Guggenheim ProOption 5 Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity is a single premium deferred annuity that offers multiple guarantee periods to align with your specific needs.
The interest rates at the time of premium payment are guaranteed for the entire guarantee period.
The ProOption return of premium feature offers you your original premium value, less the sum of early withdrawals, should you decide to surrender your annuity at any time.
Whether you are retired now, retiring soon, or retiring years from now, Guggenheim ProOption 5 Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity is particularly well-suited for growing your retirement savings and will help secure your personal financial future.
ProOption Offers:
- Return of Premium Guarantee
- Competitive Rates
- Tax-Deferred Growth
- Variety of Interest Rate Guarantee Periods
- May Avoid Probate Costs & Delays
- Choice of Annuity Payment Options
Guggenheim ProOption 5 Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity Details
Accumulation Phase
The Accumulation Phase is the period when the annuity’s interest grows on a tax-deferred basis. This is the period when Tax Deferral is most valuable, growing as time passes and compounding becomes a powerful ally.
Payout Phase
The Payout Phase is the period during which money is regularly dispersed from the Annuity, usually in the form of monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual payments.
Penalty-Free Withdrawals
Guggenheim ProOption 5 Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity provides a single penalty-free withdrawal each year beginning in the second year of the contract. The maximum free withdrawal amount will be 10% of your account value on the previous contract anniversary. A penalty-free withdrawal waives any surrender charges or market value adjustment on the withdrawn amount.
May Avoid Probate
By naming a beneficiary (other than your estate), your deferred annuity will be paid directly to the beneficiary, therefore avoiding inclusion in a probated estate. This benefit may minimize the delays, expenses, and publicity often associated with probate. Your designated beneficiary receives death proceeds in either a lump sum or a series of income payments.
Lifetime Income
An important feature of annuity contracts is the ability to have an income that you cannot outlive.
Guggenheim Life can provide you with a guaranteed income stream with the purchase of your tax-deferred annuity through the ability to annuitize, which turns the deferred account into a scheduled stream of income payments.
If this feature can meet your future income needs, you will have the ability to choose from several different annuity payout options.
Nursing Home Care Rider
Should the need arise, ProOption will provide full liquidity to assist with nursing home care expenses subject to the rider provisions, which are: contract purchased prior to age 76 and confinement to a nursing home for 90 continuous days.
The Nursing Home Care Rider is not available in Massachusetts.
Terminal Illness Rider
If the owner of the contract is diagnosed with a critical illness (heart attack, stroke, or life-threatening cancer) or is deemed terminally ill by a physician, ProOption will provide full liquidity to assist with the additional expenses that may arise.
Eligibility is subject to rider provisions, which are:
- Terminal illness; the physician must certify that the owner’s life expectancy is nine months or less;
- for one of the critical illness conditions to take effect, the contract must have been purchased prior to the owner’s age 70.
Benefits of Tax-Deferred Growth
Tax-deferred growth allows your money to grow faster because you earn interest in dollars that would otherwise be immediately taxable.
Your premium earns interest, the interest compounds within the contract, and the money you would have paid in taxes earns interest.
Income taxes are deferred until funds are withdrawn from the contract.
Death Benefit
Prior to annuitization, if an owner dies, the named beneficiary(ies) will be paid a death benefit at the owner’s death that is equal to the account value.
The death benefit will receive interest at a rate required by the state in which the beneficiary resides between the time Guggenheim Life and Annuity Company receives proof of death and the death benefit is distributed.
Alternatively, if the contract is continued by a surviving spouse who is named as the primary sole beneficiary of the contract, the account value will continue according to the terms of the contract.
Market Value Adjustment
Any amounts that are assessed a surrender charge will also be subject to a Market Value Adjustment (“MVA”), which may increase or decrease the account value.
The MVA generally increases the contract withdrawal value when interest rates fall, and decreases the contract withdrawal value when interest rates rise.
The MVA is not applied:
- a) at the end of a guarantee period,
- b) to free withdrawals,
- c) to the death benefit at Death of the Owner,
- d) to any settlement option after the 5th contract year with the payments being made over at least 5 years, or
- e) in an amount that would violate the Return of Premium Guarantee.
The MVA is not applicable in Delaware.
Annuitization Options
Your contract may be annuitized or put into a payout status at any time, under any annuitization option we offer; some are described in your contract.
Your contract contains several annuitization options.
Surrender charges and any applicable MVA may be applied when calculating your payout.
You may choose whether the payout is based on the life or lives of the annuitant or joint annuitants, or for a certain period.
Please Note: The Return of Premium Guarantee does not apply after annuitization.
If a life contingent option is chosen, and the annuitant dies soon thereafter, the beneficiary may not receive the full amount of premium back.
If this is a concern, Guggenheim Life and Annuity Company suggests adding a certain period to the annuitization option.
Surrender Charges
Surrender Charges are applied at the time of withdrawal or surrender of the contract.
They are not applied:
- a) at the end of a guarantee period,
- b) to free withdrawals,
- c) to the death benefit for Death of the Owner,
- d) to any settlement option after the 5th contract year with the payments being made over at least 5 years, or
- e) in an amount that would violate the Return of Premium Guarantee.
Return of Premium Guarantee
This guarantee provides that the total amount you receive in withdrawals, surrenders, or death benefits will never be less than the amount of premium paid.
This applies during the deferral period of the contract.
For the purpose of the Return of Premium Guarantee, withdrawals of any kind, including interest withdrawals, are considered a return of your premium and will reduce the remaining amount of premium in your contract.
Surrender Charges and the Market Value Adjustment cannot reduce the Surrender Value below this guaranteed amount.
There is no additional charge for this benefit.
Renewal Feature
At the end of each guarantee period, you will have the option to elect to renew your annuity for another guaranteed interest rate period.
Depending on your circumstances and financial goals at that time, this convenient option assures you of a current, competitive interest rate and an easy transition to a new guarantee period.
Renewal rates for subsequent guarantee periods will be based on current, competitive interest rates and financial circumstances, and may differ from the initial guaranteed interest rate.
The renewal feature is not available in Delaware.
Retirement Income Planning
If you’re spending the interest from a CD or a fixed annuity to supplement your retirement income, consider a deferred annuity with a lifetime income rider. These annuities would offer a guaranteed income for life (even if the annuity ran out of money), removing the concern of making your money last in retirement and running out of money.
Some lifetime income riders offer a retirement income that increases to keep up with inflation, help pay for long-term care expenses, and offer an enhanced death benefit to help your beneficiaries.
