Leon Mehl

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North AmericaThe advantages of a fixed index annuity with annual reset At the beginning of 2000, the value of the S&P 500®Index was 1,469 points. Nineteen years later, its ending value was 2,507. As you can see, during these 19 years, the S&P 500®Index went through multiple cycles of volatility, showing periods of growth as well as periods of decline. In fact, twice the S&P 500® Index more than doubled in value (the green lines) – and twice experienced drops that lost approximately half of its value (the red lines).

You may think that the only way to make positive net gains during sustained volatility like this is to time the market – to try to enter the market before an up cycle and get out before a down cycle begins.But if predicting the market was that easy, anyone could do it. Fortunately,you don’t have to.

Fixed index annuities can protect value during periods of volatility.

In addition to providing tax deferral, guaranteed income, and a death benefit to help meet your long-term retirement needs, a fixed index annuity (FIA) can protect value in volatile times. With an FIA, you have the opportunity to receive interest based on positive changes in an external index such as the S&P 500® Index. In other words, you’re not actually invested in the market, but you can receive interest based on your chosen index’s performance. 

That means you cannot lose value due to negative index performance. Your principal and credited interest are locked in and protected during periods of index decline. 

That’s because the annual reset feature (available on all Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) FIAs) looks only at the change during that individual contract year. So if the index performance is positive for that year (as measured by your chosen crediting method), your contract will receive an interest credit – even if the index has not recovered any previous contract year’s losses. 

Please note: In addition to this annual reset feature, select Allianz FIAs offer a multi-year reset feature that resets the annuity’s index values at the end of a longer crediting period, such as 2-year point-to-point. See the specific product brochure for more information.This powerful combination of protection and interest opportunity means you have the potential to build value every time the index increases.