Marketing Annuities? Watch Your Back

Advice to insurance company execs, especially those in charge of marketing deferred annuities:

Avoid dark alleys frequented by belligerent senior citizens.

Reason: this front-page New York Times article, reporting on how "advisers" score big paydays selling annuities to seniors, using tactics that the companies producing the financial products probably don't want to know about.

The side bar below features a guide to "certifications" designed to make sales agents look like experts: (Click on image for clearer view.)


Question for bank marketing people: Will distaste for the tactics used by insurance agents spread a taint over sellers of annuities operating out of banks? Annuity sales in banks already have harvested bad press, as noted here and here.

Wealth managers may be called upon to help clients who bought deferred annuities without realizing the extent to which they were tying up their money. Today's Wall Street Journal (subscribers) offers a guide to possible exit strategies.

This post was composed by a proudly non-certified senior advisor.