What’s it to you?

[quote=lawsucks]

For anyone that honestly thinks these are bad for the client, I am curious as to why.  And if you think they are bad, how do you justify selling A share mutual funds.

[/quote]

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I've got to ask...what on earth does one have to do with the other?

They are not bad. But that was not the reason for their origination at Jones.

Most firms curtailed or at least moved in other directions. At Jones it is a

huge part of their business. I applaud them for offering a product to try and

get ahead of the regulatory curve. This way Jones can say we do not sell VAs

for the high commission. We offer breakpoints just like we do on our funds.

Client’s interest was secondary in this situation.

Some of you guys think Jones is the only company reducing fees to the client on A share annuities. NW mutual has been doing a similar product for years, not Ray Jay is jumping on board trying to reduce expenses. Not sure if it is purely an A share annuity, but at least they are making an attempt to make it better for the customer.

I would honestly say that A-share annuities are the only product that I miss from my days at Jones.  It completely eliminates the conflict of interest between funds and annuities.  Compensation is essentially identical.  Therefore, if a client owns an annuity rather than funds, there was clearly some feature or benefit about the annuity that appealed to them at the time.

SHHHH…the A share annuity is a huge improvement over typical VAs. No surrender and lower fees. Much better for compliance purposes and much better for the customer.