The Difference Between Replacement Cost Coverage and Actual Cash Value

Historically, most homeowners insurance and condo insurance policies have covered personal property on an actual cash value basis: current replacement cost less depreciation.

For example, your five-year-old sofa is destroyed by fire and would cost $1,000 to replace. You might expect to receive about $500, based upon 50 percent depreciation. (The condition of your sofa would affect the insurance payment.)

Today, however, most insurers offer a replacement cost provision condominium and other forms of homeowners protection. This allows your destroyed property to be replaced without deduction for depreciation (your deductible would still apply to the loss). Of course, this may cost more.

1. What is the guaranteed minimum interest rate?
2. What charges, if any, are deducted from my premium?
3. What charges, if any, are deducted from my contract value?
4. How long is the term?
5. What is the participation rate?
6. For how long is the participation rate guaranteed?
7. Is there a minimum participation rate?
8. Does my contract have a cap?
9. Is averaging used? How does it work?
10. Is interest compounded during a term?
11. Is there a margin, spread, or administrative fee? Is that in addition to or instead of a participation rate?
12. Which indexing method is used in my contract?
13. What are the surrender charges or penalties if I want to end my contract early and take out all of my money?
14. Can I get a partial withdrawal without paying charges or losing interest? Does my contract have vesting?
15. Does my annuity waive withdrawal charges if I am confined to a nursing home or diagnosed with a terminal illness?
16. What annuity income payment options do I have?
17. What is the death benefit?

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The questions listed below may help you decide which type of annuity, if any, meets your retirement planning and financial needs. You should consider what your goals are for the money you may put into the annuity. You need to think about how much risk you're willing to take with the money. Ask yourself:

1. How long can I leave my money in the annuity?
2. What do I expect to use the money for in the future?
3. Am I interested in a variable annuity with the potential for higher earnings that are not guaranteed and willing to risk losing the principal?
4. Is a guaranteed interest rate more important to me, with little or no risk of losing the principal?
5. Or, am I somewhere in between these two extremes and willing to take some risks?

Your annuity may have a limited "free withdrawal" provision. This lets you make one or more withdrawals without charge each year. The size of the free withdrawal is limited to a set percentage of your annuity's guaranteed or accumulated value. If you make a larger withdrawal, you may pay withdrawal charges. You may also lose index-linked interest on amounts you withdraw.

Most annuities waive withdrawal charges on withdrawals made within a set number of days at the end of each term. Some annuities waive withdrawal charges if you are confined to a nursing home or diagnosed with a terminal illness. You may, however, lose index-linked interest on withdrawals.

If you withdraw all or part of the value in your annuity before the end of the term, a withdrawal or surrender charge may be applied. A withdrawal charge is usually a percentage of the amount being withdrawn. The percentage may be reduced or eliminated after the annuity has been in force for a certain number of years. Sometimes the charge is a reduction in the interest rate credited to the annuity.

Some annuities credit none of the index-linked interest or only part of it if you take out all your money before the end of the term. The percentage that is vested, or credited, generally increases as the term comes closer to its end and is always 100% at the end of the term.

In most cases, you can take all or part of the money out of a deferred annuity at any time during the term. There may be a cost if you do. Sometimes the cost is a stated dollar amount. In other cases, you give up index-linked interest on the amount withdrawn. Some annuities do not let you make a partial withdrawal until the end of a term.

Cap on Interest Earned

While a cap limits the amount of interest you might earn each year, annuities with this feature may have other product features you want, such as annual interest crediting or the ability to take partial withdrawals. Also, annuities that have a cap may have a higher participation rate.

Averaging

Averaging at the beginning of a term protects you from buying your annuity at a high point, which would reduce the amount of interest you might earn. Averaging at the end of the term protects you against severe declines in the index and losing index-linked interest as a result. On the other hand, averaging may reduce the amount of index-linked interest you earn when the index rises either near the start or at the end of the term.

Participation Rate

The participation rate may vary greatly from one annuity to another and from time to time within a particular annuity. Therefore, it is important for you to know how your annuity's participation rate works with the indexing method. A high participation rate may be offset by other features, such as simple interest, averaging, or a point-to-point indexing method. On the other hand, an insurance company may offset a lower participation rate by also offering a feature such as an annual reset indexing method.

Interest Compounding

It is important for you to know whether your annuity pays compound or simple interest during a term. While you may earn less from an annuity that pays simple interest, it may have other features you want, such as a higher participation rate.

If there is a product feature that you do not understand, ask your agent. If you still do not understand, send the company a letter telling them that you want a written response so you can study their reply. You will be doing yourself a service!

Two features that have the greatest effect on the amount of additional interest that may be credited to an equity-indexed annuity are the indexing method and the participation rate. It is important to understand the features and how they work together. The following describes some other equity-indexed annuity features that affect the index-linked formula.

Since new equity indexed annuity products are being developed, the contract you are interested in may contain a feature that is not discussed in this Buyer's Guide. If this is the case, ask your agent for an explanation that you understand.

Indexing Method

The indexing method means the approach used to measure the amount of change, if any, in the index. Some of the most common indexing methods, which are explained more fully later on, include annual reset (ratcheting), high-water mark and point-to-point.

Term

The index term is the period over which index-linked interest is calculated. In most product designs, interest is credited to your annuity at the end of a term. Terms are generally from one to ten years, with six or seven years being most common. Some annuities offer single terms while others offer multiple, consecutive terms. If your annuity has multiple terms, there will usually be a window at the end of each term, typically 30 days, during which you may withdraw your money without penalty. For installment premium annuities, the payment of each premium may begin a new term for that premium.

Participation Rate

The participation rate decides how much of the increase in the index will be used to calculate index-linked interest. For example, if the calculated change in the index is 9% and the participation rate is 70%, the index-linked interest rate for your annuity will be 6.3% (9% x 70% = 6.3%). A company may set a different participation rate for newly issued annuities as often as each day. Therefore, the initial participation rate in your annuity will depend on when it is issued by the company. The company usually guarantees the participation rate for a specific period (from one year to the entire term). When that period is over, the company sets a new participation rate for the next period. Some annuities guarantee that the participation rate will never be set lower than a specified minimum or higher than a specified maximum.

Cap Rate or Cap

Some annuities may put an upper limit, or cap, on the index-linked interest rate. This is the maximum rate of interest the annuity will earn. In the example given above, if the contract has a 6% cap rate, 6%, and not 6.3%, would be credited. Not all annuities have a cap rate.

Floor on Equity Index-Linked Interest

The floor is the minimum index-linked interest rate you will earn. The most common floor is 0%. A 0% floor assures that even if the index decreases in value, the index-linked interest that you earn will be zero and not negative. As in the case of a cap, not all annuities have a stated floor on index-linked interest rates. But in all cases, your fixed annuity will have a minimum guaranteed value.

Averaging

In some annuities, the average of an index's value is used rather than the actual value of the index on a specified date. The index averaging may occur at the beginning, the end, or throughout the entire term of the annuity.

Interest Compounding

Some annuities pay simple interest during an index term. That means index-linked interest is added to your original premium amount but does not compound during the term. Others pay compound interest during a term, which means that index-linked interest that has already been credited also earns interest in the future. In either case, however, the interest earned in one term is usually compounded in the next.

Margin/Spread/Administrative Fee

In some annuities, the index-linked interest rate is computed by subtracting a specific percentage from any calculated change in the index. This percentage, sometimes referred to as the "margin," "spread," or "administrative fee," might be instead of, or in addition to, a participation rate. For example, if the calculated change in the index is 10%, your annuity might specify that 2.25% will be subtracted from the rate to determine the interest rate credited. In this example, the rate would be 7.75% (10% - 2.25% = 7.75%). In this example, the company subtracts the percentage only if the change in the index produces a positive interest rate.

Vesting

Some annuities credit none of the index-linked interest or only part of it, if you take out all your money before the end of the term. The percentage that is vested, or credited, generally increases as the term comes closer to its end and is always 100% at the end of the term.

An equity-indexed annuity is different from other fixed annuities because of the way it credits interest to your annuity's value. Some fixed annuities only credit interest calculated at a rate set in the contract. Other fixed annuities also credit interest at rates set from time to time by the insurance company. Equity-indexed annuities credit interest using a formula based on changes in the index to which the annuity is linked. The formula decides how the additional interest, if any, is calculated and credited. How much additional interest you get and when you get it depends on the features of your particular annuity.

Your equity-indexed annuity, like other fixed annuities, also promises to pay a minimum interest rate. The rate that will be applied will not be less than this minimum guaranteed rate even if the index-linked interest rate is lower. The value of your annuity also will not drop below a guaranteed minimum. For example, many single premium annuity contracts guarantee the minimum value will never be less than 90 percent of the premium paid, plus at least 3% in annual interest (less any partial withdrawals). The guaranteed value is the minimum amount available during a term for withdrawals, as well as for some annuitizations (see "Annuity Income Payments") and death benefits. The insurance company will adjust the value of the annuity at the end of each term to reflect any index increases.

An equity-indexed annuity is a fixed annuity, either immediate or deferred, that earns interest or provides benefits that are linked to an external equity reference or an equity index. The value of the index might be tied to a stock or other equity index. One of the most commonly used indices is Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Stock Price Index (the S&P 500), which is an equity index. The value of any index varies from day to day and is not predictable.

When you buy an equity-indexed annuity you own an insurance contract. You are not buying shares of any stock of index.