Allianz Life Launches Income Annuity for Use in DC Plans

Allianz finds growing numbers of U.S. workers want guaranteed income options in their employer-sponsored retirement plan.



Allianz Life Insurance North America launched the Lifetime Income+ Annuity, an in-plan guaranteed lifetime income option for defined contribution plans.   

The Allianz Life fixed index annuity is now available to any plan sponsor connected to the iJoin/IPX Retirement network of recordkeepers, a spokesperson said in an email.   

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“We designed this product to be personalized, flexible, and portable for users,” said the spokesperson.

The Allianz annuity is funded by contributions through the participant’s defined contribution plan account, according to an Allianz consumer brochure. Annuity owners would use the annuity to build Lifetime Income Value – the assets amount Allianz uses to determine their lifetime income withdrawals.

Many participants have two common sources of retirement income, between their defined contribution plan and Social Security. The fixed index annuity does not invest directly in any stock or bond.

The annuity will earn interest based on changes in an index, such as the S&P 500, according to Allianz.

Participant annuity owners’ assets are allocated to one or more indexes, and Allianz uses a crediting method to track the performance of the indexes. On each contract anniversary, any index interest owed to the annuity owner is calculated.

If the result is positive, the annuity owner will receive indexed interest, based on the crediting method; if the result is negative, nothing happens. And although the owner won’t receive indexed interest, the value of the annuity won’t decline, either.

Allianz also offers a fixed interest allocation, using a rate they establish at the beginning of each contract anniversary.  

When annuity owners are ready to retire and start drawing income – participants must be age 60 or older – Lifetime Income+ will use the Lifetime Income Value built by the participant through contributions. Allianz Life research shows growing numbers of U.S. workers want guaranteed income products in their employer-sponsored plans. The data shows 80% of respondents have interest in an annuity for a supplemental source of guaranteed income after Social Security, 60% would add an annuity to their employer-sponsored plan if one was available, and 74% say an option allowing them to build lifetime income protection would increase their loyalty to an employer.

Allianz also finds 59% of workers are worried their money saved for retirement, in an employer-sponsored plan, will run out during retirement.

Recordkeepers and retirement plan advisers can offer the Allianz Lifetime Income+ Annuity with the Allianz Lifetime Income Benefit as a protected accumulation and decumulation option in 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans.

“We designed this new guaranteed lifetime income product to work for real people and the reality of retirement today,” said Matt Gray, head of employer markets, at Allianz Life in a statement. “The Allianz Lifetime Income+ Annuity marks a new way to design in-plan annuities with a flexible product design, streamlined connections with plan partners and increasing income potential.”

Allianz offers guaranteed lifetime income through the firm’s Lifetime Income Benefit.

Allianz aimed the annuity to help participants stretch their income and make savings last through retirement. 

The launched annuity is “tailored for defined contribution plans,” to offer plan sponsors and participants “innovative design features including growth potential and protection from market loss,”  the press release said.

Adviser CEO Faces Up to 45 Years for Fraud, Keeping Employee 401(k) Contributions

Maddox Group’s Adam Belardino faces up to 45 years in prison for wire fraud and making false statements to the IRS.



The CEO of a financial advisory firm pled guilty last week  to charges including embezzling more than $313,000 from clients and using employee contributions to the firm’s 401(k) plan for both personal and company use.

Adam Belardino, who led the New York-based firm The Maddox Group, last week also pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to the IRS in connection with schemes to defraud clients and failing to pay the employees’ retirement contributions. He faces up to 45 years in prison.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Belardino started a retirement savings plan on behalf of the Maddox Group employees, effective at the beginning of 2020 and served as the trustee of the plan. He pled guilty to failing to deposit a little over $8,000 into the plan’s trust account that he had withheld from the paychecks of the four Maddox employees other than himself who participated in the plan.  

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The U.S. Attorney’s office said Belardino instead converted the funds meant for the 401(k) plan for his personal use and for the company’s use. And the charge of making a false statement to the IRS stems from Belardino authorizing the retirement plan administrator to file an IRS form in which he falsely answered that there was no failure to transmit to the plan any participant contributions.

Belardino also pled guilty to embezzling more than $313, 000 from one his clients. According to an unsealed indictment, Belardino had managed the client’s investments at another firm before he founded Maddox in July 2019.  That following month, he convinced the client to liquidate some of her portfolio and transfer the funds to Maddox to invest.  However, the indictment said that instead of investing the client’s money, he used it to pay his company’s operating expenses, including payroll and office rent, personal travel, and personal credit card charges.

The indictment said that the client instructed Belardino to transfer her portfolio at Maddox to another firm; however, despite telling the client and her family members he was liquidating the portfolio and would return the funds shortly, the client never received any funds by wire, and the checks Belardino had deposited were returned due to insufficient funds.

Belardino also pled guilty to obtaining fraudulent life insurance commissions. According to U.S. Attorney’s office, Belardino served as the agent for an unnamed insurance company in connection with an application by another client for a life insurance policy with a face amount of $1 million, which was eventually increased to $18 million.  As an agent, Belardino received commissions from the insurance company once the client’s application was approved.

Belardino also applied for two more life insurance policies on behalf of the client without their knowledge or authorization with a face value of $3 million and $5 million respectively.  While applying for the policies, Belardino lied about the client’s net worth and health, and increased the face amount of one insurance policy to $6 million and the other to $12.1 million again without knowledge or authorization.  He also paid and attempted to pay the policy premiums of $194,280 and $105,000 respectively with the client’s funds, while at the same time receiving nearly $200,000 in commissions.

Belardino, 37, pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of making a false statement to the Internal Revenue Service, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

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