New Product: Fixed Index Annuity with Liquidity Rider

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North American Company for Life and Health Insurance has released the NAC VersaChoice 10, a fixed- index annuity with an optional rider that allows clients to have more access to more of their money sooner, the first of its kind on the market, according to the company.

“Retirement savers want three fundamental things when evaluating a vehicle for their retirement money,” said Rob TeKolste, president, Sammons Independent Annuity Group. “First, they want growth potential, second they want downside protection from market drops, and the third thing is having access to their hard-earned dollars in emergencies. The advantage of the NAC VersaChoice 10 fixed index annuity is that it offers all three of these benefits.”

The optional rider, called the enhanced liquidity benefit (ELB), has four features that provide access to the money in the annuity. An annual fee equivalent of 0.50 percent of the contract owner’s accumulated annuity value applies to the ELB rider. “With the ELB rider, we’ve enhanced two basic annuity features, which include the penalty-free withdrawals benefit as well as the return of premium benefit,” TeKolste said.

TeKolste also recognized the need to access retirement savings if a health event leaves a client unable to perform some of the basic activities of daily living. “We built in two additional liquidity benefits to access if you are permanently unable to complete two of the six activities of daily living,” he said. Initial eligibility for these liquidity benefits, and the trigger to turn those benefits on, are based on six activities of daily living – no underwriting or medical exam is required.

In a fixed index annuity, the performance of the account is tied to market performance but is not an actual investment in the stock market. Fixed-index annuities offer participation for some of the market’s growth in up times but protection in down times. The premium used to purchase the index will never be at risk of decreasing due to market losses.

For more information, visit www.northamericancompany.com.