What’s Behind the War on Variable Annuities?
January 22, 2019 By Jon Henschen, ThinkAdvisor Beyond the current fight over Ohio National trailing commissions, it seems that broker-dealers and regulators hate VAs; but for some investor clients, the security they offer makes them lovable. After the market carnage of 2008-2009, a number of advisors shared stories with me about clients who would literally kiss them in adoration, so grateful for the fact that their nest egg suffered no losses during this market turbulence because they were invested in variable annuities with living benefits. Clients like to make money. More importantly, they don’t want to lose money. Advisors who market principal protection often fulfill these objectives with variable annuities and fixed indexed annuities, which provide underlying guarantees. During the last two years, however, the regulatory environment has become increasingly hostile toward advisors that largely focus...