What happens if lifetime annuity issuer goes bankrupt?

[brett]

In the US, does FDIC or some other organization provide any sort of guarantee against failure?

In Canada, my understanding is that we have an industry sponsored fund that guarantees up to $100K per firm. So the trick is that if you are buying more than a $100K policy, buy multiple policies from a few good companies. We did in fact have a large insurer go out of business a number of years ago-Confederation Life. The annuity policy holders did not skip a beat-the only change was the institution who paid them every month.

[pb4uski]

In the US the FDIC only applies to bank accounts, not insurance contracts.

The state guaranty funds you see referred to in this thread is similar to the industry sponsored fund that you refer to and the trick in the US would be to not have more than the guaranty amount with any single insurance company.

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett In the US, does FDIC or some other organization provide any sort of guarantee against failure? In Canada, my understanding is that we have an industry sponsored fund that guarantees up to $100K per firm. So the trick is that if you are buying more than a $100K policy, buy multiple policies from a few good companies. We did in fact have a large insurer go out of business a number of years ago-Confederation Life. The annuity policy holders did not skip a beat-the only change was the institution who paid them every month.

States have funds that guarantee annuities and life policies to some amount varying from 100k to 300k depending on the state. Recall that insurance is a state regulated product, and until Dodd Frank the feds had nothing to do with insurance, and even now just monitor the market.