The Swiss Variable Annuity

The Swiss Variable Annuity is also a contract with a Swiss insurance company. But as with any variable annuity, the return on your investment varies depending on the underlying investments you select. The Swiss Variable Annuity offers various sub-accounts managed by the Swiss insurance company through which the annuity contract is written or by specifically selected asset managers.Of special interest could be the “Sovereign Secure Portfolio” which gives you access to first class hedge fund portfolios with an exceptional track record. For U.S. investors, an important advantage of the Swiss Variable Annuity is that growth within the contract is tax-deferred. This is not the case with the Swiss Fixed Annuity.

The Fixed and Swiss Variable Annuity

Annuities that make payments in fixed amounts or in amounts that increase by a fixed percentage are called fixed annuities. Variable annuities, by contrast, pay amounts that vary according to the investment performance of a specified set of investments, typically bond and equity mutual funds.

Variable annuities are used for many different objectives. One common objective is deferral of the recognition of taxable gains. Money deposited in a variable annuity grows on a tax-deferred basis, so that taxes on investment gains are not due until a withdrawal is made. Variable annuities offer a variety of funds (“subaccounts”) from various money managers. This gives investors the ability to move between subaccounts without incurring additional fees or sales charges.

Variable annuities have been criticized for their high commissions, contingent deferred sale charges, tax deferred growth, high taxes on profits, and high annual costs. Sales abuses became so prevalent that in November 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved FINRA Rule 2821[9] requiring brokers to determine specific suitability criteria when recommending the purchase or exchange (but not the surrender) of deferred variable annuities.

[box type=”note”]The instrument’s evolution has been long and continues as part of actuarial science.[/box]

Ulpian is credited with generating an actuarial life annuity table between AD 211 and 222. Medieval German and Dutch cities and monasteries raised money by the sale of life annuities, and it was recognized that pricing them was difficult. The early practice for selling this instrument did not consider the age of the nominee, thereby raising interesting concerns. These concerns got the attention of several prominent mathematicians over the years, such as Huygens, Bernoulli, de Moivre and others: even Gauss and Laplace had an interest in matters pertaining to this instrument.

It seems that Johan de Witt was the first writer to compute the value of a life annuity as the sum of expected discounted future payments, while Halley used the first mortality table drawn from experience for that calculation. Meanwhile, the Paris Hôtel-Dieu offered some fairly priced annuities that roughly fit the Deparcieux table discounted at 5%.

Continuing practice is an everyday occurrence with well-known theory founded on robust mathematics, as witnessed by the hundreds of millions worldwide who receive regular remuneration via pension or the like. The modern approach to resolving the difficult problems related to a larger scope for this instrument applies many advanced mathematical approaches, such as stochastic methods, game theory, and other tools of financial mathematics.