Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Retirement Planning > Retirement Investing

Phoeni Aims To Simplify Annuity Choices

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

A new line of variable annuities from the Phoenix Companies Inc. is part of a plan to make it easier for clients to buy its products, a company executive says.[@@]

“Our intent with the new product eventually is to take off the market some of our other kinds of products,” Mark Tully, a senior vice president of Phoenix, Hartford, says. “We’re attempting to simplify the choices.”

About 2 weeks ago, the company launched Phoenix Dimensions, a flexible-premium, deferred VA offering a wide range of living and death benefit riders.

Currently, Phoenix offers 7 other accumulation and income VAs, plus private-placement products for wealthy investors. Those are the choices it ultimately plans to thin down with Dimensions, which has a range of riders that allows advisors to tailor the product to client financial profiles. The riders present a number of guaranteed minimum benefits, including a assured income stream.

The company has not yet decided which of its current annuities it will discontinue, or when, Tully says.

Another part of Phoenix’s strategy is a new campaign to teach consumers about the role of VAs in retirement planning.

It designed 2 brochures that Tully says will help both advisors and their clients grasp the complexities of VAs, without specifically touting Phoenix products.

One brochure, “Your Retirement, Your Style,” is a general guide to VAs. The other, “Living Benefits,” explains how different types of guaranteed benefits can be used to protect retirement assets.

Both publications are available through Phoenix wholesalers.


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.