Glossary

An enhanced earnings benefit is an optional rider on a deferred annuity contract that pays the beneficiary an additional amount at the contract owner's death, calculated as a percentage of the contract's investment earnings, intended to provide funds toward the income-tax burden that the beneficiary will incur on those earnings. Why it matters Annuity earnings pass to beneficiaries as ordinary income rather than receiving the step-up-in-basis tax treatment that applies to many oth

Ergodicity is the property of a system in which the average outcome experienced by a single participant over time equals the average outcome across many participants at any given moment, allowing time-averaging and ensemble-averaging to produce the same result. Why it matters Many arguments about retirement income implicitly assume that what is true on average across many people is true for any one person over time. Ergodicity names the condition under which this assumption is val