Wachovia Annuities, WOW!
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Wachovia churned out more commissions on annuities than the next 3 firms COMBINED!!!Almost half a billion in gross.....
I'm sure every one of those annuities was appropriate and fit the client's need, was well researched, the fees were disclosed thoroughly, and the advisor will stay in touch with the client to make sure the allocations on the variable annuities continue to reflect the client's need.[quote=rankstocks]
Wachovia churned out more commissions on annuities than the next 3 firms COMBINED!!!Almost half a billion in gross.....
I'm sure every one of those annuities was appropriate and fit the client's need, was well researched, the fees were disclosed thoroughly, and the advisor will stay in touch with the client to make sure the allocations on the variable annuities continue to reflect the client's need.[/quote] Just as I am sure that you do, for each and everyone of your clients....I understand you point but do you think VA sales have anything to do with a 20% correction in the market? I know that my Met Life internal is slammed these days, and I am sure it's not all WS brokers wearing him out.
We at Jones stay bitter. We have compliance breathing down our necks on every order we place, while the indy guys across town are selling EIAs and then churning them every couple years...all the while getting 10-15% commissions on each transaction. It's frustrating.You’re not bitter at all.
We at Jones stay bitter. We have compliance breathing down our necks on every order we place, while the indy guys across town are selling EIAs and then churning them every couple years...all the while getting 10-15% commissions on each transaction. It's frustrating.[/quote][quote=Ferris Bueller]You’re not bitter at all.
Do you mean you are frustrated at not being able to do what the indy guys can do? If you want to sell <insert product name of your choice here> and earn<insert commission or fee of your choice here>, what is holding you back?
[quote=Morphius]
Do you mean you are frustrated at not being able to do what the indy guys can do?
The second I pressed "post," I realized someone would misconstrue what I was saying.
I don't want to sell EIAs (or other related crap), it's just frustrating to see folks do such bad things to people with impunity.
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We at Jones stay bitter. We have compliance breathing down our necks on every order we place, while the indy guys across town are selling EIAs and then churning them every couple years...all the while getting 10-15% commissions on each transaction. It's frustrating.[/quote] Speak for yourself Borker. I'm not bitter. I rarely get ANYTHING from compliance, and when I do, I simply answer it and it's done. The Indy guys I know in my town don't even sell EIA's. They generally work on fees, so they are not getting 10-15% on their trades. They are actually pretty good advisors with good reputations (and that comes from CPA's as well). Am I talking about a very small population of indy's that I know? Yes. But for every Indy out there that is a crackpot, there is an insurance guy, a Merrill guy, a BofA guy, and a Jones guy that's a crackpot as well. You're painting with a pretty broad brush.[quote=Ferris Bueller]You’re not bitter at all.
If you’ll re-read my original post, you’ll see that I said “the indy guys across town.”
I meant that literally, not just "indy guys" in general. The independent firm in my town sells EIAs exclusively, and they call their clients every couple of years to encourage them to move their money into something "better." (And the statements they send their clients are hand-typed, showing only the contract value of their annuities, instead of contract and surrender value.) The CPAs and attorneys in my town regularly spread the word about what's going on over there, but the fleecing continues as we speak... What I've been told is that the insurance lobby is far too strong for anything to ever really be done about unscrupulous annuity salesmen.[quote=Borker Boy]If you’ll re-read my original post, you’ll see that I said “the indy guys across town.”
I meant that literally, not just "indy guys" in general. The independent firm in my town sells EIAs exclusively, and they call their clients every couple of years to encourage them to move their money into something "better." (And the statements they send their clients are hand-typed, showing only the contract value of their annuities, instead of contract and surrender value.) The CPAs and attorneys in my town regularly spread the word about what's going on over there, but the fleecing continues as we speak... What I've been told is that the insurance lobby is far too strong for anything to ever really be done about unscrupulous annuity salesmen.[/quote] Not that I doubt what you're saying - as I know there are crooks out there - but don't clients get statements from the insurance companies?? Even when we provide insurance or annuities to clients, and it is linked through their Jones account, they still get statements from the vendor. I actually just a had a prospect in here yesterday that was in a couple of ING EIA's. She had no idea that she was locked in, and she is NOT happy. She also said she had no idea that there was a cap on the potential earnings in the account. Basically, her guy told her the "rate" of return she would get, and that she would never lose money. Well, there is no "rate" since it's indexed. And she won't lose money as long as it's in there 10 years. I explained to her that EIA's are not bad investments by themselves, especially for someone who is risk averse. They are just sold poorly (not knowing there's a cap, not knowing the indexing rules, not knowing there's a surrender schedule, etc).I'm sure there is someone out there who is selling these correctly. And apparently whoever he is he does a good job insulating his clients from me. Because I have run across dozens of clients who have bought these from about as many brokers. And not 1 client understood what they owned until I explained it.I explained to her that EIA’s are not bad investments by themselves, especially for someone who is risk averse. They are just sold poorly (not knowing there’s a cap, not knowing the indexing rules, not knowing there’s a surrender schedule, etc).
Well, here is how they are sold. Bear in mind you are talking to a 60-70 year old couple here, and the rep says, “Give me this $100,000 and if the market goes up your investment goes up. If the market goes down 20% you lose nothing.”
All this and he/she doesn't even need a securities license. Plus bags an 8-10% commission. Client hears what they want to hear, lord knows they would never do that.The most popular EIA in the industry, offered by Allianz, precludes a person from ever taking a penalty-free lump sum withdrawal/distribution from the annuity---even after it has "matured."
The only way to get the bonus and index credits is to take the money out systematically over a minimum of 10 years. How many of the millions of folks who've bought these things do you think know that little fact?[quote=Borker Boy]
The most popular EIA in the industry, offered by Allianz, precludes a person from ever taking a penalty-free lump sum withdrawal/distribution from the annuity---even after it has "matured."
The only way to get the bonus and index credits is to take the money out systematically over a minimum of 10 years. How many of the millions of folks who've bought these things do you think know that little fact? [/quote] In a word: NONE!