What is a Variable Annuity?
What is a variable annuity? It's a long-term investment designed for retirement purposes. Your money is allocated to professionally managed investment portfolios that you select, where it accumulates tax-deferred. When you retire, your savings can be used to generate a stream of regular income payments that are guaranteed for as long as you live. In addition, variable annuities provide a guaranteed death benefit for your beneficiaries. Variable annuities offered by Prudential companies are available at an annual cost of 0.55 basis points to 1.95 basis points for mortality expense and administration fees, with an additional fee related to the professional investment options. The fees will vary depending on the underlying annuity and investment options selected. Variable annuities also offer optional benefits, such as HD Lifetime Income, which, for an additional annual fee of 1.00% based on the greater of the Account Value and Protected Withdrawal Value, can help you avoid the risk of outliving your retirement income. Account value is not guaranteed, is subject to market fluctuations, and may lose value. The Protected Withdrawal Value is separate from the account value, and not available as a lump sum.
Investment returns and the principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's units, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original investment. Withdrawals or surrenders may be subject to contingent deferred sales charges. Withdrawals and distributions of taxable amounts are subject to ordinary income tax and, if made prior to age 59½, may be subject to an additional 10% federal income tax penalty. Withdrawals, other than from IRAs or employer retirement plans, are deemed to be gains out first for tax purposes. Withdrawals reduce the account value and the living and death benefits. A financial professional can determine if a variable annuity is suitable for his or her client. For more details, see the product prospectus.
An excess withdrawal occurs when your cumulative Lifetime Withdrawals exceed your Annual Income Amount in any annuity year. If an excess withdrawal is taken, only the portion of the Lifetime Withdrawal that exceeds the remaining Annual Income Amount will proportionally reduce your Protected Withdrawal Value and your Annual Income Amount for future years. If a withdrawal in excess of the Annual Income Amount reduces the account value to zero, no further amount would be payable under either benefit and the contract terminates.
Asset allocation does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.
Optional living and death benefits may not be available in every state and may not be elected in conjunction with certain optional benefits. Optional benefits have certain investment, holding period, liquidity, and withdrawal limitations and restrictions. The benefit fees are in addition to fees and charges associated with the basic annuity. Please see the prospectus for more information.
The benefit payment obligations arising under the annuity contract guarantees, rider guarantees, or optional benefits and any fixed account crediting rates or annuity payout rates are backed by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Those payments and the responsibility to make them are not the obligations of the third party broker/dealer from which this annuity is purchased or any of its affiliates. They are also not obligations of any affiliates of the issuing insurance company. None of them guarantees the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. All guarantees, including optional benefits, do not apply to the underlying investment options.
The Highest Daily Lifetime Income suite of benefits uses a predetermined mathematical formula to help us manage your guarantee through all market cycles. Each business day, the formula determines if any portion of your account value needs to be transferred into or out of the ASTTM Investment Grade Bond Portfolio (the "Bond Portfolio"). Amounts transferred by the formula depend on a number of factors unique to your individual annuity and include:
- The difference between the account value and the Protected Withdrawal Value;
- How long you have owned the benefit;
- The amount invested in, and the performance of, the permitted subaccounts;
- The amount invested in, and the performance of, the Bond Portfolio; and
- The impact of additional purchase payments made to and withdrawals taken from the annuity.
Therefore, at any given time, some, most, or none of the account value may be allocated to the Bond Portfolio. Transfers to and from the Bond Portfolio do not impact any income guarantees that have already been locked in. The Protected Withdrawal Value is only used to calculate the guaranteed lifetime income and the benefit fee. It is separate from the account value and is not available as a lump sum withdrawal. The account value is not guaranteed, can fluctuate, and may lose value.
Any amounts invested in the Bond Portfolio will affect your ability to participate in a subsequent market recovery within the permitted subaccounts. Conversely, the account value may be higher at the beginning of the market recovery; e.g., more of the account value may have been protected from decline and volatility than it otherwise would have been had the benefit not been elected. Please note: We are not providing investment advice through the formula. You may not allocate purchase payments or transfer account value into or out of the Bond Portfolio. See the prospectus for complete details.
All references to account value assume no investment in any available Market Value Adjustment Options.
Fixed income investments are subject to risk, including credit and interest rate risk. Because of these risks, a subaccount's share value may fluctuate. If interest rates rise, bond prices usually decline. If interest rates decline, bond prices usually increase.
An investment in an exchange-traded fund involves risks similar to those of investing in a broadly based portfolio of equity or debt securities traded on exchange in the relevant securities market. The investment return and principal value of ETF investments will fluctuate over time. ETFs that offer leverage or that are designed to perform inversely to the index or benchmark they track (or both) are highly complex financial instruments that are typically designed to achieve their objectives on a daily basis. Due to the effects of compounding, their performance over longer periods of time can differ significantly from the performance (or inverse of the performance) of the underlying index or benchmark during the same period of time.
Issued on riders: P-RID-HD(2/13), P-RID-HD(2/13)NY, P-RID-HD-LIA(2/13), P-RID-HD-HDB (2/13)
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Prudential Financial, Inc. of the United States is not affiliated with Prudential plc. which is headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Investors should consider the contract and the underlying portfolios' investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. This and other important information is contained in the prospectus, which can be obtained from your financial professional. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Annuity contracts contain exclusions, limitations, reductions of benefits and terms for keeping them in force. Your licensed financial professional can provide you with complete details.
Variable annuities are issued by Pruco Life Insurance Company (in New York, by Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey), Newark, NJ and distributed by Prudential Annuities Distributors, Inc., Shelton, CT. All are Prudential Financial companies and each is solely responsible for its own financial condition and contractual obligations. Prudential Annuities is a business of Prudential Financial, Inc.
© 2013 Prudential Annuities, Prudential, the Prudential logo, the Rock symbol and The Retirement Red Zone are service marks of Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.
0239217-00006-00 Ed. 3/2013