Let Angry Annuity Owners Go: Ibexis

Ibexis Life & Annuity Insurance Co. has an annuity design idea: Let customers who guess wrong about the stock market ditch their annuities.

The Jefferson City, Missouri-based insurer has introduced the FIA Plus product, a non-variable indexed annuity designed for sales through independent marketing organizations, or IMOs.

The annuity offers the owners a chance to tie the credit rate to the S&P 500 index, a Bank of America index or an HSBC index.

One feature is a “bailout rate” provision letting a client surrender the annuity without penalty if the S&P 500 cap rate falls below the declared bailout rate.

Ibexis Life is offering the contract through AMS Financial Solutions, Ash Brokerage, Creative One, DMI, ECA Marketing, Financial Independence Group, Gradient, Insurance Agency Marketing Services, Magellan Financial, M&O Marketing, Simplicity Group, Triad Partners and TruChoice.

Some Clients Outlive Their Policies

Pacific Life has added an indexed universal life insurance policy that reflects another idea: Clients may need cash-value life insurance to last a long time.

Indexed universal life critics have argued that too many IUL policies are designed based on the assumption that “permanent coverage” can end when the insureds turn 78, and that even no-lapse riders may end at age 85.

Pacific Life’s new Pacific Horizon IUL 2 policy comes with one rider that can keep the coverage in force until age 90 and another rider that can extend the death benefit protection for the insured’s entire lifetime up to age 121.