The DOL Fiduciary Rule proposed exemption for Equity Indexed Annuities is out of step with other government pushes to add income annuities in 401(k) and other retirement plans.
If 401(k) plans offer annuities, their income stream would be far greater than all EIA’s I’ve ever seen - by a large margin. The DOL proposed exemption to Equity Indexed Annuities means that EIA providers will sell rollovers from higher-quality fiduciaries, to EIA salespersons and non-fiduciaries whose low-quality income streams are far less.
I’ve personally seen situations where a couple could have ½ to 2/3 more income from higher quality annuities.
I've also seen EIAs that limit growth in 2017 to 1.25-1.5%.
As a fiduciary, I’d rather see retirees gamble away ½ of their retirement portfolio (at least waste it yourself!), keep their money in the bank, or spend it on themselves, and have the same income from a quality annuity provider, than be subject to the lack of protection in the DOL’s fiduciary rule for those that want income, but are sold junk EIAs.
See More:
