Variable Dollar Annuity
Definition of "Variable dollar annuity"
Annuity in which premium payments are used to purchase accumulation units, their number depending on the value of each unit. The value of a unit is determined by the value of the portfolio of stocks in which the insurance company invests the premiums. At the time of the payment of benefits to the annuitant, the accumulation units are converted to a monthly fixed number of units. The variable element is the dollar value of each unit. For example, assume that the annuitant pays a monthly premium of $100. If the accumulation unit value during one month is $50, two units are purchased. In another month, if the value of the accumulation unit is $25, four units are purchased. In a third month, the value of the unit is $10, resulting in the purchase of 10 units. This allows the market use of the investment strategy of dollar cost averaging. Accumulation units are credited to the annuitant's account, a procedure that is similar to purchasing shares in a mutual fund.
When income benefits are scheduled to begin, total accumulation units are converted to assume 100 income benefit units per month. The value of the income unit will vary according to the company's stock investments; in one month the annuitant's income might be $1000, in another month $500, in another month $1200. Changes in the investment experience by the insurance company are passed on to the annuitant, but the company absorbs fluctuations in expenses and mortality experience.
Popular Insurance Terms
The space created between the total death benefit and the cash value of a universal life insurance policy. An automatic increase in the death benefit results when the cash value approaches ...
Utilization of life insurance to make annual gifts into a trust in order to produce the largest tax-free death benefit possible to the trust beneficiaries. ...
Policy that pays a specified sum not related in any way to the extent of the loss. The term applies to a life insurance policy rather than to a contract of indemnity because the former does ...
Assembly of people formed only for obtaining group insurance. Such a group is uninsurable and violates underwriting principles concerning group insurance. ...
Subrogation clauses are used in both the real estate and insurance industries to follow lawful claims against a third party that damaged the property of the insured. If we encounter a ...
Specified limit on the dollar amount of coverage for a given loss. ...
Ratio commonly used by the property and casualty insurance industry as a measure of financial strength or to indicate to what degree a particular insurance company is leveraged. A low ratio ...
Provides the same coverage as a comprehensive personal liability insurance policy, plus coverage to exposures that are peculiar to farms, such as farm business operations, farm employees ...
Same as term Debit Insurance: life insurance on which a premium is collected on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, usually at the home of a policyholder. The face value of the policy is ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.