ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Agents Target Seniors For Unsuitable Insurance Or Investments
Beware The Hype And Get A Second Opinion
“Free lunch” investment seminars may be on hold right now during the pandemic but insurance agents still have products to sell, some of which may be unsuitable for seniors. Our financial elder abuse lawyers have seen seniors lose money on unsuitable deferred annuities and certain types of misleading life insurance contracts and recommend caution when an agent tries to sell you these kinds of products. The Marin County financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. represent senior consumers who lose money on deferred annuities and misleading life insurance policies due to fees, undisclosed or misleading information, withdrawal charges, botched replacement transactions, and tax bills. If you or someone you know is over 60 and lives in Marin or elsewhere in California and has lost money on an indexed annuity, call us today at 415-441-8669 or Toll Free at 1-888-503-8267.
Certain deferred annuities and life insurance contracts may work quite differently in practice from the promises made by selling producers. Here are just some of the considerations senior consumers should take in mind before an sale to them:
Surrender charge. Almost every deferred annuity and certain forms of universal life insurance will have penalties for withdrawals of all or any part of your money for a period of years. Surrender periods may last as long as ten years and charges in the early years can be as high as 15%. This can really hurt a senior who may need to withdraw his or her money for medical expenses or increased care costs.
Tax bills and penalties. Withdrawals from annuities are taxable, typically at ordinary rates. And every annuity transaction has tax consequences, not just withdrawals. Exchanges and replacements may incur tax bills too so always consult your tax advisor before entering into any deferred annuity transaction.
Dividends don’t count. Although you may select a stock fund for all or part of your deferred annuity, dividends on the stocks held in the selected fund are not included in calculating your gain or reinvested as in a mutual fund performance.
Caps and participation rates. Annuity carriers set caps on your returns and participation percentages that limit your return to a portion of the gains made in the chosen index. Direct investment in the index would not be subject to these limitations.
Insurance company failure. Many indexed annuities promise to make payments many years into the future. Annuities are not federally insured like bank deposits and CDs. The promise to pay is only as good as the ability of the insurance company to do so in the future.
Always consult an investment professional with nothing to gain from a sale if you are considering an annuity and always consult your tax advisor before you purchase, surrender or exchange an annuity because as mentioned above every deferred annuity transaction has tax consequences.
Contact Us
If you are over 60 and live in California and have lost money on a deferred annuity or indexed universal life insurance contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other Evans Law Firm financial elder abuse, annuity and life insurance attorneys at (415) 441-8669, Toll Free at 1-888-503-8267, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. California law provides injured seniors with restitution (getting your money back), extra damages (to punish the fraudulent conduct) and awards of attorneys’ fees and costs to the senior forced to bring an action against the wrongdoers. Our attorneys have experience with complex financial contracts and large insurance companies. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
Leading providers and distributors of life insurance and fixed, variable and fixed indexed deferred annuities in California are listed below. We are not in any way suggesting that any of these carriers or distributors has done anything wrong. Rather, the list is provided solely as a reference for our readers.
AIG/American General Life Insurance Company
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America
American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company
American General Life Insurance Company/AIG
American International Group, Inc. (AIG)
American National Life Insurance Company
Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company
Athene Annuity and Life Company
Athene USA
Aviva Life Insurance Company
AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company/AXA US
AXA Advisors, LLC
Brighthouse Financial, Inc./MetLife
EquiTrust Life Insurance Company
Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company
Genworth Financial, Inc.
Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company
Genworth Life Insurance Company
Guggenheim Partners, LLC
Guggenheim Partners/Security Benefit Life Insurance Company
ING USA Annuity and Life Insurance Company
Jackson National Life Insurance Company
John Hancock Life Insurance Company
Lincoln Benefit Life Company
Lincoln Financial Group
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
Metlife/Metropolitan Life Insurance Company/Brighthouse Financial, Inc.
Minnesota Life Insurance Company
Nationwide Investor Services Corporation (NISC)
Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company
Nationwide Life Insurance Company
New York Life Insurance Company
Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company
Pacific Life & Annuity Company
Pacific Life Insurance Company
PacLife
Security Benefit Corporation
Security Benefit Group, Inc.
Security Benefit Life Insurance Company/Guggenheim Partners
Security Investors, LLC
Security of Denver Life Insurance Company/Voya
Transamerica Life Insurance Company
Voya Financial Advisors
Voya/Reliastar Life Insurance Company
World Financial Group Insurance Agency, Inc.
