Take a load off: New York Life set to tweak immediate annuities to draw advisers

New York Life Insurance Co. is preparing to launch a no-load version of its immediate annuity to target the fee-based-adviser market, according to Matthew Grove, its vice president. “We are big believers in lifetime-income annuities,” he told attendees of a breakout session at the Money Management Institute's Fall Solutions Conference in New York last week. Mr. Grove declined to elaborate about the launch — other than to say it's expected to go live early next year — because the company has yet to file for the new version of the annuity. New York Life currently offers only a load-version of an immediate annuity. Targeting fee-based advisers with this offering makes sense, said Jack Sharry, chief marketing officer of LifeYield LLC, a tax optimization software provider. Mr. Sharry was a senior vice president with The Phoenix Cos. Inc. when it teamed up with Lockwood Capital Management Inc. last year to launch the first managed-accounts product with a lifetime guarantee. “I think there is more acceptance of this kind of product,” Mr. Sharry said in an interview. New York Life will need to make sure advisers understand the offering. “With each element of complexity, you lose more advisers because they don't want to be embarrassed,” he said. “Complexity is the enemy.”