Variable Dollar Annuity

Definition of "Variable dollar annuity"

Irene Poole real estate agent

Written by

Irene Pooleelite badge icon

RE/MAX Select

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.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Additional Living Expense Insurance is a type of coverage present on several types of Homeowner’s Insurance that reimburses additional costs caused because of the insured’s ...

Coverage outside an insured's home for personal items usually carried or worn while traveling. Protection is for personal property (apparel and jewelry), not for real property or property ...

Group in which subscribing members agree to (1) regulations governing their behavior, and (2) the qualifications that reinsurance contracts ceded to them must meet in order to be ...

Interest adjusted method that measures the cost of life insurance. Named for the late distinguished actuary M. Albert Linton. This method compares a whole life policy with a combination of ...

Excess of the value of an insurer's admitted assets over the total value of its liabilities and minimum capital requirements established by applicable statutes designed to assure the ...

Type of accounting method, in life insurance, designed to match revenues and expenses of an insurer according to principles designed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the ...

Money paid through state and federal programs to workers who are temporarily unemployed. The program, which was created by the social security act of 1935, is managed by the individual ...

Arrangement by which a policy owner authorizes an insurance company to draft his checking account for premiums due on an insurance policy. The drafting is usually monthly, persistency of ...

Future benefits to be paid to the policyholders and beneficiaries, assigned surpluses, and miscellaneous debts. These primary liabilities take the form of reserves, which must be listed on ...

Popular Insurance Questions