Expenses should be a top priority for any financial services consumer.  Many people have been conditioned to be aware of expenses when it comes to investment products.  Indexed-bases investment management companies such as Vanguard have contributed greatly to this awareness by consistently demonstrating the detrimental impact that expenses have on investment performance over time, and how actively managed and more expensive mutual funds actually tend to underperform their index-based peers.

MetLife recently announced the launch of a simple, low cost variable annuity called Simple Solutions.

The Simple Solutions variable annuity will be sold through banks and is intended to address retirees and near-retirees in the range of 60-80 years of age.

Features and highlights include:

Annuities are products that combine insurance and, in the case of variable annuities, asset management.  Costs are absolutely critical, so definitely ask you financial advisor to spell-out the costs for each of the items discussed below.

It depends upon whether it is a fixed annuity or a variable annuity.  Costs are a critical situation, so definitely ask you financial advisor to spell-out the costs for each of the items discussed below.