PRLog (Press Release) –
Apr 22, 2008 – This last Sunday, Dateline aired an episode called ‘Tricks of the Trade’, where Dateline NBC’s Correspondent, Chris Hanson, warned seniors to watch out for the deceptive practices of some insurance salesmen. During the episode, Minnesota Attorney General, Lori Swanson, criticizes the insurance that these salesmen are offering, which are equity indexed annuities.
While it’s true that Hanson did find a few questionable agents out there who were not revealing the entire truth of equity indexed annuities, he failed to capture the thousands of honest agents who are offering their clients a product they will benefit fully from.
Karlan Tucker, CEO of Tucker Advisory Group, has been recommending indexed annuities for more than 11 years. He also coaches more than 800 agents across the country, ensuring that they are well-educated on the product and that they use best practices in their offices.
“It is unfortunate that all the positives of protecting a client’s life savings, providing respectable returns and offering substantial liquidity are lost by focusing on a few advisors who did not do a good job of explaining the benefits of an Indexed Annuity in an industry that has hundreds of thousands of honest and qualified advisors,” said Tucker.
While Dateline stated that agents are being taught to scare seniors, they failed to mention the ratio of good agents versus bad agents, that every industry has a few ‘bad apples’, and that the vast majority of people who own indexed annuities are thrilled with the product.
“Indexed annuities have served the needs of millions of Americans functioning exactly as they were intended to by protecting principal, by capturing a portion of the positive performance of the market and by providing income and peace of mind for people in their retirement years,” Tucker said.
