The sentence that sells a variable annuity is a reassuring one, and it usually arrives near the end of the meeting: You can never get back less than you put in. Even Suze Orman agrees, saying on an episode of her show, "You will never get less than what you originally put in. Now that is true, but you have to die for that to be true."
She is not calling the guarantee fictional, but as she put it, "The contract guarantees to pay you what that contract is worth at the time that you die, or at least 100% of what you put into the contract." The floor is a death benefit that pays out to a beneficiary. It is not a promise that the account will be worth at least what was paid in on the day the owner wants the money.
