Help my retired parents please! (Allianz Dateline Annuity)

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UconnHusky

Confused about dryer sheets
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Hello,

First time poster even though I have been lurking around this site for over a year. I hate having to post without first introducing myself, but this is an emergency situation and I need some advise. I hope you all understand.

While watching Dateline tonight, I found out that my parents were one of the many victims who fell for the index annuity trap.

They retired a couple of years ago and moved to Italy. Over the next few months they were planning on making large withdrawals to fund their new home purchase. Tomorrow I'm going to call them to explain the situation they are in.

I have done some searching on the web and I found that there is a class-action lawsuit against Allainz. Would anyone know how my parents can join this lawsuit? Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thank You!
 
uconn

let them enjoy thier trip. they can deal with whatever when they return
 
If there is a class action lawsuit, they will get paperwork at the "legal" address available from the defendant during discovery. They will have to opt out to maintain an individual right to sue outside the class action.

Unfortunately, class action lawsuits usually only return pennies on the dollar unless you are the lawyers representing the class action plantiffs. Don't expect your parents to be made anything close to whole.

My condolences on your parents misfortune in believing the sales pitch for the annuity without taking the time to do the math or ask themselves why they should buy something they don't understand.

I'm sure my post will be followed by those saying that there are many wonderful annuity products that are available and your parents may just misunderstand that they really are in a good financial position with their annuity. There are amazingly many people here that believe annuities make sense for the common investor/retiree or they are sales people trolling.
 
Complaining directly to the company could involve more money more quickly than a 5-10 year class action lawsuit will take to wind throught the courts.........:)
 
I watched the Dateline show and didn't think it did a good job of explaining what the pitch is to attract people in the first place (I missed the first few minutes). I never really even "got" how EIAs work. Based on the thread the other day, I had the impression that you "invest" in these things for a set period (e.g. 10 years) and then start drawing the annuity. But I didn't get that impression on Dateline. Do some of these things start paying the annuity immediately but promise to keep a floor on the payment amount? Or do they always require a holding period before payments begin?
 
UconnHusky said:
Hello,

While watching Dateline tonight, I found out that my parents were one of the many victims who fell for the index annuity trap.

They retired a couple of years ago and moved to Italy. Over the next few months they were planning on making large withdrawals to fund their new home purchase. Tomorrow I'm going to call them to explain the situation they are in.
Click to expand...

First of all, index annuities are not traps. One use of indexed annuites are for safety of principle with upside potential--without downside risk. They are commonly used for people in their 50's and 60's who cannot afford to be in the market with risk to their principle when they are looking to retire in the future.

Before you go calling this an "emergency", you should just ask your parents about their policy. Did they have it during 2001, 2002, 2003? If they did, they should be very thankful that they weren't in the market and lost nearly all of their monies.

They can take withdrawls out of their annuity, penalty free too. If your parents put all of their monies into one annuity and decided to purchase a retirement home and not have the funds to do so, then shame on them.

Perhaps they know exactly what they put some of their retirement monies into. Perhaps, you being the "Alpha Child" should have been apart of this purchase when they decided to roll monies over.


FYI-Alpha Child is known as the go-to child that parents look to for support/advice.


Cheers,

Ryan
 
hundoracer said:
First of all, index annuities are not traps. One use of indexed annuites are for safety of principle with upside potential--without downside risk. They are commonly used for people in their 50's and 60's who cannot afford to be in the market with risk to their principle when they are looking to retire in the future.

Before you go calling this an "emergency", you should just ask your parents about their policy. Did they have it during 2001, 2002, 2003? If they did, they should be very thankful that they weren't in the market and lost nearly all of their monies.

They can take withdrawls out of their annuity, penalty free too. If your parents put all of their monies into one annuity and decided to purchase a retirement home and not have the funds to do so, then shame on them.

Perhaps they know exactly what they put some of their retirement monies into. Perhaps, you being the "Alpha Child" should have been apart of this purchase when they decided to roll monies over.


FYI-Alpha Child is known as the go-to child that parents look to for support/advice.


Cheers,

Ryan
Click to expand...

Wow, didn't think I'd see spam on this post..........:p
 
I've heard that Allianz has given some refunds. They are the Number 1 carrier in the Index Annuity business, but their products are mediocre at best.

If your parents were misled, they may get all their money back, but don't count on it. They probably had to sign disclosures however, that they understood what they were buying.

Allianz's most popular products (because of the commission) was a two tier product, which means there is no 'walk-away'. The way they are written is... you can never take your money elsewhere. If you do, you lose your bonus and all previously credited gains. The contract reverts back to the underlying minimum guarantees and that's all you get. (less penalties if any)

From my understanding, most of the guys selling for Allianz weren't even aware of how this was handled. Allianz wasn't forthcoming with the info either
 
They need to look at their contract first and see what the specifics of their exactly policy are. If they cannot get what they need out without getting penalized, I would talk to the insurer first. If that fails, I would talk to the appropriate state insurance department. After that, either suck it up and pay the penalty, or get a mortgage and pay it off over time.

Can we please get the spamming annuity salescritters to restrain themselves?
 
FinanceDude said:
Wow, didn't think I'd see spam on this post..........:p
Click to expand...


No spam here. Trying to be as polite as possible. Everyone is so quick to blame the insurance producer or the insurance carrier. Sorry to say, but maybe IF his parents are in a bad spot, that it is due to their own stupidity.

SPAM AWAY!:crazy:
 
hundoracer said:
No spam here. Trying to be as polite as possible. Everyone is so quick to blame the insurance producer or the insurance carrier. Sorry to say, but maybe IF his parents are in a bad spot, that it is due to their own stupidity.

SPAM AWAY!:crazy:
Click to expand...

Or maybe most annuity salescritters are just scumbags.
 
hundoracer said:
No spam here. Trying to be as polite as possible. Everyone is so quick to blame the insurance producer or the insurance carrier. Sorry to say, but maybe IF his parents are in a bad spot, that it is due to their own stupidity.

SPAM AWAY!:crazy:
Click to expand...

I've had an insurance license since 1989, so who are you talking to? Whether they made a bad choice or not is immaterial. The fact remains these products are WAY oversold and marketed to a demographic that has shown to be easily intimidated is the problem......

Anyone who says an EIA is the "same as a CD but with upside potential" needs to be shot.........:p
 
Let's see if any of these annuity defenders can stick to facts:

hundoracer said:
They are commonly used for people in their 50's and 60's who cannot afford to be in the market with risk to their principle when they are looking to retire in the future.
Click to expand...

Umm, if someone 'cannot afford to be in the market with risk to their principle', there are plenty of alternatives. An annuity is not the only answer.

Did they have it during 2001, 2002, 2003? If they did, they should be very thankful that they weren't in the market and lost nearly all of their monies.
Click to expand...
See above, but... if they don't need their money, it's a paper loss. An investment with the appropriate risk level shouldn't drop far (if at all), and should be expected to bounce back.

If they do need the money - well, most annuities have big surrender fees - that is a loss, no?


Perhaps the parents are to blame for making in an inappropriate investment. But, as we've seen, the large commissions associated with these annuities tend to attract aggressive salesman who gloss over the negatives.

-ERD50
 
Last edited:
brewer12345 said:
I'd settle for banned from the forum.
Click to expand...

Bright lights seem to work pretty well at shaking out any spammers.

Then maybe some lurkers learn a thing or two from the questions and (usual lack of) answers.


Note to hundoracer: 'we have many satisfied clients' line was already used this week.

-ERD50
 
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