- quote -

How so? The commission doesnt come out of invested amount does it?
Obviously if the person surrenders, the surrender charge covers the
sales charge in the background but a person who leaves their money in
does not pay a sales charge do they?
I dont know about ING but with some others you not only do not pay a
sales charge, you get a bonus upfront which also grows along with your
invested amount. What the salesperson makes in the background is
irrelevant isnt it. I mean from an investment point of view. If I shop
around for a car and find the best out of pocket scenario to me and the
best financing terms why do I want to think about what the salesperson
makes or does not make.

If ING charges a commission that reduces the invested amount then my
comments do not apply. We all know that there are surrender charges
that go with annuities and penalties to withdrawal as there are with
most retirement-oriented funding plans. That is a separate issue from
commissions though.
Where are the commissions that are "awfully high?"
If there are some, then I am here to learn. I just dont see them yet.

Winter

Winter wrote:
- quote -



EXCELLENTLY PUT......
Cal Lester CLU

Use them for 2 years now. Never had a problem. Check out
www.bankrate.com for other options and bank ratings.

BMS wrote:
- quote -

Problems are:

1. Surrender fees
2. Most of the people buying them were old.
3. Many of the people being sold them were already in other annuities
but were enticed by the guaranteed premium percentage matching, which
wound up just going to offset the surrender charges anyway.

Of course this is not an issue is the investors themselves could/would
read the prospectus, but they don't.

But the
- quote -

Compared to what?

The commission is the cost of doing business, the customer should look at
the return and see if they are getting value. If a client can put his
principal into a product and be guaranteed that the sum will be tripled for
him to create a stream of money for the rest of his life 20 years later,
where's the problem.

"NW" <nowhere[at]noplace.com> wrote in message
news:BxNce.1777$Rl6.1578[at]trndny08...
- quote -

I highly recommend ING. You get higher rate with this savings account than 1
year CDs at most banks. I've done over 50 transactions with no problems
whatsoever.

BMS wrote:
- quote -

Key words being "used properly". For most people, it's not. But the
commissions are awfully high.

mark

The ING Variable Annuity product is a very good product, used properly.
Their Principal Protection and other guarantees are well received by people
planning for retirement.


- quote -

John A. Weeks III wrote:

- quote -

I've used them for the past couple of years. It's a great yield and the
website works great, no problems. Never had a need to email/call
customer service.

They used
- quote -

To clarify: ING (International Netherlands Group) has been around a long
time now. They purchased Reliastar in the year 1999 or 2000. Prior to
that, they went on a spending spree over the previous decade, purchasing
up lots of financial services companies in order to have a stake in
every type of financial service possible. In 1999, they were 13th on
the, I believe it was Forbes?, Global 50 list of companies. In other
words, huge.

They purchased the famed Barings Bank for $1 (and assumed a lot of debt)
due to the commodities trader who single-handedly sunk that bank, the
words oldest and at one time most prestigious. There was a terrible
movie made about that guy and how he brought down Barings. ING is
mentioned briefly at the very end, as an outro. I forget the guys name,
but it's an interesting story.

Not sure who NWNL is - I'm sure it is another US-based insurance
provider that ING scarfed up in around the turn of the century (2000),
during their major growth period. They also at that time opened up ING
DIrect, and purchased Aetna financial services and Golden American Life
Insurance Company. A whole bunch more too. I'm just mentioning the ones
I remember.

I know this because I worked for them from 1999 to 2000. I used to teach
the new hire training program there (among many other things) for the
subsidiary known as ING Variable Annuities (formerly Golden American
Life Insurance Company). I'm ashamed to say we sold Variable Annuities,
and eventually fixed annuities as well. (I'm not a big fan of them
becuase they were sold to a lot of people who should have never been
sold VAs). The big seller was the Premium Plus product, which gave a 5%
match on premiums. It was a way for agents, in typical fashion, to churn
up some more cash for themselves.

I used to start every new hre training with a "Welcome to the largest
company you've never heard of." It always got a chuckle. Then I sprung
em with the financial info on the company to back it up. At that time,
they hadn't started doing TV ads until about mid-2000, so although they
were very well-known in Europe, no one in the USA had heard of them. Now
most everyone knows who they are, due to the bouncing orange ball and
great savings rate : )

mark
www.sixstringtheory.com

Been using them for the past three years. LOVE thier service.
Cal



NW wrote:
- quote -

In article <BxNce.1777$Rl6.1578[at]trndny08> , "NW" <nowhere[at]noplace.comwrote:

- quote -

I know several people who have done this, and they all seem happy
with the choice. ING is pretty substantial company. They used
to be called NWNL (Northwest National Life), then they became
Reliastar, and now ING (its a beginning, not an ending, as they
say), so they have been around a long time despite the relatively
new name.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

I'm considering opening an "Orange" savings account with ING to squeeze out
more yield than I'm getting with my credit union for my emergency fund
money. They tie the account to your banks checking acct. so that you have
fairly easy access to the money. I can get an approximate 50% yield
increase by doing this, 2% to 3%.

I'd appreciate any feedback on ING such as their customer service, financial
stability, etc. and any other general comments. Thanks.