Introduction
An individual annuity is a long-term investment contract that provides you with an option to annuitize at retirement. An annuitized contract can potentially provide you with a regular stream of income, for as long as you live or for a designated period of time after your retirement. Individual annuities also typically include a death benefit.
Assets in an individual annuity grow tax deferred until they are withdrawn, and there are no contribution limits under federal tax law, unless the annuity is utilized as a funding vehicle for a qualified retirement plan or an IRA. Withdrawals of taxable amounts will be subject to ordinary income tax and possible mandatory federal income tax withholding. If taken prior to age 59½, a 10% IRS penalty may also apply.
Revenue/marketing/education/training/allowance
Some annuity product sponsors pay Park Avenue Securities LLC, Guardian's retail broker/dealer subsidiary, revenue/marketing/education and training for support of our financial advisors. Since this information may be an important consideration in your decision to purchase a particular annuity product, you should read more about these payments in each annuity prospectus and statement of additional information. Park Avenue Securities may receive compensation of up to 0.25 percent, or 25 basis points (“bps”) on annuity sales. For example, if you purchased $10,000 in annuities from the applicable sponsor for one year, Park Avenue Securities could receive up to $25.
It is important to note that Park Avenue Securities financial advisors do not receive any portion of these fees which are separate from and in addition to other fees and charges applicable to each product.
Representatives of annuity sponsors are, subject to the discretion of branch office managers, provided access to our branch offices and financial advisors for educational, marketing, and other promotional efforts. Although all annuity sponsors are provided with such access, some sponsors devote more staff and resources to these activities and therefore may have enhanced opportunities to promote their annuity products to our financial advisors. This fact could in turn lead our financial advisors to focus on those annuity products when recommending annuity products to our clients, instead of annuities from those product sponsors that do not commit similar resources to education, marketing, and other promotional efforts.The listing of individual annuity sponsors currently participating in this type of support is set forth below: