You’re probably familiar with the old saying, “He who fails to plan is planning to fail.” It seems true enough. Whether it’s hosting a birthday party, building a house or preparing for retirement, you wouldn’t think of walking through life with your eyes closed hoping for the best.
We spend time each day planning for what’s to come in the next. But what are we to do when life throws us a curveball and the unexpected is knocking on the door? When it comes to preparing for a future of unknowns, having access to a pool of benefits can mean the difference between sinking and swimming.
Fortunately for your clients, they can turn to you for help. And fortunately for you, you have access to the new ATHENE Benefit 10SM fixed indexed annuity and Enhanced Benefit Rider available from Athene Annuity and Life Assurance Company. With this powerful annuity and rider combination, you can give clients the ability to access the benefits they need when they need them. This flexibility, in turn, makes it easier to confidently plan for retirement, even as retirees face a growing challenge of preparing for longer, healthier, more active lives than any generation before them.
A solid core to stay afloat
At the heart of the Benefit 10 annuity and benefit rider are a number of features that present it as a competitive package in today’s market. It offers a 6% premium bonus credited on day one of the contract on a 10-year chassis. A $10,000 minimum premium is required using either qualified or nonqualified funds through issue age 80. Clients can allocate monies to any of the three interest crediting methods available: a fixed account with a five-year guaranteed rate, a monthly point-to-point strategy tied to the S&P 500® or a yearly point-to-point strategy also tied to the S&P. More importantly, the product currently offers competitive caps and rates for the client and a strong commission with trail options for you the producer.
In addition to these mainline benefits, clients can grow the asset with the 8% simple interest roll-up of the annual benefit base. As the benefit base grows, it is the amount used to calculate rider benefits. The annuity and rider combo is offered by Athene Annuity, a company built on a foundation of stability and disciplined risk management. Previously, Athene Annuity was known as RBC Insurance and Liberty Life Insurance Company. Athene’s insurance-experienced leadership is poised to continue developing income and benefit-oriented solutions that will help boomers fund a stable and secure retirement for themselves and subsequent generations, too. By creating the unique Enhanced Benefit Rider with the Benefit 10, they are already showing signs of the continued success that is to come.
Five unique life preservers
To help combat five common enemies of a secure retirement, the Enhanced Benefit Rider features five “life preservers” that can help clients address the uncertainty and added cost that comes hand in hand with an increased number of golden years. The first of these is the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit (GLWB). After all, the annuity and rider package is foremost purchased for creating an income your clients can’t outlive. Clients will probably want to incomitize the rider within the first 10 years because that’s when the roll-up period ends. To enjoy bigger income checks, clients can also take advantage of an Early Income Bonus of up to 10%. It’s more “insurance” on income for life for those who begin Lifetime Withdrawals prior to the eighth contract anniversary. But what happens if a client becomes unable to perform some of the activities of daily life, is confined to a healthcare facility or is diagnosed with a terminal illness? The rider has it covered.
The second preserver is the Enhanced Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit. If a client becomes unable to perform two of the six activities of daily living (ADLs) once age 50 or older and the contract has been in force for five years, he or she can increase the lifetime withdrawal amount by 50%. The third in the pool of benefits is for clients who are confined to a health care facility or hospital for more than 180 days after age 50. These clients are eligible to receive the full benefit base paid out over five years. Fourth, if a terminal illness is diagnosed with a life expectancy of 12 months or less, the benefit base can be paid out over five years. Access to these additional funds if the unexpected occurs could be the difference between care and regret, given the continual increases in costs associated with health, daily living and long-term care. In fact, a recent Wall Street Journal article summarized that costs in a number of elder health care categories have risen faster than inflation over the past year, with the average monthly rent at an assisted living facility at $3,468, up 17% over the past five years.1 Having the ability to access these benefits when clients need them could provide the peace of mind they desire.
Last, but certainly not least, is the preserver that allows clients to preserve the value of the benefit pool by passing the remainder to beneficiaries after death. This can be done one of two ways: the remaining benefit base can be paid over five years, or a lump sum can be paid, which would be the greater of 70% of the benefit base, the accumulation value or the minimum guaranteed surrender value (MGSV).
Preparing for the future is no easy task, but having the flexibility to react to whatever may come can help clients face life in retirement with the confidence to go after their dreams and goals. The ATHENE Benefit 10 with Enhanced Benefit Rider could be just what you need to cover any gaps in your sales “locker” for making that happen.