Insurance

There are fewer insurance companies offering equity indexed annuity products. Thirteen insurers have exited the market since the end of 2008. Included among the exits are some better known names such as Principal Financial Group, Genworth Financial, Transamerica , Monumental Life and Protective Life. Many of the companies exiting the market have equity indexed sales that are not a significant part of their overall business. Looming regulatory changes which would require that equity indexed...

Retirement experts are working through the Retirement Security Project in Washington to develop concepts that would increase annuity ownership within 401k plans. Concepts include providing 401k participants with the ability to test drive annuities through an "automatic trial income strategy." In other words, at retirement about half of a person's plan assets would be placed in a trial income plan that would pay out a monthly annuity income for two years. Participants would then have the ability...

The financial crisis has begun to have an impact on something known as a charitable gift annuity or simply gift annuity. Tax deductible gifts to charitable organizations can be made in exchange for the promise of guaranteed, annuity-like payments from the charity to the donor. Some charities purchase insurance policies to fund the promised annuity payments while others simply rely on existing assets and the overall financial health of the organization. Not surprisingly, financial market turmoil...

Barrons--a weekly trade publication for the investment community--has written favorably on parts of the U.S. life insurance sector over the past several months. In particular, Barrons had singled-out perceived opportunities with shares of Hartford Financial Services Group and Prudential Financial. The publication remains bullish on several of the companies that were recently approved for TARP funds. In addition to Hartford and Prudential, Barrons has favorable views of Allstate and the...

Prudential Financial and Ameriprise Financial have both indicated that they will decline funds that are available to them through the U.S. Treasury's TARP program. $22 billion in TARP funds are available to six life insurers: Hartford Financial Services Group, Prudential Financial, Principal Financial Group, Lincoln National, Allstate and Ameriprise Financial. Hatford Financial Group is in the final stages of accepting $3.4 billion in funding while Lincoln National is likely to accept $2.5...