NEW YORK, April 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, pioneer of variable life coverage, now introduces a Market Stabilizer Option(sm) on its variable universal life insurance product. Using innovative upside caps and a downside buffer, the Market Stabilizer Option can help smooth the impact of equity volatility on a policy.
Along with providing a death benefit to protect beneficiaries, most variable life products offer the potential for policy growth through market exposure, since premiums are invested in variable portfolios. Now, with the Market Stabilizer Option (MSO) on its Incentive Life Optimizer® product, AXA Equitable offers both policy growth potential and downside protection. The MSO is a policy investment option that offers a rate of return tied to the S&P 500 Price Return index*, up to a growth cap. It also provides a downside buffer of up to 25% if there is a decline in the performance of the index. The growth cap and downside buffer work in tandem to capture a portion of the index’s upside potential while protecting policy values from the adverse effects of volatility.
“The last two years have been among the most turbulent periods ever for equity investors. The related economic insecurity has actually increased consumer awareness of the need for life insurance,” said Christopher M. “Kip” Condron, chairman and chief executive officer of AXA Equitable. “We’re pleased that our Incentive Life Optimizer Market Stabilizer Option now offers in one product a way to help shield clients from significant loss while also easing them back into equity-based investing.”
How the Market Stabilizer Option Works
Using a 15 percent growth cap rate as a hypothetical example, here is how the MSO operates to stabilize volatility:
If the S&P 500 Price Return The Market Stabilizer Option indexed- index rate of return linked rate of return on the Segment (excluding dividends): Maturity Date will: Increases 15 percent or more Equal 15 percent Increases less than 15% Equal the index performance, excluding Stays flat or declines 25 dividends percent or less Equal zero Decline by only 5 percent, not by 30 Declines 30 percent percent
For more information, visit AXA Equitable Life
