AIG Life & Retirement said that it has enhanced certain Polaris Variable Annuities, the company’s variable annuity product, in order to offer policyholders increased flexibility, personalisation and control.

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The AIG Towers of Los Angeles. (Credit: HanSangYoon/Wikipedia.org)

The new Polaris Income Plus Daily Flex and Polaris Income Plus Flex retirement accumulation and income solutions give policyholders a new level of personalisation with improved lifetime income rates, investment flexibility, and greater feature flexibility, claimed the division of American International Group (AIG).

Policyholders, through Income Plus Daily Flex, can select AIG’s newly available ‘Build Your Own Allocation’ open architecture option to design their own personalised allocation.

Through a financial professional, policyholders can opt from 77 portfolios across 12 different asset classes to create a variable annuity portfolio that suits their investment goals, financial plan and risk tolerance.

The new features also enable policyholders to add money to the contract after the completion of the first contract year and take early withdrawals if required without locking in lifetime withdrawal rates.

Furthermore, the features also let policyholders make key income benefit changes to meet changing life events like marriage, divorce or spouse death, and varying income requirements or preferences at retirement.

AIG individual retirement president Todd Solash said: “Planning for retirement is a long journey, and the future always holds change. Our retirement income solutions are designed with customer and advisor feedback in mind, and our new enhancements help policyholders adjust for life. With these new options, we can meet our customers’ evolving needs and help their financial advisors tailor their retirement income accordingly.”

Polaris Variable Annuities are long-term investments that are said to combine potential in growth, death benefit features, and optional features for income protection. According to AIG, the features help investors address the present day’s retirement challenges such as market risk, longevity risk and preparing for a retired life that could span four decades or more.

AIG Life & Retirement offers a portfolio of protection, investment and lifetime income, and retirement savings solutions to enable people towards financial and retirement security. The business comprises four operating segments, which include Individual Retirement, Life Insurance, AIG Retirement Services, and Institutional Markets.

Last month, the company announced to have made several enhancements to its Power Series of Index Annuities to provide increased flexibility and choice for its customers.