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Insurer Rolls Out VA Withdrawal Guarantee Option

By Staff Writer

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Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company has introduced the Lifetime Focus variable annuity rider.

The GIAC rider guarantees a minimum amount of benefit withdrawals, according to GIAC’s parent, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America New York.

Purchasers of the new rider may be able to increase the amount of contract value protected each quarter for the first 30 contract years; roll the protected value up 5% during a year in which no withdrawals are made; and invest account value in portfolios that invest as much as 80% of their assets in stock, rather than bonds, Guardian says.

Guardian notes that consumers purchased earlier GIAC Lifetime and Spousal AssetAccess riders with about 55% of GIAC annuities sold during the fourth quarter of 2006.

The new GIAC rider is available in a single life and a spousal version, Guardian says.

Guardian is selling the rider with the Guardian Investor Income Access, Guardian Investor Asset Builder and Guardian CXC variable annuities.

The annual cost of the Lifetime Focus rider is about 0.60%, up to a maximum of 1.25%, for the single version, and 0.75%, up to a maximum of 1.25%, for the spousal version, of the “adjusted Guaranteed Withdrawal Balance.”

GIAC, Wilmington, Del., is responsible for backing the rider guarantees.