Effective January 1, 2020, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act includes reforms for Defined Contribution retirement plans. Most notably, plan sponsors are granted a Safe Harbor when offering in-plan annuities, and plan sponsors must disclose the amount of lifetime income that their participants’ accounts are expected to generate in retirement.
As a resource for their clients and to satisfy the disclosure requirements of the SECURE Act, ANNUA announced that it has released ANNUA Direct Quote (ADQ). ADQ is a tool for plan sponsors and their advisors to offer in-plan annuities and is the industry’s first, online real time individual annuity quotation platform. It is a tool for plan sponsors, participants and retirement plan advisors to obtain current market pricing for guaranteed lifetime income at retirement.
ANNUA’s platform assists plan fiduciaries to engage in an objective, thorough, and analytical search to identify potential insurers, considering the financial characteristics, costs and services provided by the potential insurers. It obtains written representations from potential insurers required for Safe Harbor protection and concludes that the insurer is financially capable of satisfying their obligations and that the relative cost of the annuity is reasonable.
ANNUA’s platform also offers plan advisors, administrators and recordkeepers access to highly rated insurance companies providing institutional annuities, market-based income disclosure tools, and educational resources to enrich participant engagements.
“We have created ADQ to address the Secure Act’s in plan annuity considerations for our clients looking to add valuable lifetime income options into their Defined Contribution plans”, says Geoff Dietrich, Executive Vice President of DIETRICH. “We’re using our expertise to put the pension back into retirement. ANNUA is pioneering lifetime income features within 401(k)/403(b) plans by helping employees build a guaranteed monthly income for life, while eliminating the long-term liabilities, financial risk or cost associated with traditional pensions.”
Join ANNUA on Thursday, February 6th at 2:00 PM EST to learn more about lifetime income options and The Secure Act. Register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1810689347187906827
