Well I was just about to state that I've beaten this horse to death and back and then lightwaves posts and says he appreciates the other side, so the only thing I can offer is, don't be closed minded to any investment and do your own homework.
Bunny, sure, like in any business there are good and bad people. At the very least, with a VA you're dealing with someone who has had to go through some rigorous training to be able to offer the product (unlike that of the EIA, in my opinion).
My sister and spouse were told years ago by the same doctor that they needed a medical procedure that proved to be totally unnecessary and dangerous. Should I hate all doctors because of it? I would totally disagree that there are many professionals that sell only the highest commissioned vehicles, although I admit to knowing a couple. However, here's the bottom line, when guys like Moshe Milevsky and Scott Burns who were both haters of VA's are now taking another look at them and concluding there are benefits, then why are most of the people so unwilling to?
If you go to the stock picking section on here, you'd see that I've picked a decent amount of stocks that have done quite well this year. That doesn't mean that I'm still not concerned about the overall market and I don't see a great value to protecting your assets. I think, based on modern medicine, living income is more important than ever before. People should be living longer, and pensions are disappearing. Consider this, if I'm wrong then I'm destined to live on a bit less income for the rest of my life. If you're wrong, you can go broke or be paralyzed by the market and miss upsides.