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Lincoln National Upgrades Variable Annuity to Aid Investors

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Lincoln National Corporation (LNC - Free Report) recently introduced a flat contract fee option in its investment-focused variable annuity solution — Lincoln Investor Advantage Advisory Choice. The solution has been acknowledged as one of the leading solutions for tax-deferred savings by Barron’s this year, which highlights the beneficial nature of it. 

Notably, Lincoln Investor Advantage Advisory Choice provides investors access to a diverse investment platform, which is equipped with more than 140 individual investment options.

Coming back to the latest move, the abovementioned variable annuity provides investors with an option of a flat contract fee of $20 per month. Apart from introducing this option, the fee is even shelved for contracts of $250,000 or above.

What makes this solution noteworthy is that investors have the flexibility to construct their own custom-fit portfolios or choose a pre-packaged model. The selection can be done as per individual goals and investment choices.

Another notable feature is tax-deferred growth offered by this solution, which means investors will not be taxed on any portfolio growth until they withdraw funds from it. The solution also has tax-free account exchanges and rebalancing features, which intend to minimize tax impact on investors.

Notably, the news comes at an opportune time as the entire United States has been grappling with COVID-19 pandemic induced financial woes. The fact that only one-third of the pre-retirees are certain about their retirement plans while over half of them are reconsidering their plans is of grave concern.

This particular concern of the retirement savers, which has further aggravated owing to the pandemic, has led to rise in demand for investment products that provide bundled covers of retirement income, life and healthcare.

In fact, the Lincoln Investor Advantage Advisory Choice seems an apt choice for the purpose since it not only offers a lifetime income stream but also includes an option for beneficiary protection. Furthermore, this solution backed by transparency in fees has been aiding investors to diversify their retirement portfolios, which limits risk and offers them protection amid the present market volatility.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) life insurer have lost 42.3% in a year compared with the industry’s decline of 14.1%.

Nevertheless, Lincoln National has undertaken consistent efforts to boost retirement business. It has been committed to providing a comprehensive financial planning for the retirees.

Moreover, the life insurer has been taking steps to help small businesses and protect their employees amid the pandemic, which has disrupted the economy and hasn’t spared small businesses either. The company’s attempts to offer flexible and personalized solutions will definitely pave the way for enhanced retirement solutions per the needs of small business owners.

Case in point, last week, Lincoln National has enhanced its Lincoln Director Multi-Manager solution courtesy of which financial professionals, who were already benefiting from the Multi-Manager solution, will now have access to the Stadion managed accounts. In another simultaneous move, the company is offering clients a six-month Stadion fee waiver if they sign up for any Stadion service provided by Lincoln Financial within Dec 31, 2020.

We believe these consistent efforts undertaken by the company are likely to provide a boost to its retirement business in the days ahead. This, in turn, is likely to drive results for the company, which has been suffering due to elevated claims experience stemming from the pandemic.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the insurance space include Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC - Free Report) , Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF - Free Report) and Assurant, Inc. (AIZ - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Manulife, Sun Life and Assurant have a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 6.79%, 11.58% and 6%, respectively.

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