Insurance clearinghouse responds to customers’ “varying retirement needs”. MetLife Investors has put out a new lifetime withdrawal guarantee rider that allows customers to withdraw up to 5% of their purchase payments on most variable annuities for as long as they live.

The plan is a response to the realization that “customers have varying retirement needs, so we don't take a one-size fits all approach,” according to Michael Farrell, head of New York-based MetLife’s independent distribution group. The idea is to offer “a variety of products and optional living benefits to fit the needs of virtually any variable annuity customer needing growth, protection and retirement income,” he says.

If not A then B

The plan calls for customers to make a purchase payment that becomes an initial “Total Guaranteed Withdrawal Amount,” i.e., the minimum amount that they will get over time – if they don’t go beyond their annual 5% limit.

MetLife also guarantees that the “Total Guaranteed Withdrawal Amount will grow at a 5% compounding rate annually until the first withdrawal or 10 years from contract issue, whatever comes first.” In other words, the longer a customer waits to take withdrawals, the greater the dollar amount he can withdraw.

The plan also comes with an optional living benefit that lets a customer provide lifetime withdrawals for either one person or for a married couple. A surviving spouse can choose to continue the contract.

MetLife Investors-affiliated insurance companies offer individual life insurance, annuity and long-term care insurance products and services through third party intermediaries including wirehouses, independent planners, broker dealers and banks. Products are distributed by Irvine, Calif.-based MetLife Investors Distribution Company. –FWR

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