The 13 th annual Annuity Monitor Awards Report highlights the best digital annuity tools and features offered by firms in six key areas: Retirement Education Resources, Retirement Saving Calculators, Account Owner Document Centers, Account Owner Self Service Capabilities, Advisor Search and Book of Business.

1. ANNUAL ANNUITY MONITOR
AWARDS
Annuity Monitor
AWARDS REPORT PREVIEW
December 2019

2. CONTENTS
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Introduction
Medal Winners
Overview and Contact
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3. INTRODUCTION
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4. The 13th annual Annuity Monitor Awards Report highlights the best digital annuity tools and features offered
by firms in six key areas: Retirement Education Resources, Retirement Saving Calculators, Account Owner
Document Centers, Account Owner Self-Service Capabilities, Advisor Search and Book of Business. The
selected categories cover public, account owner and advisor site features, including the capabilities that
most affect the customer experience. We provide examples of the best in class for each of the features
covered and explain why we consider the awarded firms to be industry leaders. We distribute awards in gold,
silver and bronze based on the quality of exceptional features and tools.
We reserve the gold medal for the most robust and valuable tools—those that most closely achieve the ideal
combination of important features and intuitive functionality. The silver medal recognizes tools that offer great
value but lack some of the outstanding qualities of the best tools. Lastly, the bronze medal goes to those tools
or features that are imperfect but still offer users a strong or valuable experience.
Annuity Monitor Awards
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5. Categories overview
• Public Site Retirement Education Resources
• Public Site Retirement Saving Calculators
• Account Owner Document Centers
• Account Owner Self-Service Capabilities
• Advisor Search
• Advisor Book of Business
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Promote your firm’s 2019 Monitor Awards!
CI is happy to assist all award-winning firms in promoting their honors.
For more information, contact us at INTEREST@CorporateInsight.com.

6. GOLD MEDAL WINNERS
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7. Planning for retirement involves more than simply saving a percentage of each paycheck, and firms that
help prospects prepare can set themselves up as trusted financial partners for future purchases. Leading
firms recognize these challenges and provide public site resources to help educate prospects. Firms can use
these resources to outline the basics of retirement and recommend products, helping prospects feel
financially secure. For this category, we evaluated the public site retirement planning resources available
from the main public site retirement education section. We evaluated the topics covered and the types of
resources available. Our assessment also considers how and whether these resources promote annuities
and whether they make direct product recommendations. As the most thorough retirement resources are
useless if prospects cannot find them, we also evaluate the findability and organization of these resources.
Public Site Retirement Education Resources
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Brighthouse earns this category’s gold medal for its varied, thorough and well-organized
retirement education resources.

8. Public site retirement savings calculators are an important tool for helping prospects gauge whether their
savings will generate sufficient income in retirement. As a majority of Americans do not know how much
they need to retire, calculators can put a concrete dollar figure on the abstract concept of retirement. We
consider the findability and intuitiveness of each tool—a calculator with more options is not necessarily
better than a simpler one, if the complex one is discouragingly complicated. Users should be able to get an
accurate estimate of their retirement income with a minimal number of inputs. The best calculators include
more complex options but place these advanced options within an expandable section or on the results
page. Leading calculators also include help tools, such as balloon tips and FAQs, to explain the methodology
and assumptions that go into the calculation.
Public Site Retirement Savings Calculators
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AXA takes gold in this category for offering a robust calculator with excellent findability,
requiring only basic inputs but offering expansive optional inputs.

9. Online libraries of statements, annual reports, tax forms and other key documents provide account owners
with immediate, convenient access to document copies without requiring them to contact firms. After first
examining this category in 2017, we return to it this year as the importance of thorough and well-organized
document centers continue to grow in a digital-first world. When assessing this category, we focus first on
organizational capabilities, as these dramatically improve the usability of large document libraries. We also
evaluate the findability of these document libraries, as well as the types of documents available. We also
note help features, which can aid account owners who may not regularly read annuity-related materials or
who wish to update their eDelivery preferences. Additionally, we evaluate the ability to upload documents,
which helps enable secure and convenient communication with firms.
Account Owner Document Centers
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USAA again earns the gold medal, offering the most robust document center for annuity
account owners, with customization options and upload and storing capabilities.

10. Online self-service capabilities benefit both account owners and firms. Account owners increasingly expect
financial firms to allow them to make changes easily and intuitively online, as 84% of banks allow online
servicing for all major changes. Online capabilities allow immediate changes and save account owners from
needing to call, email or print and mail forms to their annuity firm. When assessing this category, we
evaluated each firm’s offerings for updating contract information, personal profiles and contact information.
We examined beneficiary changes, as account owners will need to update these whenever families grow.
Relatedly, we noted when contact owners could change information about themselves, such as name or
citizenship, to account for life changes such as marriage or relocation. We also evaluated the additional
security requirements for updating information, such as two-factor authentication.
Account Owner Self-Service Capabilities
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Fidelity earns the gold medal for its wide range of self-service options and leading help
resources.

11. Advisors visit a firm’s website to research products, access client information, find sales information and
manage client accounts. As advisor sites can be sprawling, homepages and navigation menus do not always
provide an efficient route to desired content. Intuitive and accurate search tools benefit both advisors and
firms, as advisors may be less likely to sell a product if they cannot find relevant information about it on the
advisor site. Moreover, a good search tool increases the usability of a site as a whole. When assessing this
category, we focus on findability and usability, as well as the quality and accuracy of search results. We
evaluate capabilities that aid advisors as they search, such as suggested search terms. We also assess the
tools available on the search results page, such as filters and text descriptions within the results
themselves. We evaluated the accuracy of results and the availability of help tools specific to search.
Advisor Site Search
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AXA takes the gold for offering the most search- and results-related features of any firm,
including suggested search terms, predictive search and corrections for common
misspellings.

12. The book of business is a pivotal offering at the heart of any annuity advisor site. As the book of business is
the key advisor site reference point, advisors must be able to review client information upon login in a
comprehensive and easily findable book of business. In our 2018 survey, 80% of advisors who sold annuities
stated that client resources like the book of business were “very important” or “extremely important.” With
knowledge from this survey, we adjusted the weighted attributes of this category since we last examined
book of business functionalities in 2016. Top firms offer a straightforward design with access to all client
information, including documents, and sophisticated search capabilities. Additionally, advisors should be
able to print, download or export client information for files. The three medalists also allow transactions
from the book of business, streamlining access to important processes.
Advisor Book of Business
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Lincoln Financial Group receives the gold medal for its integrated book of business,
providing all accounts serviced by the advisor in an intuitive and detailed table, with
advanced search options.

13. OVERVIEW AND CONTACT
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14. Full report
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ANNUAL ANNUITY MONITOR
AWARDS
Annuity Monitor
AWARDS REPORT
DECEMBER 2019
ACCESS THE FULL REPORT

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About CI
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16. Andrew Way
Director
646 751 6975
away@corporateinsight.com
Patrick Flood
Senior Research Associate
646 876 7535
pflood@corporateinsight.com
Contact us
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