On Thursday, June 5th, American General released Elite Survivor Index II, updating it from Elite Survivor Index. From the outset, it appears to perform better than American General’s other SIUL product, Elite Global Survivor, for both maximum distribution solves and minimum premium to carry to maturity solves.
For the minimum premium to carry to maturity solve, Elite Survivor Index II has better than average competitiveness in the market, with premiums that are ranked in the top half of the group. It is worth noting that even in scenarios where it is most competitive, it is well above the best rate. Whereas Elite Global Survivor failed for most scenarios, Elite Survivor Index II by comparison is successful, with premiums that are an average of 40% lower than Elite Global Survivor’s rates.
Elite Survivor Index II is ranked near the bottom for maximum distribution amounts at the max and 7% illustrated rates, with slight improvement at 5%. On average, its distribution amounts are 20% lower than the best distribution across all three illustrated rates. Global is supposed to be AG’s accumulation product, but once again it is ranked below Elite for all max distribution amounts at like interest rates. Global may out-perform the Elite when allocated to the 5 year account, but only because it projects a rate almost 3% greater than the 1 year account.
Overall, for maximum distribution scenarios, this product does not stack up well against its competition, but it does generally perform better than American General’s other SIUL product. Neither is preferable as a distribution product. Elite Survivor Index II is superior to Elite Global Survivor when solving for minimum premium to carry to maturity, but is an average performer compared to the rest of the market. Elite’s targets fall primarily in the latter half of the field, which is consistent with its performance in other areas.
Rates were posted to the website on Friday, May 6th, 2014.