The moderate economy comes from lower mutual fund expenses. Second, the broker has made some good fund suggestions, particularly the Global Dividend Growth. Basically, your broker has done well within the constraints of his proprietary product bag and his need to make a living. Now let me tell you my concerns and mention some other options. The annual expense of the annuity product is such that they may continue to do that.
Most funds do.
If your tax deferred return is smaller than your taxable return, tax deferral won't do much for you. The table below shows the net returns on the three Dean Witter funds over the last three years and the after-tax returns of three possible competitors. To be sure, we're only measuring a 3 year period but the result casts substantial doubt on the net benefits of a VA commitment. The after tax results were computed using the old 28 percent capital gains tax rate. A good portion of the future gains in the taxable funds may be taxed at the new 20 percent rate.