A variable annuity that pays you a bonus when you invest. Here we go again.
Variable annuities are one of the insurance industry's most aggressively sold products.
They're basically mutual funds wrapped in insurance annuities. The gains accumulate tax-deferred. You pay ordinary income taxes when you take the money out. But the new free-money pitch has rightly attracted the eye of the money cops. The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into whether you're being sold a bonus that isn't real.