Defined terms for the annuity market and lifetime income landscape.
A C-share variable annuity is a share class of variable annuity that carries no surrender charge schedule — providing the contract owner with full liquidity from contract issue — in exchange for a higher ongoing mortality and expense charge than the surrender-charge-bearing share classes carry.
A cap rate is the maximum credit that an indexed annuity contract can receive from an underlying index over a specified crediting period, regardless of how much the index actually rises.
A cash refund annuity is a payout structure in which the insurer makes scheduled income payments for the contract owner's lifetime and, at the annuitant's death, pays any unrecovered portion of the original premium to a designated beneficiary as a single lump sum.
A cash refund option is a payment structure that pays income for the contract owner's lifetime with a guarantee that, if the total payments received before death are less than the premium paid, the difference is paid to a named beneficiary as a lump sum at the contract owner's death.
A CD annuity is a marketing label commonly applied to a multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) contract positioned as an alternative to a bank certificate of deposit, characterized by a contractually fixed crediting rate for a specified term, surrender charges, and insurance-product structure.
