Variable Dollar Annuity
Annuity in which premium payments are used to purchase accumulation units, their number depending on the value of each unit. The value of a unit is determined by the value of the portfolio of stocks in which the insurance company invests the premiums. At the time of the payment of benefits to the annuitant, the accumulation units are converted to a monthly fixed number of units. The variable element is the dollar value of each unit. For example, assume that the annuitant pays a monthly premium of $100. If the accumulation unit value during one month is $50, two units are purchased. In another month, if the value of the accumulation unit is $25, four units are purchased. In a third month, the value of the unit is $10, resulting in the purchase of 10 units. This allows the market use of the investment strategy of dollar cost averaging. Accumulation units are credited to the annuitant's account, a procedure that is similar to purchasing shares in a mutual fund.
When income benefits are scheduled to begin, total accumulation units are converted to assume 100 income benefit units per month. The value of the income unit will vary according to the company's stock investments; in one month the annuitant's income might be $1000, in another month $500, in another month $1200. Changes in the investment experience by the insurance company are passed on to the annuitant, but the company absorbs fluctuations in expenses and mortality experience.
Popular Insurance Terms
Life insurance policy provision under which the policyholder may apply the accumulated cash value, in the form of a single premium payment, to pay up the policy or to mature the policy as ...
In many property insurance policies, a requirement that the insured carry insurance as a percentage of the total monetary value of the insured property. If this percentage is not carried, ...
Deleveraging of the insurance company's balance sheet. ...
Woman executor. ...
Policy that combines life insurance coverage on two lives and pays policy proceeds on the second person's death with the accumulation potential of an underlying variable investment ...
Method of funding a pension plan under which a single premium payment is made to fund a single unit of benefit for one year of recognized service with the employer. For example, if the ...
Real property (structure (s) attached to the land) that is occupied and/or is under the care, custody, or control of an individual, individuals, or an organization for which an insurance ...
Provision in many business and personal policies that loss or damage to one of a pair or set of individual items does not represent the loss of the pair or set. For example, the loss of one ...
Decrease in value of property as the result of technological advancement and/or changing social mores. This factor is used to measure the amount of depreciation in determining the actual ...

Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.