ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Legal Issues Surrounding an Aging Population
Many of the major shifts in American society in the last half century can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to the baby boomer generation. It’s been known for years that as that generation ages, it will lead to major changes in employment, social security, and other areas. One of those areas is elder law, as a wave of seniors will be starting to enter nursing care, make insurance claims, and receive payouts from annuities and other financial products. Elders, who on average hold the majority of the personal wealth in the United States, and are more likely to make large investments, are often seen as easy targets for unscrupulous brokers and sales-people. Individuals and companies that sell products like variable annuities, indexed annuities, life insurance, and long term care insurance are likely expecting a windfall in the coming years.
How to be safe with your money
Annuities and insurance sellers like to tell their potential clients that they are protecting their money by buying one of their products. They try to play up the risks of taxation and the ability of an indexed annuity or life insurance policy to shelter savings. Instead, what people end up paying for is a fat bonus for the broker, sometimes as much as 15% of the value of the annuity, hefty fees to access the money in an annuity, and surrender fees that may eat into your principal should you decide to take your money out. Before buying an annuity, it’s important not only to know exactly what it is that you are agreeing to, but also to discuss whether the policy is the right fit for your needs, preferably with a financial adviser who has no financial interest in selling you a policy.
Get independent advice
It’s easy to form a personal connection with your broker. They are often very friendly, personable, and seem interested in your life. They may well be genuinely nice people. But it is also a professional tactic to build a client base and to sell more products. Even when a salesperson genuinely believes they are selling you something that will help you, their perspective will be distorted by the thousands of dollars they will makes when you sign. In addition, companies that sell annuities and life insurance often write intentionally opaque documents, and brokers themselves often have trouble deciphering the policies. With this in mind, it is always advisable to speak with a financial advisor or attorney who doesn’t have any personal or professional connection with the situation to look over documents.
Companies that sell financial products to seniors:
Life Insurance
- John Hancock Life Insurance
- Transamerica Life Insurance
- The Prudential Insurance Company of America
- Lincoln Benefit Life Company
- Metlife Investors USA Company
- Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
- Genworth Life Insurance Company
- UNUM Life Insurance Company of America
- Reliastar Life Insurance Company
- ING Annuity and Life Insurance Company/VOYA
- Security Life of Denver Insurance Company (“Security Life”)
- ReliaStar Insurance Company (“ReliaStar”)
- ING Life Insurance and Annuity Company (“ING Life and Annuity”)
- ING USA Annuity and Life Insurance Company (“ING USA”)
Indexed Universal Life Insurance
- Pacific Life
- Aviva
- Athene
- Accordia
- Minnesota Life
- Aegon USA
- National Life Group
- Penn Mutual
- Old Mutual Financial
- Midland National Life
- Allstate Life
- NACOLAH Life
- Transamerica
- Nationwide
- Voya
Long Term Care Insurance
- John Hancock
- Transamerica
- Genworth
- Metlife
- Conseco
- UNUM
- Aegon
- Prudential
Contact Us
If you have questions regarding financial products such as annuities, life insurance, or long term care insurance, or believe that you may be the victim of a policy of these kinds, contact the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at info@evanslaw.com. Our firm handles insurance, annuity, and investment fraud, as well as healthcare fraud, qui tam and whistleblower cases, nursing home abuse, and financial and physical elder abuse.
