Jefferson National Offers Annuities Tool
Jefferson National Life Insurance Co. is providing an online calculator that compares the accumulation rate of taxable accounts with that of tax-deferred variable annuities with flat insurance fees. The company sells such annuities, which it says may help baby boomers and others more quickly accumulate income for retirement.
A recent white paper, Increasing Retirement Income through the Power of Tax Deferral, by Dr. Ira Weiss of the University of Chicago and Matthew Grove of Jefferson National, concludes that tax deferral is crucial for accumulating more savings and generating more retirement income, and that tax deferral can outperform a taxable account, even when capital gains taxes are low. The key is using a low-cost, no-load tax-deferred investment platform, such as a flat-insurance-fee VA, after maxing out contributions to vehicles such as IRAs and 401(k)s. The paper further concludes that asset-based fees associated with traditional VAs often negate the benefit of tax deferral.
In the past, fees frequently offset the advantage of tax-deferred accounts. Jefferson National‚s Monument Advisor, a variable annuity with a flat insurance fee of $20 per month and 175 underlying tax-deferred funds, may help correct that disparity, the company says.
The flat fee "preserves the true power of tax deferral to outperform taxable accounts and outdo traditional high-cost VAs, helping consumers accumulate more, generate more retirement income and leave a larger legacy," says Laurence Greenberg, Jefferson National‚s president.
The online calculator can show the difference between taxable and tax-deferred returns using distribution assumptions, time horizon, tax rates and portfolio type. It can be found at https://advisor.jeffnat.com/comparison/taxdeferral.cfm?new=1.


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