For years The Hartford’s Director variable annuity was the rock of the variable annuity industry. For almost a decade it was the best selling broker sold variable Annuity product, behind TIAA-CREF. Last week that legacy came to an end as the Director variable annuity ceased to exist for new investors and was folded into the Hartford Leaders product.

The Hartford’s Planco division once boasted that the Director product will always be the best selling variable annuity with the Leaders product a close second. Sadly, they were the last to see that the writing was on the walls years ago and single managed variable annuity products were irrelevant. In 2005 they tried to turn the ill fated Director Annuity around by introducing a multi-managed approach, they added some 55 different sub-accounts from various managers.

What they did not count on was that their success with the Hartford Leaders product would undo what they were trying to accomplish. The Leaders variable annuity had 4 main fund families that went deep, offering many sub-accounts from each manager. All of the fund families were top shelf names, American Funds, Franklin, MFS and AIM which are among the top selling fund families in the advisor arena. The Director annuity though went for the shallow and wide, offering many Hartford sub-accounts but only a smattering of other money managers.

The Leaders annuity saw huge growth, from nothing in 2000 to $10 billion or so in recent years. That success, in our opinion, tainted the efforts of the Director product. Also, the other issue was saturation of the marketplace with both the Leaders and the Director wholesalers covering the same advisors. It was total overkill.

It was no surprise that the Director failed, it was too little too late.