Beneficial Life forms partnership with firm in Vermont
Deseret News 8Jan99
By Gregory P. Kratz: Deseret News

Goal is to expand mutual funds and other services

Salt Lake-based Beneficial Life Insurance Co. is joining forces with Equity Services Inc. of Vermont, the broker/dealer affiliate of National Life Insurance Co.to expand its offerings of mutual funds and variable annuities.

"We have always been strong on products we manufacture, but our agents didn't have access to mutual funds, variable annuities, variable universal life and so on," Richard Smurthwaite, Beneficial's VP of Marketing reported.

Under the agreement, Beneficial agents will be able to offer the Sentinel Funds, a group of 13 mutual funds managed by Sentinel Advisors Co., a National Life affiliate. Beneficial also will offer the Sentinel Advantage tax-deferred variable annuity, Sentinel Estate Provider life insurance program and VariTrak variable life insurance program.

Variable annuities accounted for about 75 percent of the total annuity market in 1998, Smurthwaite said, but Beneficial agents did not have access to that sector. That makes this a very important move for Beneficial.

The VariTrak program may be of special interest to Utahns, because it will offer Beneficial's popular mission-costs rider. The rider pays the costs of a dependent child's voluntary ecclesiastical service if the insured person is disabled while the child is serving, Smurthwaite explained.