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Investor Alert
Equity-Indexed Annuities—A Complex Choice
You might have heard recently about equity-indexed annuities (EIAs)—or seen the recent story on Dateline NBC. Sales of EIAs have grown considerably in recent years. Although one insurance company at one time included the word "simple" in the name of its product, EIAs are anything but easy to understand.
One of the most confusing features of an EIA is the method used to calculate the gain in the index to which the annuity is linked. To make matters worse, there is not one, but several different indexing methods. Because of the variety and complexity of the methods used to credit interest, investors will find it difficult to compare one EIA to another.
Before you buy an EIA, you should understand the various features of this investment and be prepared to ask your insurance agent, broker, financial planner, or other financial professional lots of questions about whether an EIA is right for you.
Read the Alert
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Investor Information
FINRA Introduces Resources for Companies, Employees to Guard Against Early Retirement Seminar Scams
Two new resources are now available to help companies and their older workers protect themselves from early retirement scams. The resource for companies, Help Your Employees Achieve Their Retirement Dream: Tips for Spotting Early Retirement Scams, offers tips on how to evaluate the financial professionals involved in early retirement seminars and the seminar materials such as invitations, slides, handouts and scripts. Company representatives may also refer early retirement seminar materials to FINRA for review if they have concerns. FINRA staff will review all seminar materials referred and inform the company whether the materials are consistent with applicable standards.
A second resource, Early Retirement Seminars 101: Smart Tips for Spotting Retirement Scams, alerts employees to the pitfalls of early retirement schemes.
Protect Yourself from Early Retirement Scams
Read the Press Release
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Tools You Can Use
PAUSE—New SEC Resource Lists Fictitious Government Agencies and International Organizations
Public Alert: Unregistered Soliciting Entities (PAUSE) is a new resource from the Securities and Exchange Commission to help investors avoid online and boiler room scams. PAUSE lists information the SEC has received through complaints from investors and others—including foreign securities regulators—about securities solicitations made by entities that falsely claim to be registered in the U.S., use phony U.S. addresses or provide fake endorsements from fictitious government agencies or international organizations.
Check the list
For more information, read:
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If you don't find an answer, use the "Ask an Expert" link within any FAQ and the system automatically routes new questions to the right subject matter expert, who will provide responses via email.
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