by Larry Swedroe – MoneyWatch.com Q: I’m 43 years gold with two kids. In 2009, I opened an account for a variable annuity with an initial payment of $10,000. I’ve been putting in $500 per month. I have no idea how it really works. All I know is it will provide me a pension for [...]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined five bank broker-dealers a total of $1.65 million for deficient supervision and procedures related to variable annuity (VA), mutual fund or unit investment trust (UIT) transactions. Brokers at each of the firms operated out of branches of affiliated banks, selling VAs, mutual funds or UITs to bank [...]

A review of 10 of the largest variable annuity providers by Symetra Life Insurance found widespread increases in the fees charged to customers, reductions in guarantees and benefits offered under many riders and sometimes the elimination of an entire guaranteed living benefit offering according to Paul Menchaca in a brief article in financial-planning.com magazine, a [...]

Why would someone purchase an annuity? What goals would one have in order to want to purchase an annuity? How do you know if the insurance company is really a financially strong and sound company? Should you be looking at a fixed annuity? An Equity-Indexed Annuity? A Variable Annuity? A deferred annuity? An immediate annuity? [...]