Pacific Life vs. Penn Mutual...

Didn't Robert Frost write a poem about choosing between dying in fire or ice? Questions for you;

1) Are you looking for an immediate, fixed annuity or variable? 2) If fixed, the expenses are buried within the product, i.e. you are buying an income stream only, and are choosing between companies to get the right terms and rate. 3) If variable, read my (rant) page at (note, my spreadsheet is no longer working. I will update my page to download the sheet instead of an online version) as well as the writings of Scott Burns. For Scott, just Google on Scott Burns Variable Annuity, and read. If you still believe there are reasons that you want/need one, why not look at they offer a remarkably cheap product suitable for those who insist on owning a VA.

On a lighter note, I looked at the expenses of the first company you mention. Their Mortality and Expense risk fee is 1.4%/year. They also charge an 'Administrative fee' of .25%. Fortunately, this is in addition to the fees charged by the funds held within the VA. Those fees seem to go up to 1%/yr depending on the fund.

So if you were looking at a VA to 'save on taxes', it would appear that any savings through deferral are quickly eaten up by fees/expenses. JOE

There is a general negative reaction whenver annuity is mentioned here. To get any useful replies here you need to be more specific, starting with age of client and type of annuity.