Annuities Disclosure

Introduction

An individual annuity is a long-term investment contract that provides you with an option to annuitize at retirement. An annuitized contract can potentially provide you with a regular stream of income, for as long as you live or for a designated period of time after your retirement. Individual annuities also typically include a death benefit.

Assets in an individual annuity grow tax deferred until they are withdrawn, and there are no contribution limits under federal tax law, unless the annuity is utilized as a funding vehicle for a qualified retirement plan or an IRA. Withdrawals of taxable amounts will be subject to ordinary income tax and possible mandatory federal income tax withholding. If taken prior to age 59 1/2, a 10% IRS penalty may also apply.

Revenue/Marketing/Education/Training/Allowance

Some variable annuity product sponsors pay Park Avenue Securities (PAS), Guardian's retail broker/dealer subsidiary, revenue/marketing/education and training for support of our Financial Representatives. Since this information may be an important consideration in your decision to purchase a particular annuity product, you should read more about these payments in each variable annuity prospectus and statement of additional information. PAS may receive compensation of up to 0.25 percent on annuity sales. For example, if you purchased $10,000 in annuities from the applicable sponsor for one year, PAS could receive up to $25.

It is important to note that PAS Financial Representatives do not receive any portion of these fees which are separate from and in addition to other fees and charges applicable to each product.

Representatives of variable annuity sponsors are, subject to the discretion of Branch Office Managers, provided access to our branch offices and Financial Representatives for educational, marketing, and other promotional efforts. Although all variable annuity sponsors are provided with such access, some sponsors devote more staff and resources to these activities and therefore may have enhanced opportunities to promote their variable annuity products to our Financial Representatives. This fact could in turn lead our Financial Representatives to focus on those variable annuity products when recommending variable annuity products to our clients, instead of on variable annuities from those product sponsors that do not commit similar resources to education, marketing, and other promotional efforts.

The listing of individual variable annuity sponsors currently participating in this type of support is set forth below:

Other Expense Reimbursements: PAS and/or your Financial Representative may be reimbursed by variable annuity companies or their affiliates or other service providers for the expenses PAS and/or your Financial Representative may incur for various sales meetings, seminars, and conferences held in the normal course of business. Although variable annuity companies independently decide what they will spend on these activities, we are aware that some companies allocate their promotional budgets based upon prior sales and asset levels and that they work with our branch offices or Financial Advisors to plan promotional and educational activities on the basis of such budgets. We do not control variable annuity companies' determinations of how to allocate their promotional budgets or their spending decisions in this regard. Note that PAS policies establish procedures intended to ensure that the acceptance of the type of compensation described in this paragraph is carried out in conformity with applicable industry regulations. In particular, all proposed compensation of this type must be fully disclosed to, and approved in writing by, the PAS Compliance Department prior to acceptance.

FINRA rules prohibit Financial Representatives from receiving cash or non-cash compensation unless prior approval is obtained from the Financial Representative’s employing broker/dealer. Based upon this rule, no Financial Representative may accept cash or non-cash compensation from any product sponsor, unless express prior written approval is obtained from the PAS Compliance Department. 

PAS is a wholly owned subsidiary of GIAC. Guardian, GIAC and PAS are located at 10 Hudson Yards, New York, NY 10001.

Individual variable annuities and variable insurance products are sold by prospectus only. The prospectus contains important information, including risks, fees and expenses. Please read it carefully before investing or sending money. To obtain a prospectus, please call 800-221-3253.