New York Life Insurance and Annuity has expanded its Lifetime Income Annuity's Annual Increase Option, which now allows policy owners to elect to have the income benefit on their income annuity increase in 1% increments between 1% and 5% per year.
The Annual Increase Option had previously offered 3% or 5% annual adjustments. With the Annual Increase Option, a policyholder’s initial income will start lower but the payments will increase each year by 1% to 5% depending on the percentage chosen.
The enhanced Annual Increase Option joins a selection of other Lifetime Income Annuity innovations offered by New York Life. The Income Enhancement Option gives policyholders the ability to secure guaranteed lifetime income and potentially benefit from higher interest rates in the future.
Policyholders selecting the Income Enhancement Option know that while their guaranteed payments can increase when interest rates rise, their payments will never decrease, no matter how low interest rates decline.
Additionally, Cash Withdrawal Options offer the ability to accelerate some payments to meet short-term needs, and a one-time withdrawal feature that enables policyholders to access a portion of their future payments if needed, including an ability to withdraw up to 100% of the discounted value of remaining guaranteed payments on some policies.
Also available to policyholders is the Changing Needs Option which adds longevity protection to the cash flow management role that retirees seek from immediate annuities. It allows policyholders to increase or decrease future annuity payments to suit personal needs and preferences.
Michael Gallo, senior vice president of retirement income at New York Life, said: By structuring income benefit payments this way, policyholders may help neutralize the impact of inflation over time. Today’s retirees and pre-retirees are looking for a way to ensure income in retirement while at the same time allowing for this income to be adjusted for inflation. This feature offers them a solution.