NU Online News Service, March 17, 2004, 1:22 p.m. EST – A unit of Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, New York, has introduced a variable annuity and an income guarantee rider.[@@]
Guardian is issuing the products, the Guardian Investor Asset Builder variable annuity and the optional guaranteed minimum income benefit rider, through its Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company Inc. unit.
The new Asset Builder annuity offers a variety of investment vehicles, asset-allocation tools and death benefit choices.
A customer who buys the Asset Builder annuity or Guardian’s existing Guardian Investor Income Access variable annuity can choose to pay an extra fee for the income guarantee rider.
Guardian Insurance, which backs the guarantees, will determine the amount of guaranteed income by applying a conservative annuity rate to the annuity’s “guaranteed income base.”