Annuity and life replacement analysis that prices what the buyer gives up, before the principal signs
Surrender charges, lost riders and fees shown before the buyer switches.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Software that sets the contract a buyer is leaving beside the one they are buying, so the reviewer can weigh surrender charges, a new surrender period, benefits given up and fee changes before approving the replacement. Annuity & Life Replacement Analysis reads both contracts, cites every term to its page and prices each benefit given up in dollars, so the principal sees a net gain or loss, not a list.
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When a buyer moves money from one annuity or life policy into another, the principal reviewer has to weigh the whole transaction: a surrender charge to leave, a new surrender period, death and living benefits given up, and any change in fees. Those facts sit in two contracts, a statement, the replacement notice, the 1035 transfer form and an illustration — and the old contract is often decades old, scanned, with its riders in separate endorsements.
So the comparison is built by hand, usually from the producer's own summary, and it comes out lopsided. The new contract's bonus and illustrated rate are dollar figures; the old contract's guaranteed rate or stepped-up death benefit is a bullet point nobody has priced. Meanwhile the clocks are short — five business days to notify the existing insurer, seven for a variable annuity principal review — and a producer moving many old guaranteed contracts is found at year end, if at all.
Estimated split for one annuity replacement file, by hand and with the solution. The agents' run in the working solution took 11 min 40 s; the principal's own review is the same in both.
Six specialist agents read both contracts and price what the buyer gives up; the principal reviewer decides and signs.
Eleanor Vasquez, 67, of Tucson wants to move $209,412.86 from a 2001 fixed annuity into a fixed indexed annuity with an 8% bonus. Here is her file, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Claire opens Replacements in review: eight open files at Larkspur Life & Annuity, each with its priced net, its flags, the rule it falls under and its due date. Across six of them, $146,657 would be given up on guarantees. Eleanor's file carries three flags.
“4.00% guarantee given up · New 10-year surrender · Exchange 22 months ago”
The packet arrived complete on Thu Oct 8 at 2:02 pm: the Keystone contract and endorsements (22 scanned pages), the Sep 30 statement, the application, the signed Important Notice Regarding Replacement, the 1035 transfer request, the suitability questionnaire, the illustration, the product specification and the producer's comparison. Tomás Reyes sent the notice to Granite Plains Life the next morning — day 1 of 5.
“Sorted 9 documents · notice signed · 1035 form complete · clocks started”
The balance sets Keystone, 2001, beside Summit Ascent 10, row by row: rate and growth, surrender and access, benefits, fees and tax. Forty-one terms read from both contracts and the statement, each with a chip to its page — 4.00% for the life of the contract on Keystone p.4, the 0% index floor on spec p.2.
The contract reader never infers a guarantee it cannot cite.
Claire clicks Price it on the guaranteed rate. The method is rebuild cost: at 82 the old contract guarantees $377,140.73; to be guaranteed the same, Eleanor would need $247,422.39 today at the best guaranteed rate on the market, 2.85%. The difference — $38,009.53 — is what she gives up by switching.
The pricing workbench shows the three steps of the method, a sensitivity grid of horizon against today's guaranteed rate, and the break-even: Summit Ascent 10 must credit 3.47% a year, every year for 15 years, counting its bonus, to match the old guarantee. It guarantees 0%; its illustration assumes 4.35%.
Net on guarantees: −$38,010 given up, +$16,753 bonus gained, −$1,980 on the death benefit — −$23,237.
Switched to As illustrated, the balance flips: the new contract looks $51,224 ahead at 82, and the screen says plainly that none of it is guaranteed. The agents had already found why the buyer saw it that way: the producer's comparison set the illustrated 4.35% against her 4.00% and did not mention that her 4.00% is guaranteed for life.
“This is the picture the buyer was shown. On the illustration the new contract is $51,224 ahead at 82. None of it is guaranteed: the contract guarantees a 0% floor.”
The 60-month look-back finds Dec 9, 2024: $64,000 moved from a Granite Plains Heritage 5, guaranteeing 3.00%, into a Larkspur Summit Ascent 7 — through the same producer. If this one is approved, $294,286 of her $412,000 of liquid money would sit under surrender charges until 2031 and 2036.
Darren Pike of Saguaro Ridge Financial Group: 9 replacements in 12 months, 64% of his Larkspur sales against a book of 18%, 7 of them out of contracts guaranteeing 3% or more. Above the 40% replacement-share flag for three months running, with a referral to Ingrid Solberg in sales-practice compliance one click away.
The best-interest checker has drafted three reasons against a conservative profile. Claire chooses Not approve and return, keeps the three reasons, confirms she reviewed the priced comparison and the cited pages, and signs.
The best-interest checker never approves or declines; the letter writer sends nothing without a person's signature.
The record carries the priced comparison, the reasons and what the buyer keeps if not replaced: her 4.00% lifetime guarantee, 10% free withdrawals each year and a death benefit of at least $150,000. The return letter went to Darren Pike through the producer portal, and every step by people and agents is on the record — inside the review window that ends Mon Oct 19.
The same file, seen by the four people who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six specialist agents read both contracts and price what the buyer gives up; the principal reviewer decides and signs.
Sorts each replacement packet into its document types, checks the replacement notice is signed and the 1035 request complete, and starts the clocks.
Reads both contracts, their endorsements and the statement; extracts every guarantee, surrender term, death benefit, waiver and fee, each cited to its page.
Prices each row of the comparison by a named method with stated inputs, nets the guaranteed values and computes the break-even rate.
Searches the exchange register for the buyer's exchanges in the last 60 months (36 for variable annuities) and the producer's replacement pattern over 12 months.
Compares the switch with the buyer's profile — risk, horizon, liquidity, objective — and drafts the reasons for and against.
Drafts the notice to the existing insurer, the return letter to the producer and the decision record.
Decides and signs; compliance co-signs a switch priced as a loss. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about a replacement, a price, a buyer's history — or tell it what to draft. Every answer cites its page.
Why is the 4% rate worth $38,010?
Because Eleanor could not buy it again today. Her Keystone contract guarantees 4.00% for life, so at 82 she is guaranteed $377,140.73. The best guaranteed rate on the market today is 2.85%; to be guaranteed the same at 82 she would need $247,422.39 today — $38,009.53 more than her $209,412.86.
Has Eleanor exchanged an annuity before?
Yes — 22 months ago. On Dec 9, 2024 she moved $64,000 from a Granite Plains Heritage 5, guaranteeing 3.00%, into a Larkspur Summit Ascent 7, through the same producer, Darren Pike. It is inside the 60-month look-back. If this one is approved, $294,286 of her $412,000 would be under surrender charges.
What would the new contract have to earn to be worth it?
3.47% a year, every year for 15 years, counting the 8% bonus. Summit Ascent 10 guarantees 0% and the illustration assumes 4.35%. The illustration may be met; it is not promised, and her 4.00% is.
Draft the return to Darren Pike
Drafted. It says the 4.00% guarantee is worth $38,010 at her horizon and the bonus returns $16,753, so on guarantees she is $23,237 behind; that his comparison set the illustrated 4.35% against her 4.00% without saying hers is guaranteed; and that this is her second exchange with him in 22 months. It is waiting for your signature.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
What gets flagged, how it is priced and who signs are settings, set by your compliance team.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Priced given up above | $10,000, net on guarantees | $5,000 · $10,000 · $15,000 · $25,000 |
| New surrender period of | 7 years or more | 5 years or more · 7 years or more · 10 years or more |
| Another exchange within | 60 months (36 months for variable annuities) | 36 months · 60 months |
| Buyer age — second look for older buyers | 75 or older | 70 or older · 75 or older · 80 or older |
| Producer replacement share above | 40%, rolling 12 months | 30% · 40% · 50% |
| Net illustrated rates | Off | On · Off |
| Show surrender exposure on every row | On | On · Off |
| Price lost riders with the methods library | On | On · Off |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures: NAIC Life Insurance and Annuities Replacement Model Regulation #613 §5A (5 business days to notify the existing insurer; notices kept 5 years) and NAIC 2024 Annual Life Industry Commentary ($484B in surrenders and withdrawals in 2024, up 16.3%). Rules shown in the solution also draw on NAIC Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation #275 §6 (60-month look-back) and FINRA Rule 2330. People, companies and products named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that sets the contract a buyer is leaving beside the one they are buying, so the reviewer can weigh surrender charges, a new surrender period, benefits given up and fee changes before approving the replacement. Annuity & Life Replacement Analysis reads both contracts, cites every term to its page and prices each benefit given up in dollars, so the principal sees a net gain or loss, not a list.
By a named method with its inputs on screen. A guaranteed rate is priced by rebuild cost — what it would cost today to buy the same guarantee at the best guaranteed rate on the market. A bonus is counted in dollars with its vesting schedule, a death benefit by mortality-weighted recapture and fees by present value; a new surrender period is shown year by year but never netted.
Yes. The packet reader checks the 1035 transfer request and the signed replacement notice. Variable annuities follow their own rule set — principal review within 7 business days of a complete application and a 36-month look-back for another deferred variable annuity exchange.
Yes. The exchange history agent searches the exchange register for the buyer's exchanges in the last 60 months (36 for variable annuities) and the producer's replacements over the last 12 months, and flags a producer above your replacement-share threshold.
Yes. Life replacements are in the same queue, with a rule that flags a restart of the contestable and suicide periods. New York business has its own rule set: a signed disclosure statement comparing both contracts, and the notice to the existing insurer with it.
No. The agents read, price and draft. The suitability and replacement principal approves, returns or declines and signs, and approving a switch priced as a loss needs a written reason and a second approver. The letter writer sends nothing without a person's signature.
Yes. The given-up flag, the surrender-period flag, the look-back window, the age for a second look, the producer replacement share, the clocks, the second approver and the rate file are all settings, and each rule set is versioned with an owner.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements — your rule sets, letter templates, rate file and a sample of past replacement packets — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own files first.
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