Many Planners Pan Equity-Indexed Annuities (The Irritable Investor)

Many Planners Pan Equity-Indexed Annuities By Paulette Miniter |Paulette Miniter Archive |Published: July 23, 2008 Active Discussions on SmartMoney UTTER THE WORDS "equity-indexed annuity" to a financial planner and chances are she'll react with a harrumph. Diana DeCharles, an investment advisor in Shreveport, La., pulled no punches: "I've never run across any that I'd want anyone to own." That's pretty definitive. But indexed annuities are a startlingly fast-growing part of the business aimed at boomers planning for retirement. More than $123 billion is invested in indexed annuities today, up nearly ninefold from $14 billion in 2003. Why? Probably because there's something comforting about the idea of buying an insurance policy that protects you against outliving your savings. If on top of that you can reap some modest gains... [read full story]