Close Close
Sign In
Newsletters
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
Podcast Center Video Center Webcasts Resource Center Events
About ThinkAdvisor Contact Us Advertise With Us Asset & Logo Licensing Sitemap Terms of Service Privacy Policy Copyright © 2024 ALM Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
ThinkAdvisor

Retirement Planning > Saving for Retirement

VA Summary Prospectus Growth Accelerates

By Linda Koco

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

The NewRiver Summary Prospectus Index is reporting “staggering” growth in use of summary prospectuses within the variable annuity market.

As of April, summary prospectuses were available for more than 29,000 sub-fund options in VAs, up from 2,509 in March, says NewRiver Inc., Andover, Mass.

A summary prospectus is a 3- or 4-page document showing key information about each VA subaccount option. It is supposed to be written in plain English and is supposed to be easier for VA owners to read and comprehend than full-length sub-fund prospectuses, which may be more than 100 pages long.

Other findings from NewRiver’s April index:

- More than 3,000 variable product contracts have at least one sub-account with a summary prospectus document.

- The number of stand-alone summary prospectuses for retirement funds rose to 45%, from 37% in March.

- More 4,300 mutual fund summary prospectus documents are available for stand-alone delivery.

“The recent Index numbers clearly show that the variable annuity market is primed to reap significant cost savings by reducing print and postage,” says NewRiver Chairman Russ Planitzer.

Assuming an average savings of $10 per contract holder per year, the savings for insurers and their partners could reach over $220 million if they keep adopting the summary prospectus, he says.

The New River index tracks summary prospectus filings through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR database and breaks out separate results for variable annuity, retirement services and mutual fund filings.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.