Defined terms for the annuity market and lifetime income landscape.
Group self-annuitization is a pooled arrangement in which a group of individuals — typically a cohort of similar age and circumstance — collectively converts savings into lifetime income by sharing mortality experience, without transferring longevity risk to an insurer or sponsor.
Guarantee charge, in the cost-structure sense, is the cost-structure value that applies to lifetime income arrangements where the insurer's cost is charged as a separate disclosed fee for an embedded guarantee, layered on top of the underlying contract structure.
A guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (GLWB) is a rider attached to a deferred annuity — most commonly a fixed indexed annuity — that guarantees the contract owner the right to withdraw a specified percentage of a defined benefit base each year for life, in exchange for a rider charge.
A guaranteed living benefit (GLB) is an umbrella category of riders on deferred annuities that provide contractual guarantees to the contract owner during their lifetime — guaranteed lifetime withdrawals, guaranteed lifetime income, guaranteed minimum accumulation — distinct from death benefits.
A guaranteed minimum accumulation benefit is a living benefit rider on a variable annuity that guarantees the account value will equal at least a specified minimum — most commonly the original premium — at the end of a defined waiting period, regardless of investment performance.
