annuity Sales Total $34 Billion During Third Quarter of 2010

Variable annuity sales in the United States increased 9.7 percent to total $34 billion during the third quarter of 2010. Variable annuity revenue figures continue to be concentrated among a handful of leading companies: Prudential Financial: $15.5 billion year to date. MetLife : $13.2 billion year to date. Jackson National Life: $10.47 billion year to date. TIAA-CREF : $10.42 billion year to date. Lincoln Financial : $6.6 billion. The total amount of variable annuity sales in the first 9 months...

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Annuity Product Persistency Levels are Increasing

Annuity persistency refers to whether people hold on to their existing annuity products or exchange them--typically through a Section 1035 exchange --for new products. Higher levels of persistency suggest that annuity owners are sticking with existing products which are likely more valuable than what would be available in the current market through an exchange.

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Glenn Daily on Buying Annuities and Why it Might Make Sense to Wait

Glenn Daily is one of the top financial advisors in the country.

Specializing in life insurance and annuities, Glenn is widely...

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How is the value of an annuity calculated once you have started to receive payments in order to determine the IRS required minimum distributions?

Great question.

We are not tax / financial advisors, but will try to provide some information that points you in the right direction and enables you to present good questions to your advisors.

The relevant section of the IRS code appears to be: Treas. Reg. section 1.401(a)(9)-6, Q&A12

Note that there appear to have been some relevant modifications to the IRS code in 2006.

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