DELAWARE INSURANCE DEPARTMENT

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF ANNUITY CONTRACTS?

Individual or Group

An individual contract covers only one or two persons. A group contract covers a specific group of people, for example, the employees of an employer.

 Immediate or Deferred

An immediate annuity begins to make income payments soon after you pay the premium. The income payments from a deferred annuity start later, often many years later. Deferred annuities have an “accumulation” period, which is the time between when you start paying premiums and when income payments start. The time after income payments start is called the “payout” period.

 Single Premium or Installment Premium

 You pay the insurance company only one premium for a single premium annuity. You pay for an installment premium annuity through a series of payments. There are two kinds of installment premium annuities. One kind is a flexible premium contract. You can pay as much as you want, whenever you want, within set limits. The other kind is a scheduled premium contract, which specifies how much your premiums will be and how often you will pay them.

Fixed or Variable

During the accumulation period of a fixed deferred annuity, premiums (less any applicable charges) earn interest at rates set by the company or in a way spelled out in the annuity contract. The company guarantees that it will pay no less than a minimum rate of interest. During the payout phase, the amount of each income payment you receive is generally set when the payments start and does not change.

 During the accumulation period of a variable annuity, premiums (less any applicable charges) are put into a separate account of the insurance company. You decide how those premiums will be invested, from stock or bond mutual fund choices. The value of the separate account, and therefore, the value of your variable annuity, varies with the investment experience of the funds you choose. There is no guarantee that you will receive all of your premiums back. There is also no guarantee that you will earn any return on your annuity. During the payout period of a variable annuity, the amount of each income payment you receive may be fixed (predetermined) or variable (changing with the value of the investments in the separate account).

1998 National Association of Insurance Commissioners