Moderate cost VA
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I may add a VA to my practice this year. What companies have a reputation for low to moderate costs in their VA products. My firm does not have an agreement with Vanguard, TRowe, and the like so rule out their VA products.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Scrim
Nationwide BOA looks fairly cheap, but my knowledge is limited to looking at a contract that didn't have much in the way of bells and whistles. Cost was 1.20% plus underlying fund charges and the fund choices are pretty good.
Personally, I use Lincoln ChoicePlus and ING Landmark. Both companies have solid subaccount choices, a good variety of living and death benefits, and pay me 3.5-4% at inception, plus 1% ongoing at month 13. I won't tell you they're the cheapest, but they've served both me and my clients well in the past, and I don't necessarily care about being the cheapest option on the market. I'm also doing some due diligence on AXA now as they have some new options coming on the 16th. If I have time and the product looks worthwhile, I'll try to post something later...
Thanks entrylevelFA
"Look at you: member of the honor roll, assistant to the assistant manager of the movie theater. I'm tellin' ya, Rat, if this girl can't smell your qualifications, then who needs her, right?" - Mike Damone
That's 2 votes for Nationwide Best of America & Lincoln Choiceplus for overall performance, benefit & cost efficiency.
For the cheapest date out there you may want to look at the Lincoln Legacy series which features American fund subaccounts.
The Hartford's subaccount costs are the same as the corresponding mutual funds, and is an overall low cost VA (although I don't use it).
John Hancock is a great low cost VA if you're okay with using allocation models.
[quote=My Inner Child]Why is cheaper better? [/quote]
Good point. Several years ago I moved a bunch of mony for clients
that were taking income from their portfolios (income benefits) into
V.A’s that are not the cheapest, and they have performed very well
despite their high cost. Last year…+10% net after withdrawals in
thier pre-mixed asset allocation models…and pretty much the same
since 2002. Why do we always have to be the cheapest and the best
performer.
Our Alpha portfolios do well sometimes, and our beta portfolios are
average. We grow +20% every year in new assets. Interesting.