Prospectus
May 1, 2024
RiverSource®
Retirement Group Annuity Contract I
GROUP DEFERRED COMBINATION FIXED/VARIABLE ANNUITIES
| Issued by: |
RiverSource Life Insurance Company (RiverSource Life) |
| |
70100 Ameriprise Financial Center Minneapolis, MN 55474 Telephone: 1-800-862-7919 (Service Center) ameriprise.com/variableannuities RiverSource Variable Account 10 |
This prospectus contains information that you should know before investing in the RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I (the Contract), group deferred combination fixed/variable annuities issued by RiverSource Life Insurance Company (“RVS Life”, “we”, “us” and “our”). It is designed to fund employer group retirement plans that meet the requirements of Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). All material terms and conditions of the contracts, including material state variations and distribution channels, are described in this prospectus.
If you are a new participant in the RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I, you may examine your certificate and cancel enrollment in your contract within 10 days of receiving it without paying fees or penalties. In some states, this cancellation period may be longer. Upon cancellation, you will receive your total Contract Value and will not be assessed any fees or penalties on that amount. Alternatively, if state law requires, you will instead receive a refund of purchase payments and will not be assessed any fees or penalties. You should review this prospectus, or consult with your investment professional, for additional information about the specific cancellation terms that apply.
Additional information about certain investment products, including variable annuities, has been prepared by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s staff and is available at Investor.gov.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these securities or determined if this prospectus is accurate or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 1
Table of Contents
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2 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Key Terms
These terms can help you understand details about your contract and certificate.
Accumulation unit: A measure of the value of each subaccount prior to the application of amounts to an annuity payment plan.
Annuitant, Joint Annuitant: The participant named in each certificate on whose life or life expectancy the annuity payouts are based. A joint annuitant can be named by the participant on the annuitization start date.
Annuitization start date: The date when annuity payments begin according to the applicable annuity payment plan.
Annuity payouts: An amount paid at regular intervals under one of several plans.
Assumed investment return: The rate of return we assume your investments will earn when we calculate your initial annuity payout amount using the annuity table in your certificate. The standard assumed investment return we use is 5% but you may request we substitute an assumed investment return of 3.5%.
Beneficiary: The person a participant designates to receive benefits in case of participant’s death while the certificate is in force.
Certificate: The document issued to each participant under a contract describing the terms of the contract and the rights and benefits available to the participant.
Certificate account: An account established for each participant under the contract to maintain a record of payments, transactions and the value of each participant’s investment.
Certificate account value: The total value of a participant’s certificate account at any point in time.
Certificate date: The date from which certificate anniversaries, certificate years, and certificate months are determined. It is the effective date of a participant’s certificate account.
Certificate year: A period of 12 months, starting on the certificate date and on each anniversary of the certificate date.
Close of business: The time the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) closes (4 p.m. Eastern time unless the NYSE closes earlier).
Code: The Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
Contract: The group flexible premium deferred variable annuity contract by and between RiverSource Life and the contract holder. The contract describes the terms of the annuity contract, the rights of the contract holder and the rights and benefits of the participants.
Contract holder (Plan Sponsor, Employer): The employer that owns this contract and has established and sponsors the Plan. The contract holder, as the employer,
accommodates elective deferral contributions and nonelective contributions made by or on behalf of participants.
Contract year: A period of 12 months, starting on the effective date of your contract and on each anniversary of the effective date.
ERISA: Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, and regulations thereunder.
Fixed Account: Part of our general account which includes the loan account and the Special DCA fixed account. Amounts allocated to this account earn interest at rates that we declare periodically.
Funds: A portfolio of an open-end management investment company that is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") in which the Subaccounts invest. May also be referred to as an underlying Fund.
Good order: We cannot process your transaction request relating to the contract until we have received the request in good order at our Service Center. “Good order” means the actual receipt of the requested transaction in writing, along with all information, forms and supporting legal documentation necessary to effect the transaction. To be in “good order,” your instructions must be sufficiently clear so that we do not need to exercise any discretion to follow such instructions. This information and documentation generally includes your completed request; the contract number; the transaction amount (in dollars); the names of and allocations to and/or from the subaccounts and the fixed account affected by the requested transaction; Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number; and any other information, forms or supporting documentation that we may require. For certain transactions, at our option, we may require the signature of all contract owners for the request to be in good order. With respect to purchase requests, “good order” also generally includes receipt of sufficient payment by us to effect the purchase. We may, in our sole discretion, determine whether any particular transaction request is in good order, and we reserve the right to change or waive any good order requirements at any time.
Guarantee Period: The number of successive 12-month periods that a guaranteed interest rate is credited.
Guarantee Period Accounts (GPAs): A nonunitized separate account to which you may allocate purchase payments or transfer certificate account value of at least $1,000. These accounts have guaranteed interest rates for guarantee periods we declare when you allocate purchase payments or transfer certificate account value to a GPA. These guaranteed rates and periods of time may vary by state. Unless an exception applies, transfers or surrenders from a GPA done more than 30 days before the end of the guarantee period will receive a market value adjustment, which may result in a gain or loss.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 3
Market Value Adjustment (MVA): A positive or negative adjustment assessed if any portion of a Guarantee Period Account is surrendered or transferred more than 30 days before the end of its guarantee period.
Participant (you, your): The person or persons for whom a certificate account is established under the plan as directed by the contract holder.
Plan: The written plan document established by the contract holder which meets the requirements of Section 403(b) of the Code.
Separate Account: An insulated segregated account, the assets of which are invested solely in the underlying Funds. We call this the Variable Account.
Service Center: Our department that processes all transaction and service requests for the contracts. We consider all transaction and service requests received when they arrive in good order at the Service Center. Any transaction or service requests sent or directed to any location other than our Service Center may end up delayed or not processed. Our Service Center address and telephone number are listed on the first page of the prospectus.
Subaccount: A division of the Variable Account, each of which invests in one Fund.
Surrender value: The amount you are entitled to receive if you make a full surrender from your certificate account. It is the certificate account value immediately prior to the surrender, minus any applicable charges and any loan amount, plus any positive or negative market value adjustment.
Valuation date: Any normal business day, Monday through Friday, on which the NYSE is open, up to the time it closes. At the NYSE close, the next valuation date begins. We calculate the accumulation unit value of each subaccount on each valuation date. If we receive your purchase payment or any transaction request (such as a transfer or surrender request) in good order at our Service Center before the close of business, we will process your payment or transaction using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the valuation date we received your payment or transaction request. On the other hand, if we receive your purchase payment or transaction request in good order at our Service Center at or after the close of business, we will process your payment or transaction using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the next valuation date. If you make a transaction request by telephone (including by fax), you must have completed your transaction by the close of business in order for us to process it using the accumulation unit value we calculate on that valuation date. If you were not able to complete your transaction before the close of business for any reason, including telephone service interruptions or delays due to high call volume, we will process your transaction using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the next valuation date.
Variable account: Refers to the RiverSource Variable Account 10, a separate account established to hold contract owners’ assets allocated to the Subaccounts, each of which invests in a particular Fund.
4 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Important Information You Should Consider About the Certificate
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FEES AND EXPENSES |
Location in Statutory Prospectus | ||
| Charges for early Withdrawals |
We do not assess charges for withdrawals. |
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| Transaction Charges |
We do not assess any transaction charges. |
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| Ongoing Fees and Expenses (annual charges) |
The table below describes the current fees and expenses that you may pay each year. |
Fee Table and Examples Expenses – Product Charges Appendix A:Funds Available Under the Contract and Certificate | ||
| Annual Fee |
Minimum |
Maximum | ||
| Base Contract(1) |
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| Fund options (Funds fees and expenses)(2) |
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| (1) (2) Because your Certificate is customizable, the choices you make affect how much you will pay. To help you understand the cost of owning your Certificate, the following table shows the lowest and highest cost you could pay each year, based on current charges. This estimate assumes that you do not take withdrawals from the Certificate. | ||||
| Lowest Annual Cost: $ |
Highest Annual Cost: $ | |||
| Assumes: •Investment of $100,000 •5% annual appreciation •Least expensive combination of Fund fees and expenses •No sales charge •No additional purchase payments, transfers or withdrawals |
Assumes: •Investment of $100,000 •5% annual appreciation •Most expensive combination of Fund fees and expenses •No sales charge •No additional purchase payments, transfers or withdrawals | |||
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RISKS |
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| Risk of Loss |
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Principal Risks | ||
| Not a Short-Term Investment |
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Principal Risks | ||
| Risks Associated with Investment Options |
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Principal Risks The Variable Account and the Funds: The Guarantee Period Accounts (GPAs) The Fixed Account | ||
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 5
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RISKS |
Location in Statutory Prospectus | ||
| Insurance Company Risks |
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Principal Risks The General Account | ||
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RESTRICTIONS |
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| Investments |
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Making the Most of Your Certificate– Transferring Among Accounts Substitution of Investments | ||
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TAXES |
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| Tax Implications |
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Taxes | ||
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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST |
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| Investment Professional Compensation |
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About the Service Providers | ||
6 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Overview of the Contract and Certificate
The contract described in this prospectus is designed as a funding vehicle for retirement plans under Section 403(b) of the Code. 403(b)Plan annuity contracts, which are also referred to as Tax Sheltered Annuities (TSAs), provide for certain tax benefits to eligible employees of public school systems and organizations that are tax exempt under the Code. The contract is an agreement between the contract holder(generally the employer authorized to hold retirement plan assets for the benefit of employees) and RiverSource Life. The contract is subject to the terms of the Plan to the extent that the terms of the plan are consistent with the terms of the contract. The contract holder may purchase the contract and participants may purchase certificates thereunder. Each participant in the Plan is issued a certificate evidencing the participant’s interest in the contract and describing its benefits. The participant is an employee for whose benefit the employer remits purchase payments to us. The participant’s rights are subject to any conditions and/or limitations imposed by the Plan.
Purpose: The purpose of the contract is to allow participants to accumulate money for retirement or a similar long-term goal by making one or more purchase payments.
The contract offers various benefits that may help you achieve financial goals.
It may be appropriate for you if you have a long-term investment horizon and your financial goals are consistent with the terms and conditions of the contract.
It is not intended for investors whose liquidity needs require frequent withdrawals. If you plan to manage your investment in the contract by frequent or short-term trading, the contract is not suitable for you.
Phases of the Contract:
The contract has two phases: the Accumulation Phase and the Income Phase.
Accumulation Phase. During the Accumulation Phase, you make purchase payments by investing in:subaccounts under your certificate, each of which has a particular investment objective, investment strategies, fees and expenses, the Special DCA fixed account and GPAs which earn interest at rates that we adjust periodically and declare when you make an allocation to that account. The GPAs have guaranteed interest rates for guarantee periods we declare when you allocate purchase payments or transfer certificate value to them. A positive or negative MVA is assessed if any portion of a Guarantee Period Account is surrendered or transferred more than thirty days before the end of its guarantee period. A prospectus containing more information regarding the GPA interests under the contracts is registered with the SEC (See File No. 333-263038). These accounts, in turn, may earn returns that increase the value of the certificate account. If the certificate account value goes to zero due to underlying fund’s performance or deduction of fees, the certificate will no longer be in force and the certificate will terminate.
A list of funds and additional information regarding each fund in which you can invest is provided in Appendix A -- Funds Available Under the Certificate.
The amount of money you accumulate under your certificate depends (in part) on the performance of the subaccounts you choose or the rates you earn on allocations to the Special Fixed Account. You may transfer money between investment options during the Accumulation Phase, subject to certain restrictions. Your certificate account value impacts the value of your contract’s benefits during the Accumulation Phase, as well as the amount available for withdrawal and annuitization.
The amount of money you accumulate under your certificate depends (in part) on the performance of the subaccounts you choose or the rates you earn on allocations to the Special Fixed Account. You may transfer money between investment options during the Accumulation Phase, subject to certain restrictions. Your certificate account value impacts the value of your contract’s benefits during the Accumulation Phase, as well as the amount available for withdrawal and annuitization.
Income Phase. The Income Phase begins when you (or your beneficiary) choose to annuitize the certificate. You can apply your certificate account value(less any applicable premium tax and/or other charges) to an annuity payout plan that begins on the annuitization start date or any other date you elect. You may choose from a variety of plans that can help meet your retirement or other income needs. We can make payouts on a fixed or variable basis, or both. You cannot take withdrawals of certificate account value or surrender the contract during the Income Phase. Your choices for subaccounts may be limited. The GPAs and the Special DCA fixed account are not available after the annuitization start date.
Contract features:
Death Benefits. If you die during the Accumulation Phase, we will pay a death benefit to your beneficiary or beneficiaries. The contract includes a standard death benefit at no additional charge. After the death benefit is paid, the certificate will terminate.
Surrenders. You may surrender all or part of your certificate account value, less any loan amount, at any time during the Accumulation Phase. If you request a full surrender, the certificate account will terminate. You also may establish automated partial surrenders. Surrenders may be subject to charges and income taxes (including an IRS penalty that may apply if you surrender prior to reaching age 59½) and may have other tax consequences. Throughout this prospectus when we use the term “Surrender” it includes the term “Withdrawal”.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 7
Tax Treatment. Generally, amounts contributed to a 403(b)plan are not taxed at the time of the contribution. Income earned on your certificate account also grows tax-deferred until you make surrenders or begin to receive payouts. Upon surrender, income taxes generally apply, (under certain circumstances, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) penalty taxes may apply to surrenders) unless you direct such amounts to be transferred to another investment within the 403(b)plan or have them directly rolled over to another eligible plan such as an IRA. Even if you direct payouts to someone else, generally you will be taxed on the income if you are the participant. (see “Taxes”)
Additional Services:
•
Dollar Cost Averaging Programs. Automated Dollar Cost Averaging allows you, at no additional cost, to transfer a set amount monthly between subaccounts. The Special Dollar Cost Averaging (SDCA), only available for new purchase payments, allows the systematic transfer from the Special DCA fixed account to one or more eligible subaccounts over a 6 or 12 month period.
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Asset Rebalancing. Allows you, at no additional cost, to automatically rebalance the subaccount portion of your certificate account value on a periodic basis.
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Automated Partial Surrenders. An optional service allowing you to set up automated partial surrenders from the Special DCA fixed account or the subaccounts.
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Electronic Delivery. You may register for the electronic delivery of your current prospectus and other documents related to your contract.
8 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Annual Certificate Expenses
| Annual certificate administrative charge |
Maximum: $ |
Current: $ |
| Annual certificate administrative charge if your certificate account value equals or exceeds $50,000 |
Maximum: $ |
Current: $ |
| Certificate administrative charge at full surrender |
Maximum: $ |
Current: $ |
(as a percentage of average daily certificate account value in the variable account)
| Mortality and expense risk fee |
% |
Annual Fund Expenses(1)
| Total Annual Fund Expenses |
Minimum(%) |
Maximum(%) |
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Examples
These examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in a certificate account with the cost of investing in other variable annuity contracts. These costs include Annual Contract Expenses and Annual Fund expenses.
These examples assume that you invest $100,000 in the certificate account for the time periods indicated. These examples also assume that your investment has a 5% return each year. The “Maximum” example further assumes the most expensive combination of Annual Contract Expenses and Annual Fund Expenses. The “Minimum” example further assumes the least expensive combination of Annual Contract Expenses and Annual Fund Expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your maximum and minimum costs would be:
Maximum Expenses. These examples assume the most expensive combination of certificate features and benefits and the maximum fees and expenses of any of the funds before fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. Although your actual costs may be lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
| If you surrender your certificate account at the end of the applicable time period: |
If you do not surrender your certificate account or if you select an annuity payout plan at the end of the applicable time period: | ||||||
| 1 year |
3 years |
5 years |
10 years |
1 year |
3 years |
5 years |
10 years |
| $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
Minimum Expenses. These examples assume the least expensive combination of certificate features and benefits and the minimum fees and expenses of any of the funds before fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. Although your actual costs may be higher, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
| If you surrender your certificate account at the end of the applicable time period: |
If you do not surrender your certificate account or if you select an annuity payout plan at the end of the applicable time period: | ||||||
| 1 year |
3 years |
5 years |
10 years |
1 year |
3 years |
5 years |
10 years |
| $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 9
THE EXAMPLES ARE ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY. YOU SHOULD NOT CONSIDER THESE EXAMPLES AS A REPRESENTATION OF PAST OR FUTURE EXPENSES. ACTUAL EXPENSES WILL BE HIGHER OR LOWER THAN THOSE SHOWN IF YOU ALLOCATE CERTIFICATE ACCOUNT VALUE TO ANY OTHER AVAILABLE SUBACCOUNTS.
10 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 11
The Variable Account and the Funds
The variable account: The Variable Account was established under Minnesota law on Aug. 23, 1995.The Variable Account, consisting of subaccounts, is registered together as a single unit investment trust under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act). This registration does not involve any supervision of our management or investment practices and policies by the SEC. All obligations arising under the contracts are general obligations of RiverSource Life.
The Variable Account meets the definition of a separate account under federal securities laws. Income, gains, and losses credited to or charged against the Variable Account reflect the Variable Account’s own investment experience and not the investment experience of RiverSource Life’s other assets. The Variable Account’s assets are held separately from RiverSource Life’s assets and are not chargeable with liabilities incurred in any other business of RiverSource Life. RiverSource Life is obligated to pay all amounts promised to contract owners under the contracts. The Variable Account includes other subaccounts that are available under contracts that are not described in this prospectus.
The IRS has issued guidance on investor control but may issue additional guidance in the future. We reserve the right to modify the contract or any investments made under the terms of the contract so that the investor control rules do not apply to treat the contract owner as the owner of the subaccount assets rather than the owner of an annuity contract. If the contract is not treated as an annuity contract for tax purposes, the owner may be subject to current taxation on any current or accumulated income credited to the contract.
We intend to comply with all federal tax laws so that the contract qualifies as an annuity for federal tax purposes. We reserve the right to modify the contract as necessary in order to qualify the contract as an annuity for federal tax purposes.
The Funds: The contract currently offers Subaccounts investing in shares of the Funds. Information regarding each Fund, including (i) its name, (ii) its investment objective, (iii) its investment adviser and any sub-investment adviser, (iv) current expenses, and (v) performance may be found in Appendix A to this prospectus.
Please read the Funds’ prospectuses carefully for facts you should know before investing. These prospectuses containing more detailed information about the Funds are available by contacting us at 70100 Ameriprise Financial Center, Minneapolis, MN 55474, telephone: 1-800-862-7919, website: Ameriprise.com/variable annuities.
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Investment objectives: The investment managers and advisers cannot guarantee that the Funds will meet their investment objectives.
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Fund name and management: An underlying Fund in which a Subaccount invests may have a name, portfolio manager, objectives, strategies and characteristics that are the same or substantially similar to those of a publicly-traded retail mutual fund. Despite these similarities, an underlying fund is not the same as any publicly-traded retail mutual fund. Each underlying fund will have its own unique portfolio holdings, fees, operating expenses and operating results. The results of each underlying fund may differ significantly from any publicly-traded retail mutual fund.
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Eligible purchasers: All Funds are available to serve as underlying funds for variable annuities and variable life insurance policies. The Funds are not available to the public (see “Fund name and management” above). Some Funds also are available to serve as investment options for tax-deferred retirement plans. It is possible that in the future for tax, regulatory or other reasons, it may be disadvantageous for variable annuity accounts and variable life insurance accounts and/or tax-deferred retirement plans to invest in the available funds simultaneously. Although we and the Funds’ providers do not currently foresee any such disadvantages, the boards of directors or trustees of each Fund will monitor events in order to identify any material conflicts between annuity owners, policy owners and tax-deferred retirement plans and to determine what action, if any, should be taken in response to a conflict. If a board were to conclude that it should establish separate Fund providers for the variable annuity, variable life insurance and tax-deferred retirement plan accounts, you would not bear any expenses associated with establishing separate Funds. Please refer to the Funds’ prospectuses for risk disclosure regarding simultaneous investments by variable annuity, variable life insurance and tax-deferred retirement plan accounts. Each Fund intends to comply with the diversification requirements under Section 817(h) of the Code.
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Asset allocation programs may impact Fund performance: Asset allocation programs in general may negatively impact the performance of an underlying fund. Even if you do not participate in an asset allocation program, a Fund in which your Subaccount invests may be impacted if it is included in an asset allocation program. Rebalancing or reallocation under the terms of the asset allocation program may cause a Fund to lose money if it must sell large amounts of securities to meet a redemption request. These losses can be greater if the Fund holds securities that are not as liquid as others; for example, various types of bonds, shares of smaller companies and securities of foreign issuers. A Fund may also experience higher expenses because it must sell or buy securities more frequently than it otherwise might in the absence of asset allocation program rebalancing or reallocations. Because asset
12 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
allocation programs include periodic rebalancing and may also include reallocation, these effects may occur under the asset allocation program we offer or under asset allocation programs used in conjunction with the contracts and plans of other eligible purchasers of the Funds.
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Funds available under the contract: We seek to provide a broad array of underlying funds taking into account the fees and charges imposed by each Fund and the certificate charges we impose. We select the underlying funds in which the Subaccounts initially invest and when there is substitution (see “Substitution of Investments”). We also make all decisions regarding which Funds to retain in a contract, which Funds to add to a contract and which Funds will no longer be offered in a contract. In making these decisions, we may consider various objective and subjective factors. Objective factors include, but are not limited to Fund performance, Fund expenses, classes of Fund shares available, size of the Fund and investment objectives and investing style of the Fund. Subjective factors include, but are not limited to, investment sub-styles and process, management skill and history at other Funds and portfolio concentration and sector weightings. We also consider the levels and types of revenue, including but not limited to expense payments and non-cash compensation of a Fund, its distributor, investment adviser, subadviser, transfer agent or their affiliates pay us and our affiliates. This revenue includes, but is not limited to compensation for administrative services provided with respect to the Fund and support of marketing and distribution expenses incurred with respect to the Fund.
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Money Market fund yield: In low interest rate environments, money market fund yields may decrease to a level where the deduction of fees and charges associated with your contract could result in negative net performance, resulting in a corresponding decrease in your certificate account value.
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Conflicts of Interest with Certain Funds Advised by Columbia Management. We are an affiliate of Ameriprise Financial, Inc., which is the parent company of Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (Columbia Management). Columbia Management acts as investment adviser to several funds of funds, including Portfolio Navigator and Portfolio Stabilizer funds. As such, it retains full discretion over the investment activities and investment decisions of the Funds. These funds invest in other registered mutual funds. In providing investment advisory services for the funds and the underlying funds in which those funds respectively invest, Columbia Management is, together with its affiliates, including us, subject to competing interests that may influence its decisions. These competing interests typically arise because Columbia Management Investment Advisers or one of its affiliates serves as the investment adviser to the underlying funds and may provide other services in connection with such underlying funds, and because the compensation we and our affiliates receive for providing these investment advisory and other services varies depending on the underlying fund.
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Revenue we receive from the Funds and potential conflicts of interest:
Expenses We May Incur on Behalf of the Funds
When a Subaccount invests in a Fund, the Fund holds a single account in the name of the Variable Account. As such, the Variable Account is actually the shareholder of the fund. We, through our Variable Account, aggregate the transactions of numerous contract owners and submit net purchase and redemption requests to the Funds on a daily basis. In addition, we track individual contract owner transactions and provide confirmations, periodic statements, and other required mailings. These costs would normally be borne by the fund, but we incur them instead.
Besides incurring these administrative expenses on behalf of the funds, we also incur distributions expenses in selling our contracts. By extension, the distribution expenses we incur benefit the funds we make available due to contract owner elections to allocate purchase payments to the funds through the Subaccounts. In addition, the funds generally incur lower distribution expenses when offered through our Variable Account in contrast to being sold on a retail basis.
A complete list of why we may receive this revenue, as well as sources of revenue, is described in detail below.
Payments the Funds May Make to Us
We or our affiliates may receive from each of the Funds, or their affiliates, compensation including but not limited to expense payments. These payments are designed in part to compensate us for the expenses we may incur on behalf of the Funds. In addition to these payments, the Funds may compensate us for wholesaling activities or to participate in educational or marketing seminars sponsored by the Funds.
We or our affiliates may receive revenue derived from the 12b-1 fees charged by the Funds. These fees are deducted from the assets of the Funds. This revenue and the amount by which it can vary may create conflicts of interest. The amount, type, and manner in which the revenue from these sources is computed vary by Fund.
Conflicts of Interest These Payments May Create
When we determined the charges to impose under the contracts, we took into account anticipated payments from the Funds. If we had not taken into account these anticipated payments, the charges under the contract would have been higher. Additionally, the amount of payment we receive from a Fund or its affiliate may create an incentive for us to include that Fund as an investment option and may influence our decision regarding which Funds to include in the Variable Account as subaccount options for contract owners. Funds that offer lower payments or no payments may also have corresponding expense structures that are lower, resulting in decreased overall fees and expenses to shareholders.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 13
We offer Funds managed by our affiliates Columbia Management and Columbia Wanger Asset Management, LLC (Columbia Wanger). We have additional financial incentive to offer our affiliated funds because additional assets held by them generally results in added revenue to us and our parent company, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Additionally, employees of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. and its affiliates, including our employees, may be separately incented to include the affiliated funds in the products, as employee compensation and business unit operating goals at all levels are tied to the success of the company. Currently, revenue received from our affiliated funds comprises the greatest amount and percentage of revenue we derive from payments made by the Funds.
The Amount of Payments We Receive from the Funds
We or our affiliates receive revenue which ranges up to 0.65% of the average daily net assets invested in the Funds through this and other contracts we and our affiliates issue.
Why revenues are paid to us: In accordance with applicable laws, regulations and the terms of the agreements under which such revenue is paid, we or our affiliates may receive revenue, including but not limited to expense payments and non-cash compensation, for various purposes:
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Compensating, training and educating financial advisors who sell the contracts and certificates.
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Granting access to our employees whose job it is to promote sales of the contracts/certificates by authorized selling firms and their financial advisors, and granting access to financial advisors of our affiliated selling firms.
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Activities or services we or our affiliates provide that assist in the promotion and distribution of the contracts/certificates including promoting the funds available under the contracts/certificates to contract holders and participants, authorized selling firms and financial advisors.
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Providing sub-transfer agency and shareholder servicing to contract holders and participants.
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Promoting, including and/or retaining the Fund’s investment portfolios as underlying Funds in the contracts/certificates.
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Advertising, printing and mailing sales literature, and printing and distributing prospectuses and reports.
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Furnishing personal services to contract holders and participants, including education of contract holders and participants regarding the Funds, answering routine inquiries regarding a Fund, maintaining accounts or providing such other services eligible for service fees as defined under the rules of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
•
Subaccounting services, transaction processing, recordkeeping and administration.
•
Sources of revenue received from affiliated funds: The affiliated funds are managed by Columbia Management or Columbia Wanger. The sources of revenue we receive from these affiliated funds, or from the funds’ affiliates, may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
•
Assets of the Fund’s adviser, sub-adviser, transfer agent, distributor or an affiliate of these. The revenue resulting from these sources may be based either on a percentage of average daily net assets of the Fund or on the actual cost of certain services we provide with respect to the Fund. We may receive this revenue either in the form of a cash payment or it may be allocated to us.
•
Compensation paid out of 12b-1 fees that are deducted from Fund assets.
•
Sources of revenue received from unaffiliated funds: The unaffiliated funds are not managed by an affiliate of ours. The sources of revenue we receive from these unaffiliated funds, or the funds’ affiliates, may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
•
Assets of the Fund’s adviser, sub-adviser, transfer agent, distributor or an affiliate of these. The revenue resulting from these sources may be based either on a percentage of average daily net assets of the Fund or on the actual cost of certain services we provide with respect to the Fund. We receive this revenue in the form of a cash payment.
•
Compensation paid out of 12b-1 fees that are deducted from Fund assets.
The Guarantee Period Accounts (GPAs) and Market Value Adjustment (MVA)
The GPAs may not be available for contracts /certificate accounts in some states (currently not available in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington).
Currently, you may allocate purchase payments and/or certificate account value to one or more of the GPAs with guarantee periods declared by us. These periods of time may vary by state. The required minimum investment in each GPA is $1,000.
GPAs are not available for investment after the annuitization start date.
14 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Each GPA pays an interest rate that is declared at the time of your allocation to that account. Interest is credited daily. That interest rate is fixed for the guarantee period that you chose. We may periodically change the declared interest rate for any future allocations to these accounts, but we will not change the rate paid on any certificate account value already allocated toa GPA.
A positive or negative MVA is assessed if any Certificate Value allocated to a GPA is surrendered or transferred to another investment option more than thirty days before the end of its guarantee period.
A positive or negative MVA is assessed if any Certificate Value allocated to a GPA is surrendered or transferred to another investment option more than thirty days before the end of its guarantee period.
We will not apply an MVA to contract value you transfer or surrender out of the GPAs during the 30-day period ending on the last day of the guarantee period (the “30-day Rule”).
During this 30 day window, which precedes the end of your GPA investment’s guarantee period, you may elect one of the following options: (i) reinvest the certificate account value in a new GPA with the same guarantee period ; (ii) transfer the certificate account value to a GPA with a different guarantee period; (iii) transfer the certificate account value to any of the subaccounts or the regular Fixed Account, or surrender the certificate account value (subject to applicable surrender and transfer provisions). If we do not receive any instructions by the end of your guarantee period, we will automatically transfer the certificate account value into the shortest GPA term offered in your state.
Per the 30-day Rule, we guarantee the contract value allocated to the GPAs, including interest credited, if you do not make any transfers or surrenders from the GPAs prior to 30 days before the end of the guarantee period. At all other times, and unless one of the exceptions to the 30-day Rule described below applies, we will apply an MVA if you surrender or transfer any certificate account value from a GPA or you elect an annuity payout plan while you have certificate account value invested in a GPA. We refer to these transactions as “early surrenders.” The application of an MVA may result in either a gain or loss of principal.
The 30-day Rule does not apply and no MVA will apply to:
•
Amounts deducted for fees and charges; and
•
Amounts we pay as death claims.
When you request an early surrender, we adjust the early surrender amount by an MVA formula. The MVA is sensitive to changes in current interest rates. The MVA, which can be zero, positive or negative, reflects the relationship between the guaranteed interest rate that applies to the GPA from which you are taking an early surrender and the interest rate we are then currently crediting on new GPAs that mature at the same time. The magnitude of any applicable MVA will depend on of the difference in these guaranteed interest rates at the time of the surrender and the time remaining in your guarantee period and your guaranteed interest rate. If interest rates have increased, the MVA will generally be negative and the early surrender amount will be less; if interest rates have decreased, the MVA will generally be positive and the early surrender amount will be increased. This is summarized in the following table:
| If your GPA rate is: |
The MVA is: |
| Less than the new GPA rate + 0.10% |
Negative |
| Equal to the new GPA rate + 0.10% |
Zero |
| Greater than the new GPA rate + 0.10% |
Positive |
For the MVA formula and an example, see Appendix B. Please refer to the prospectus containing more information about GPA and MVA, registered with the SEC (See File No. 333-263038).
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 15
The General Account
The general account includes all assets owned by RiverSource Life, other than those in the Variable Account and our other separate accounts. Subject to applicable state law, we have sole discretion to decide how assets of the general account will be invested. The assets held in our general account support the guarantees under your contract. These guarantees are subject to the claims-paying ability and financial strength of RiverSource Life. You should be aware that our general account is exposed to many of the same risks normally associated with a portfolio of fixed-income securities including interest rate, option, liquidity and credit risk. You should also be aware that we issue other types of annuities and financial instruments and products as well, and these obligations are satisfied from the assets in our general account. Our general account is not segregated or insulated from the claims of our creditors. The financial statements contained in the SAI include a further discussion of the risks inherent within the investments of the general account. The fixed account is supported by our general account that we make available under the contract.
The Fixed Account
Amounts allocated to the fixed account are part of our general account. The fixed account includes the Special DCA fixed account and the loan account. We credit interest on amounts you allocate to the fixed account at rates we determine from time to time at our discretion. Interest rates credited in excess of the guaranteed rate generally will be based on various factors related to future investment earnings. The guaranteed minimum interest rate offered will never be less than the fixed account minimum interest rate required under state law.
We back the principal and interest guarantees relating to the fixed account. These guarantees are subject to the creditworthiness and continued claims-paying ability of RiverSource Life
Because of exemptive and exclusionary provisions, we have not registered interests in the fixed account as securities under the Securities Act of 1933 nor have any of these accounts been registered as investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Accordingly, neither the fixed account nor any interests in the fixed account are subject to the provisions of these Acts.
The fixed account has not been registered with the SEC. Disclosures regarding the fixed account, however, are subject to certain generally applicable provisions of the federal securities laws relating to the accuracy and completeness of statements made in a prospectus.
The Special DCA Fixed Account
You may allocate purchase payments to the Special DCA fixed account. You may not transfer certificate account value to the Special DCA fixed account.
You may allocate your entire purchase payment to the Special DCA fixed account for a term of six or twelve months. We reserve the right to offer shorter or longer terms for the Special DCA fixed account.
In accordance with your investment instructions, we transfer amounts from the Special DCA fixed account to the subaccounts you select monthly so that, at the end of the Special DCA fixed account term, the balance of the Special DCA fixed account is zero. The amount of each transfer equals the remaining Special DCA fixed account value on the date of the transfer divided by the number of remaining transfers in the program. You may not change the amount of transfers. The first Special DCA monthly transfer occurs one day after we receive your payment. You may not use any GPA as a destination for the Special DCA monthly transfer.
The value of the Special DCA fixed account increases when we credit interest to the Special DCA fixed account, and decreases when we make monthly transfers from the Special DCA fixed account. When you allocate a purchase payment to the Special DCA fixed account, the interest rates applicable to that purchase payment will be the rates in effect for the Special DCA fixed account term you choose on the date we receive your purchase payment. The applicable interest rate is guaranteed for the length of the term for the Special DCA fixed account term you choose. We credit and compound interest daily based on a 365-day year (366 in a leap year) so as to produce the annual effective rate which we declare. We credit interest only on the declining balance of the Special DCA fixed account; we do not credit interest on amounts that have been transferred from the Special DCA fixed account. As a result, the net effective interest rates we credit will be less than the declared annual effective rates. Generally, we will credit the Special DCA fixed account with interest at the annual effective rate we apply on the date we receive your purchase payment, regardless of the length of the term you select. From time to time, we may credit interest to the Special DCA fixed account at promotional rates that are higher. We reserve the right to declare different annual effective rates:
•
for the Special DCA fixed account; and
•
for the Special DCA fixed accounts with terms of differing length.
16 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Alternatively, you may allocate your purchase payment to any combination of the following which equals one hundred percent of the amount you invest:
•
the Special DCA fixed account for a six month term;
•
the Special DCA fixed account for a twelve month term;
•
the GPAs and/or the subaccounts, subject to investment minimums and other restrictions we may impose on investments in the GPAs.
Once you establish a Special DCA fixed account, you cannot allocate additional purchase payments to it. However, you may establish another Special DCA fixed account and allocate new purchase payments to it.
You may discontinue any Special DCA fixed account before the end of its term by giving us notice. If you do so, we will transfer the remaining balance of the Special DCA fixed account in accordance with your investment instructions to us to the GPAs and/or the subaccounts, subject to investment minimums and other restrictions we may impose on investments in the GPAs, including but not limited to, any limitations described in this prospectus on transfers (see “Transfer policies”).
Dollar-cost averaging from the Special DCA fixed account does not guarantee that any subaccount will gain in value nor will it protect against a decline in value if market prices fall. For an example of how Special DCA dollar-cost averaging works, see table below showing the Special DCA fixed account for a six-month term.
How Special dollar-cost averaging works
| By spreading the investment over the term of the Special DCA |
|
Date |
SDCA Balance |
Portion Transferred |
Amount Transferred |
Accumulation unit value |
Number of units purchased |
| you automatically buy more units when the per unit market price is low |
|
Jan 15th |
$5,000.00 |
|
|
|
|
| |
Jan 16th |
5,000.14 |
1/6 |
$833.36 |
$18 |
46.30 | |
| → |
Feb 16th |
4,170.30 |
1/5 |
834.06 |
15 |
55.60 | |
| and fewer units when the per unit market price is high. |
|
Mar 16th |
3,338.79 |
1/4 |
834.70 |
19 |
43.93 |
| |
April 16th |
2,506.20 |
1/3 |
835.40 |
17 |
49.14 | |
| → |
May 16th |
1,672.17 |
1/2 |
836.09 |
21 |
39.81 | |
| |
|
Jun 16th |
836.79 |
1/1 |
836.79 |
20 |
41.84 |
You paid an average price of $18.11. per unit over the 6 months, while the average market price actually was $18.33.
The Loan Account
On the date your loan is processed, the loan amount is subtracted pro rata from all accounts in which you are invested, except the Special DCA fixed account and GPAs, and transferred to a loan account.
The loan account will earn interest daily. The current crediting rate will never be less than the fixed account minimum interest rate
You may not make exchanges from the certificate account or plan to plan transfers from the loan account until after repayment of the loan balance. For more information about loans and loan account, see “Loans”.
Enrolling Under the Contract
Only employers with retirement plans qualified for tax favored treatment under section 403(b) of the Code may be issued a contract.
To enroll under the contract, you need to fill out an enrollment form and send it along with your initial purchase payment to our Service Center. We are required by law to obtain personal information from you which we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide this information we reserve the right to refuse to issue your certificate or take other steps we deem reasonable. As the owner, you have all rights and may receive all benefits under the contract. You cannot own a certificate in joint tenancy. You can enroll if you are 90 or younger.
When you enroll, you may select (if available in your state):
•
GPAs, subaccounts and/or the Special DCA fixed account in which you want to invest;
•
how you want to make purchase payments;
•
a beneficiary.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 17
The certificate provides for allocation of purchase payments to the subaccounts of the variable account, to the GPAs and/or to the Special DCA fixed account subject to the $1,000 required minimum investment for the GPAs. We currently allow you to allocate the total amount of purchase payment to the Special DCA fixed account. We reserve the right to limit purchase payment allocations to the Special DCA fixed account at any time on a non-discriminatory basis with notification, subject to state restrictions. You cannot terminate automated transfers from the Special DCA fixed account prior to the end of the Special DCA fixed account term. (See “Purchase Payments.”)
If your enrollment form is complete, we will process it and apply your purchase payment to your investment selections within two business days after we receive it at our Service Center. If we accept your enrollment form, we will send you a certificate. If your enrollment form is not complete, you must give us the information to complete it within five business days. If we cannot accept your enrollment form within five business days, we will decline it and return any payment unless you specifically ask us to keep the payment and apply it once your enrollment form is complete.
We may discontinue enrolling new participants into the contract. In that case, we will notify the contract holder that no new participants will be enrolled under the contract on and after a specified date not earlier than 60 days after the date of the notice.
We will credit additional eligible purchase payments you make to your accounts on the valuation date we receive them. If we receive an additional purchase payment at our Service Center before the close of business, we will credit any portion of that payment allocated to the subaccounts using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the valuation date we received the payment. If we receive an additional purchase payment at our Service Center at or after the close of business, we will credit any portion of that payment allocated to the subaccounts using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the next valuation date after we received the payment.
Unless you may make regular payments to your certificate account under a scheduled payment plan, you must make an initial purchase payment of $2,000 (see “Enrolling under the Contract — Purchase Payments”). To begin a scheduled payment plan, you should contact the contract holder who will provide applicable forms. There is no charge for the scheduled payment plan. You can stop your scheduled payment plan payments at any time.
Householding and delivery of certain documents
With your prior consent, RiverSource Life and its affiliates may use and combine information concerning accounts owned by members of the same household and provide a single paper or electronic copy of certain documents to that household. This householding of documents may include prospectuses, supplements, annual reports, semiannual reports and proxies. Your authorization remains in effect unless we are notified otherwise. If you wish to continue receiving multiple copies of these documents, you can opt out of householding by calling us at 1.866.273.7429. Multiple mailings will resume within 30 days after we receive your opt out request.
The Annuitization Start Date
Annuity payouts begin on the annuitization start date. This means that the certificate account value, after market value adjustment of any GPAs, if applicable, will be annuitized or converted to a stream of monthly payments. If your certificate is annuitized, the certificate goes into payout and only the annuity payout provisions continue. You will no longer have access to your certificate account value. This means that the death benefit will end. When we process your enrollment form, we will establish the annuitization start date to be the maximum age (or certificate anniversary if applicable). You also can change the annuitization start date, provided you send us written instructions at least 30 days before annuity payouts begin.
The annuitization start date must be:
•
no earlier than the 30th day after the certificate date; and no later than
•
your 95th birthday or the tenth certificate anniversary, if later,
•
or such other date as agreed to by us.
Six months prior to your annuitization start date, we will contact you with your options including the option to postpone your annuitization start date to a future date. You can also choose to delay the annuitization of your certificate to a date beyond age 95, to the extent allowed by applicable state law and tax laws.
If you do not make an election, annuity payouts using the certificate’s default option of annuity payout Plan B — Life with 10 years certain will begin on the annuitization start date and your monthly annuity payments will continue for as long as you live. If you do not survive 10 years, beneficiaries will continue to receive payments until 10 years of payments have been made.
Generally, if tax laws require that you take distributions from your annuity prior to your annuitization start date, your certificate will not be automatically annuitized (subject to state requirements). However, if you choose, you can elect to request annuitization or take surrenders to meet your required minimum distributions.
18 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Beneficiary
We will pay to your named beneficiary the death benefit if it becomes payable while the certificate is in force and before the annuitization start date. If there is more than one beneficiary we will pay each beneficiary’s designated share when we receive their completed claim. A beneficiary will bear the investment risk of the variable account until we receive the beneficiary’s completed claim. If there is no named beneficiary, then the default provisions of the contract and certificate will apply. (See “Benefits in Case of Death” for more about beneficiaries.)
Purchase Payments
Purchase payments are payments made by you or on your behalf for the benefits described in the certificate. Purchase payment amounts and purchase payment timing may vary by state and be limited under the terms of the contract and Plan. If we do not receive your initial purchase payment within 180 days from the enrollment signed date, we will consider your certificate void from the start.
| Minimum initial purchase payments*: |
$2,000 |
| Minimum additional purchase payments*: |
|
| If paying by installments under a group bill: |
$25.00 |
| If paying by any other method: |
$50.00 |
Maximum total purchase payments** (without our approval) based on your age on the effective date of the payment:
| For the first year and total: through age 85 |
$1,000,000 |
| for ages 86 to 90 |
$100,000 |
| age 91 or older |
$0 |
| For each subsequent year: through age 85 |
$100,000 |
| for ages 86 to 90 |
$50,000 |
| age 91 or older |
$0 |
*
If a group billing arrangement is set up through your employer, the minimum initial and minimum additional purchase payment is $25.00.
**
These limits apply in total to all RiverSource Life annuities you own unless a higher amount applies to your certificate account. We reserve the right to waive or increase the maximum limit. The Code’s limits on annual contributions also apply.
Subject to state restrictions, we reserve the right to change the above purchase payment limitations, including making further restrictions, upon written notice.
How to Make Purchase Payments
1 By letter
Send your check along with your name and contract number to:
RiverSource Life Insurance Company
70100 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, MN 55474
70100 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, MN 55474
2 By scheduled payment plan
We can help the contract holder set up an automatic salary reduction agreement.
Contributions to Your Certificate Account
There are three ways to make contributions to your certificate account:
–
annual contributions made through the contract holder payroll;
–
with the Plan approval, a rollover from another eligible retirement plan; or
–
with the Plan approval, a plan to plan transfer or exchange under the same 403(b) plan.
Annual contributions made through the contract holder payroll
Annual contributions made through the contract holder payroll are made as elective deferral contributions and nonelective contributions, subject to the applicable annual contribution limits.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 19
•
Elective deferral contributions: are the aggregate of amounts you or the contract holder, acting on your behalf, contribute to an elective deferral plan under any salary reduction agreement that conforms with the Code (“pre-tax contributions”).
•
Nonelective contributions: are any contributions made by the contract holder on your behalf (or to other 403(b) funding instruments authorized under the Plan) that do not qualify as elective deferral contributions. Any corrective contributions made by the contract holder as part of a voluntary compliance program will not be a nonelective contribution unless specifically identified as such as part of the correction process.
You may not make elective deferral contributions to the certificate account which, when added to contributions that are made by you or on your behalf to any other salary reduction arrangement, exceed the annual contribution limitations imposed by the Code for each calendar year. If the Plan permits, this annual limit may be increased, however, if you are eligible for the special “catch up” limitations under the Code for participants that are age 50 or older and the special limits applicable for certain employees with long term service with the employer, subject to the IRS rules. For any participant, the sum of elective deferral contributions and nonelective contributions, if any, made during any year cannot exceed the limitations of the Code. If the Plan uses a plan year other than the calendar year, then the limitations under the Code shall apply to contributions made during the plan year as defined under the Plan. We are not responsible for tracking those limits.
The limitations on contributions described in this provision shall not apply with respect to any purchase payment that qualifies as an eligible rollover distribution, as defined in the Code, from another eligible retirement plan as defined in the Code, or that is a plan to plan transfer of assets to your certificate account, or that is an exchange of contracts under applicable IRS guidance.
Excess Deferrals and Excess Contributions: Excess elective deferral contributions may be removed from your certificate account by April 15th of the calendar year following the year in which the excess elective deferral contribution occurred, provided that you or the contract holder notify us of the excess no later than the March 31st immediately preceding such date. In the absence of such notice, we are not required to return any such excess to you. We may distribute these amounts at any time. To the extent that the IRS permits alternative corrections for excess nonelective contributions, such amounts may be corrected in accordance with permitted correction methodology and with the Plan. Notwithstanding the preceding, nothing in the contract or the certificate shall prohibit us from making corrective distributions in accordance with the contract holder’s efforts to satisfy voluntary compliance programs established by the IRS to comply with 403(b) plan requirements.
Vesting: Elective deferral contributions are always fully vested and nonforfeitable. Nonelective contributions are generally fully vested and nonforfeitable; however, the terms of the Plan may impose a vesting schedule on nonelective contributions and, in such instance, your vesting rights in the certificate account will be determined in accordance with the Plan.
If we accept unvested nonelective contributions, such unvested amounts shall be treated as if held in a separate account from your vested contributions in the certificate account solely for purposes of complying with the final IRS regulations applicable to such contributions to an annuity contract. The portion of the certificate account that is vested and the portion of the certificate account that is unvested are treated as separate certificate accounts.
Rollover Contributions into Certificate Accounts
A rollover is a contribution by you from an eligible retirement plan that qualifies as an eligible rollover distribution under the Code. A rollover may also be made by means of a direct rollover. A direct rollover is a rollover in which the proceeds of a distribution from another eligible retirement plan are made directly into your certificate account and are not paid, in cash or in kind, to you.
The certificate account may accept rollovers from any eligible retirement plan as defined in the Code to the extent it can accommodate such rollovers in accordance with applicable requirements.
Plan to Plan Transfers to Certificate Accounts
If permitted by the Plan, the certificate account may accept a plan to plan transfer of your interest in a 403(b) annuity contract and/or 403(b)(7) custodial account issued to you under another employer’s 403(b) plan only if:
a.
the other 403(b) plan permits plan-to-plan transfers; and
b.
you are an employee or former employee of the contract holder and covered by the Plan under which the contract was issued; and
c.
your accumulated benefit immediately after the transfer is at least equal to your accumulated benefit immediately before the transfer, without regard to normal contract fees, charges and expenses; and
d.
the amount transferred into the certificate account must remain subject to distribution restrictions no less stringent than imposed by the transferring contract.
20 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
We may require any documentation from the other 403(b) plan as we deem necessary to process the transfer in accordance with applicable IRS guidance and to confirm that the other plan is a plan that satisfies section 403(b) of the Code.
Contract Exchanges to Certificate Accounts
If permitted by the Plan, the certificate account may accept an exchange of 403(b) contracts and/or 403(b)(7) custodial accounts. Any such exchange is permitted only if:
a.
the accumulated benefit of the certificate account immediately after the exchange is at least equal to the accumulated benefit of your 403(b) contract or 403(b)(7) custodial account immediately before the exchange; and
b.
the certificate account remains subject to distribution restrictions no less stringent than those imposed by the 403(b) contract or 403(b)(7) custodial account sending the exchange; and
c.
either we are included as an authorized 403(b) product provider under the Plan or we and the contract holder enter into an agreement to share information for 403(b) compliance purposes, including, but not limited to information on employment status, hardship distributions, loans, distributions, transfers and exchanges and contributions made to other authorized 403(b) product providers.
Mistaken Contributions: If any amount is contributed into a certificate account under the Plan by a good faith mistake of fact, the mistaken contribution will be voided from the start and refunded to the party that made the contribution if a request is made by you, the contract holder or the administrator of the Plan and such request is received within one year after receipt of the mistaken contribution.
Nondiscrimination Requirements: Purchase payments made by you or on your behalf into the Plan are subject to the applicable nondiscrimination requirements of the Code. Amounts contributed for you that cause the 403(b) Plan to fail to satisfy such requirements may be refunded to you or to the contract holder, as appropriate, in accordance with the Plan and IRS guidance.
Discontinuance of Purchase Payments under the Contract: We reserve the right to discontinue accepting additional purchase payments after 60 days written notice. In all other respects the certificate account will continue to operate according to terms described in this certificate.
Limitations on Use of Contract
If mandated by applicable law, including but not limited to, federal anti-money laundering laws, we may be required to reject a purchase payment. We may also be required to block a participant’s access to certificate account values and satisfy other statutory obligations. Under these circumstances, we may refuse to implement requests for transfers, surrenders or death benefits until instructions are received from the appropriate governmental authority or court of competent jurisdiction.
Charges
Transaction Expenses
Surrender Charge for Fixed Annuity Payout Plans
Fixed payouts: Surrender charge under annuity payout plans allowing surrenders of the present value of remaining guaranteed payouts:
If you elect an annuity payout plan on a fixed basis and the plan we make available provides a liquidity feature permitting you to surrender any portion of the underlying value of remaining guaranteed payouts, a surrender charge may apply.
A surrender charge will be assessed against the present value of any remaining guaranteed payouts surrendered. The discount rate we use in determining present values varies based on: (1) the certificate account value originally applied to the fixed annuitization; (2) the remaining years of guaranteed payouts; (3) the annual effective interest rate and the periodic payment amount for new immediate annuities of the same duration as the remaining years of guaranteed payouts; and (4) the interest spread (currently 1.50%). If we do not currently offer immediate annuities, we will use rates and values applicable to new annuitizations to determine the discount rate.
Once the discount rate is applied and we have determined the present value of the remaining guaranteed payouts you are surrendering, the present value determined will be multiplied by the surrender charge percentage in the table below and deducted from the present value to determine the net present value you will receive.
| Number of Completed Years Since Annuitization* |
Surrender charge percentage |
| 1 |
5% |
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 21
| Number of Completed Years Since Annuitization* |
Surrender charge percentage |
| 2 |
4 |
| 3 |
3 |
| 4 |
2 |
| 5 |
1 |
| 6 and thereafter |
0 |
*We do not permit surrenders in the first year after annuitization.
We will provide a quoted present value (which includes the deduction of any surrender charge). You must then formally elect, in a form acceptable to us, to receive this value. The remaining guaranteed payouts following surrender will be reduced, possibly to zero.
Annual Contract Expenses
Base Contract Expenses
Base Contract Expenses consist of the certificate eadministrative charge and mortality and expense risk fee.
Certificate Administrative Charge
We may charge a fee for establishing and maintaining our records for each certificate account. Currently, we do not impose this charge but we reserve the right to apply this charge to new participants in the future.
We also reserve the right to institute this charge after the first contract anniversary to a maximum of $50 for all participants. We would waive this charge when your certificate account value is $50,000 or more on the current contract anniversary. We reserve the right to charge up to $20 after the first certificate anniversary for participants with certificate account values of $50,000 or more.
If you take a full surrender of your certificate account, we will deduct the full certificate administrative charge, if any, at the time of full surrender regardless of the certificate account value.
The charge would not apply to the amount applied to an annuity payment plan or to a participant’s death benefit.
Mortality and Expense Risk Fee
We charge this fee daily to the subaccounts as the percentage of the daily certificate account value in the variable account. The unit values of your subaccounts reflect this fee and it totals 0.60% of the subaccounts’ average daily net assets on an annual basis. These fees cover the mortality and expense risk that we assume. These fees do not apply to the GPAs or the fixed account. We cannot increase these fees for a participant after the certificate is issued.
Mortality risk arises because of our guarantee to pay a death benefit and our guarantee to make annuity payouts according to the terms of the contract and described in the certificate, no matter how long a specific participant or annuitant lives and no matter how long our entire group of participants or annuitants live. If, as a group, participants or annuitants outlive the life expectancy we assumed in our actuarial tables, we must take money from our general assets to meet our obligations. If, as a group, annuitants do not live as long as expected, we could profit from the mortality risk fee. We deduct the mortality risk fee from the subaccounts during the annuity payout period even if the annuity payout plan does not involve a life contingency.
Expense risk arises because we cannot increase the certificate administrative charge more than $50 per certificate account and this charge may not cover our expenses. We would have to make up any deficit from our general assets. We could profit from the expense risk fee if future expenses are less than expected.
The subaccounts pay us the mortality and expense risk fee they accrued as follows:
•
first, to the extent possible, the subaccounts pay this fee from any dividends distributed from the funds in which they invest;
•
then, if necessary, the funds redeem shares to cover any remaining fees payable.
We may use any profits we realize from the subaccounts’ payment to us of the mortality and expense risk fee for any proper corporate purpose, including, among others, payment of distribution (selling) expenses.
Possible group reductions: In some cases we may incur lower sales and administrative expenses due to the size of the group, the average contribution and the use of group enrollment procedures. In such cases, we may reduce or eliminate certain charges such as the certificate administrative charges.
22 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Fund Fees and Expenses
There are deductions from and expenses paid out of the assets of the funds that are described in the prospectuses for those funds.
Premium Taxes
Certain state and local governments impose premium taxes on us (up to 3.5%). These taxes depend upon your state of residence or the state in which the contract was issued. Currently, we deduct any applicable premium tax when annuity payouts begin, but we reserve the right to deduct this tax at other times such as when you make purchase payments or when you make a full surrender from your certificate.
Valuing Your Investment
We value your accounts as follows:
GPAs
We value the amounts you allocate to the GPA directly in dollars. The GPA value equals:
•
the sum of your purchase payments and transfer amounts allocated to the GPA;
•
plus interest credited;
•
minus the sum of amounts surrendered and amounts transferred out; and
•
minus any prorated portion of the certificate administrative charge.
The Fixed Account
We value the amounts you allocate to the fixed account directly in dollars. The value of the fixed account equals:
•
the sum of your purchase payments allocated to the Special DCA fixed account;
•
the sum of amounts allocated to the loan account;
•
plus interest credited;
•
minus the sum of amounts surrendered and amounts transferred out; and
•
minus any prorated portion of any certificate administrative charge.
Subaccounts
We convert amounts you allocated to the subaccounts into accumulation units. Each time you make a purchase payment or transfer amounts into one of the subaccounts, we credit a certain number of accumulation units to your certificate account for that subaccount. Conversely, we subtract a certain number of accumulation units from your certificate account each time you take a partial surrender, transfer amounts out of a subaccount, or we assess a certificate administrative charge, if applicable.
The accumulation units are the true measure of investment value in each subaccount during the accumulation period. They are related to, but not the same as, the net asset value of the fund in which the subaccount invests. The dollar value of each accumulation unit can rise or fall daily depending on the variable account expenses, performance of the fund and on certain fund expenses. Here is how we calculate accumulation unit values:
Number of units: to calculate the number of accumulation units for a particular subaccount we divide your investment by the current accumulation unit value.
Accumulation unit value: the current accumulation unit value for each subaccount equals the last value times the subaccount’s current net investment factor.
We determine the net investment factor by:
•
adding the fund’s current net asset value per share, plus the per share amount of any accrued income or capital gain dividends to obtain a current adjusted net asset value per share; then
•
dividing that sum by the previous adjusted net asset value per share; and
•
subtracting the percentage factor representing the mortality and expense risk fee from the result.
Because the net asset value of the fund may fluctuate, the accumulation unit value may increase or decrease. You bear all the investment risk in a subaccount.
Factors that affect subaccount accumulation units: accumulation units may change in two ways — in number and in value.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 23
The number of accumulation units you own may fluctuate due to:
•
additional purchase payments you allocate to the subaccounts;
•
transfers into or out of the subaccounts (including any positive or negative MVA on amounts transferred from the GPAs);
•
partial surrenders;
and a deduction of a prorated portion of the certificate administrative charge.
Accumulation unit values will fluctuate due to:
•
changes in fund net asset value;
•
fund dividends distributed to the subaccounts;
•
fund capital gains or losses;
•
fund operating expenses; and/or
•
mortality and expense risk fees.
24 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Making the Most of Your Certificate
Automated Dollar-Cost Averaging
Currently, you can use automated transfers to take advantage of dollar-cost averaging (investing a fixed amount at regular intervals).
For example, you might transfer a set amount monthly from a relatively conservative subaccount to a more aggressive one, or to one or more subaccounts. You may not set up automated transfers to or from the GPAs or to the Special DCA fixed account. You can also obtain the benefits of dollar-cost averaging by setting up regular automatic payments under a scheduled payment plan.
There is no charge for dollar-cost averaging.
This systematic approach can help you benefit from fluctuations in accumulation unit values caused by fluctuations in the market values of the funds. Since you invest the same amount each period, you automatically acquire more units when the market value falls and fewer units when it rises. The potential effect is to lower your average cost per unit.
How dollar-cost averaging works
| By investing an equal number of dollars each month |
|
Month |
Amount invested |
Accumulation unit value |
Number of units purchased |
| |
|
Jan |
$100 |
$20 |
5.00 |
| |
|
Feb |
100 |
18 |
5.56 |
| you automatically buy more units when the per unit market price is low |
|
Mar |
100 |
17 |
5.88 |
| → |
Apr |
100 |
15 |
6.67 | |
| |
|
May |
100 |
16 |
6.25 |
| |
|
June |
100 |
18 |
5.56 |
| |
|
July |
100 |
17 |
5.88 |
| and fewer units when the per unit market price is high. |
|
Aug |
100 |
19 |
5.26 |
| → |
Sept |
100 |
21 |
4.76 | |
| |
|
Oct |
100 |
20 |
5.00 |
You paid an average price of $17.91 per unit over the 10 months, while the average market price actually was $18.10.
Dollar-cost averaging does not guarantee that any subaccount will gain in value nor will it protect against a decline in value if market prices fall. Because dollar-cost averaging involves continuous investing, your success will depend upon your willingness to continue to invest regularly through periods of low price levels. Dollar-cost averaging can be an effective way to help meet your long-term goals. For specific features contact your sales representative.
Subject to certain restrictions, dollar-cost averaging is available through the Special DCA fixed account. See the “Special DCA Fixed Account” section in this prospectus for details.
Asset Rebalancing
You can ask us in writing to automatically rebalance the subaccount portion of your certificate account value either quarterly, semiannually, or annually. The period you select will start to run on the date we record your request. On the first valuation date of each of these periods, we automatically will rebalance your certificate account value so that the value in each subaccount matches your current subaccount percentage allocations. These percentage allocations must be in whole numbers. There is no charge for asset rebalancing. The certificate account value must be at least $2,000.
You can change your percentage allocations or your rebalancing period at any time by contacting us in writing. We will restart the rebalancing period you selected as of the date we record your change. You also can ask us in writing to stop rebalancing your certificate account value. You must allow 30 days for us to change any instructions that currently are in place. For more information on asset rebalancing, contact your sales representative.
Asset rebalancing is available for use with the Special DCA fixed account (see “Special DCA Fixed Account”) only if your subaccount allocation for asset rebalancing is exactly the same as your subaccount allocation for transfers from the Special DCA fixed account. If you change your subaccount allocations under the asset rebalancing program or the Special DCA fixed account, we will automatically change the subaccount allocations so they match. If you do not wish to have the subaccount allocation be the same for the asset rebalancing program and the Special DCA fixed account, you must terminate the asset rebalancing program or the Special DCA fixed account, as you may choose.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 25
Transferring Among Accounts
You may transfer certificate account value from any one subaccount, GPAs and the Special DCA fixed account, to another subaccount before the annuitization start date. Certain restrictions apply to transfers involving the GPAs. You may not transfer certificate account value to the Special DCA fixed account. You may not transfer certificate account value from the Special DCA fixed account except as part of automated monthly transfers.
The date your request to transfer will be processed depends on when and how we receive it:
For transfer requests received in writing:
•
If we receive your transfer request at our Service Center in good order before the close of the NYSE (4:00pm Eastern time unless the NYSE closes earlier), we will process your transfer using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the valuation date we received your transfer request.
•
If we receive your transfer request at our Service Center in good order at or after the close of the NYSE (4:00pm Eastern time unless the NYSE closes earlier), we will process your transfer using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the next valuation date after we received your transfer request.
For transfer requests received by phone:
•
If we receive your transfer request at our Service Center in good order before the close of the NYSE (4:00pm Eastern time unless the NYSE closes earlier), we will process your transfer using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the valuation date we received your transfer request.
•
If we receive your transfer request at our Service Center in good order at or after the close of the NYSE (4:00pm Eastern time unless the NYSE closes earlier), we will process your transfer using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the next valuation date after we received your transfer request.
There is no charge for transfers. Before making a transfer, you should consider the risks involved in changing investments. Transfers out of the GPAs will be subject to an MVA if done more than 30 days before the end of the guarantee period.
We may suspend or modify transfer privileges at any time.
For information on transfers after annuity payouts begin, see “Transfer policies” below.
Transfer policies
•
Before the annuitization start date, you may transfer certificate account values between the subaccounts, or from the subaccounts to the GPAs at any time.
•
You may transfer certificate account values from a GPA any time after 60 days of transfer or payment allocation to the account. Transfers made more than 30 days before the end of the guarantee period will receive an MVA, which may result in a gain or loss of certificate account value, unless an exception applies (see “The Guarantee Period Accounts (GPAs) — Market Value Adjustment (MVA)”).
•
You may not transfer certificate account values from the subaccounts or the GPAs into the Special DCA fixed account. However, you may transfer certificate account values as automated monthly transfers from the Special DCA fixed account to the subaccounts. (See “Special DCA Fixed Account.”)
•
After the annuitization start date, you may not make transfers to or from the GPAs or from the Special DCA fixed account, but you may make transfers once per certificate year among the subaccounts. During the annuity payout period, we reserve the right to limit the number of subaccounts in which you may invest. On the annuitization start date, you must transfer all certificate account value out of your GPAs and Special DCA fixed account.
Market Timing
Market timing can reduce the value of your investment in the certificate account. If market timing causes the returns of an underlying fund to suffer, certificate account value you have allocated to a subaccount that invests in that underlying fund will be lower, too. Market timing can cause you and your beneficiary(ies) under the contract a financial loss.
We seek to prevent market timing. Market timing is frequent or short-term trading activity. We do not accommodate short-term trading activities. Do not enroll under a contract if you wish to use short-term trading strategies to manage your investment. The market timing policies and procedures described below apply to transfers among the subaccounts within the contract. The underlying funds in which the subaccounts invest have their own market timing policies and procedures. The market timing policies of the underlying funds may be more restrictive than the market timing policies and procedures we apply to transfers among the subaccounts of the contract, and may include redemption fees. We reserve the right to modify our market timing policies and procedures at any time without prior notice to you.
26 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Market timing may hurt the performance of an underlying fund in which a subaccount invests in several ways, including but not necessarily limited to:
•
diluting the value of an investment in an underlying fund in which a subaccount invests;
•
increasing the transaction costs and expenses of an underlying fund in which a subaccount invests; and
•
preventing the investment adviser(s) of an underlying fund in which a subaccount invests from fully investing the assets of the fund in accordance with the fund’s investment objectives.
Funds available as investment options under the contract that invest in securities that trade in overseas securities markets may be at greater risk of loss from market timing, as market timers may seek to take advantage of changes in the values of securities between the close of overseas markets and the close of U.S. markets. Also, the risks of market timing may be greater for underlying funds that invest in securities such as small cap stocks, high yield bonds, or municipal securities, that may be traded infrequently.
In order to help protect you and the underlying funds from the potentially harmful effects of market timing activity, we apply the following market timing policy to discourage frequent transfers of certificate account value among the subaccounts of the variable account:
We try to distinguish market timing from transfers that we believe are not harmful, such as periodic rebalancing for purposes of an asset allocation, dollar-cost averaging and asset rebalancing program that may be described in this prospectus. There is no set number of transfers that constitutes market timing. Even one transfer in related accounts may be market timing. We seek to restrict the transfer privileges of a participant who makes more than three subaccount transfers in any 90 day period. We also reserve the right to refuse any transfer request, if, in our sole judgment, the dollar amount of the transfer request would adversely affect unit values.
If we determine, in our sole judgment, that your transfer activity constitutes market timing, we may modify, restrict or suspend your transfer privileges to the extent permitted by applicable law, which may vary based on the state law that applies to your certificate account and the terms of the contract. These restrictions or modifications may include, but not be limited to:
•
requiring transfer requests to be submitted only by first-class U.S. mail;
•
not accepting hand-delivered transfer requests or requests made by overnight mail;
•
not accepting telephone or electronic transfer requests;
•
requiring a minimum time period between each transfer;
•
not accepting transfer requests of an agent acting under power of attorney;
•
limiting the dollar amount that you may transfer at any one time;
•
suspending the transfer privilege; or
•
modifying instructions under an automated transfer program to exclude a restricted fund if you do not provide new instructions.
Subject to applicable state law and the terms of each contract, we will apply the policy described above to all participants uniformly in all cases. We will notify you in writing after we impose any modification, restriction or suspension of your transfer rights.
Because we exercise discretion in applying the restrictions described above, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to identify and restrict all market timing activity. In addition, state law and the terms of some contracts may prevent us from stopping certain market timing activity. Market timing activity that we are unable to identify and/or restrict may impact the performance of the underlying funds and may result in lower certificate account values.
In addition to the market timing policy described above, which applies to transfers among the subaccounts within your certificate account, you should carefully review the market timing policies and procedures of the underlying funds. The market timing policies and procedures of the underlying funds may be materially different than those we impose on transfers among the subaccounts within your certificate account and may include mandatory redemption fees as well as other measures to discourage frequent transfers. As an intermediary for the underlying funds, we are required to assist them in applying their market timing policies and procedures to transactions involving the purchase and exchange of fund shares. This assistance may include but not be limited to providing the underlying fund upon request with your Social Security Number, Taxpayer Identification Number or other United States government-issued identifier and the details of your certificate account transactions involving the underlying fund. An underlying fund, in its sole discretion, may instruct us at any time to prohibit you from making further transfers of certificate account value to or from the underlying fund, and we must follow this instruction. We reserve the right to
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 27
administer and collect on behalf of an underlying fund any redemption fee imposed by an underlying fund. Market timing policies and procedures adopted by underlying funds may affect your investment in the certificate account in several ways, including but not limited to:
•
Each fund may restrict or refuse trading activity that the fund determines, in its sole discretion, represents market timing.
•
Even if we determine that your transfer activity does not constitute market timing under the market timing policies described above which we apply to transfers you make within the certificate account, it is possible that the underlying fund’s market timing policies and procedures, including instructions we receive from a fund, may require us to reject your transfer request. For example, while we disregard transfers permitted under any asset allocation, dollar-cost averaging and asset rebalancing programs that may be described in this prospectus, we cannot guarantee that an underlying fund’s market timing policies and procedures will do so. Orders we place to purchase fund shares for the variable accounts are subject to acceptance by the fund. We reserve the right to reject without prior notice to you any transfer request if the fund does not accept our order.
•
Each underlying fund is responsible for its own market timing policies, and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to implement specific market timing policies and procedures that a fund has adopted. As a result, a fund’s returns might be adversely affected, and a fund might terminate our right to offer its shares through the variable account.
•
Funds that are available as investment options under the contract and listed in the certificate may also be offered to other intermediaries who are eligible to purchase and hold shares of the fund, including without limitation, separate accounts of other insurance companies and certain retirement plans. Even if we are able to implement a fund’s market timing policies, we cannot guarantee that other intermediaries purchasing that same fund’s shares will do so, and the returns of that fund could be adversely affected as a result.
For more information about the market timing policies and procedures of an underlying fund, the risks that market timing pose to that fund, and to determine whether an underlying fund has adopted a redemption fee, see that fund’s prospectus.
How to request a Transfer or Surrender
1 By letter
Send your name, contract number, Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number* and signed request for a transfer or surrender to our service center:
RiverSource Life Insurance Company
70100 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, MN 55474
70100 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, MN 55474
| Minimum amount |
|
| Transfers or surrenders: |
$250 or entire account balance** |
| Maximum amount |
|
| Transfers or surrenders: |
Certificate account value or entire account balance |
*
Failure to provide your Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number may result in mandatory tax withholding on the taxable portion of the distribution.
**
The certificate account value after a partial surrender must be at least the loan balance, if any, plus $500.
2 By automated transfers and automated partial surrenders
Your sales representative can help you set up automated transfers among your subaccounts or GPAs or automated partial surrenders from the GPAs, Special DCA fixed account or the subaccounts.
You can start or stop this service by written request or other method acceptable to us. You must allow 30 days for us to change any instructions that are currently in place.
•
Automated surrenders may be restricted by applicable law under some contracts.
•
You may not make additional systematic purchase payments if automated partial surrenders are in effect.
•
Automated partial surrenders may result in income taxes and penalties on all or part of the amount surrendered.
•
The balance in any account from which you make an automated transfer or automated partial surrender must be sufficient to satisfy your instructions. If not, we will suspend your entire automated arrangement until the balance is adequate.
28 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
| Minimum amount |
|
| Transfers or surrenders: |
$50 |
| Maximum amount |
|
| Transfers or surrenders: |
None |
Surrenders
Surrenders of certificate account values:
Any distribution from a certificate account will be treated as a surrender or partial surrender. Your certificate account value may only be surrendered under certain circumstances (see “Surrender Restrictions”). However, if not restricted by the Code or the Plan, you may surrender all or part of your certificate account at any time before the annuitization start date by sending us a written request or calling us. We will process your surrender request on the valuation date we receive it. If we receive your surrender request in good order at our Service Center before the close of business, we will process your surrender using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the valuation date we received your surrender request. If we receive your surrender request at our Service Center at or after the close of business, we will process your surrender using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the next valuation date after we received your surrender request. We may ask you to return the certificate. You may have to pay a certificate administrative charge, if applicable (see “Charges”) and IRS taxes and penalties (see “Taxes”). You cannot make surrenders after the annuitization start date except under Plan E (see “The Annuity Payout Period — Annuity Payout Plans”).
Any partial surrenders you take from the certificate account will reduce your certificate account value. As a result, the value of your death benefit will be reduced.
In addition, surrenders you are required to take to satisfy the RMDs under the Code may reduce the value of death benefits (see “Taxes — Required Minimum Distributions”).
Surrender of the contract:
Subject to certain rules, the contract holder may surrender the contract for the full surrender value of all certificate accounts to be paid to the participants. The contract holder must send us a written request, or other method agreed to by us, while the contract remains in force. We will process a surrender request on the valuation date we receive it. If we receive a surrender request in good order at our Service Center before the close of business, we will process a surrender using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the valuation date we received a surrender request. If we receive a surrender request at our Service Center at or after the close of business, we will process a surrender using the accumulation unit value we calculate on the next valuation date after we received a surrender request. If a participant dies following a surrender request, payment will be made to the participant’s estate. Any amounts surrendered, including any related charges, cannot be repaid. Upon surrender for the full surrender value of all participants’ certificate accounts, the contract will terminate. We may require that the contract holder return the contract to us before we pay the full surrender value.
Surrender Policies
If you have a balance in more than one account and you request a partial surrender, we will automatically surrender money from all your subaccounts, GPAs and/or the Special DCA fixed account, in the same proportion as your value in each account correlates to your total certificate account value less amounts in the loan account, unless requested otherwise. The minimum certificate account value after partial surrender must be at least the loan balance, if any, plus $500.
Receiving Payment
1 By regular or express mail
•
payable to you;
•
mailed to address of record.
NOTE: We will charge you a fee if you request express mail delivery.
2 By electronic payment
•
request that payment be sent electronically to your bank;
•
pre-authorization required.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 29
We may choose to permit you to have checks issued and delivered to an alternate payee or to an address other than your address of record. We may also choose to allow you to direct wires or other electronic payments to accounts owned by a third-party. We may have additional good order requirements that must be met prior to processing requests to make any payments to a party other than the owner or to an address other than the address of record. These requirements will be designed to ensure owner instructions are genuine and to prevent fraud.
Normally, we will send the payment within seven days after receiving a certificate or contract surrender request in good order. However, we may postpone the payment if:
–
the NYSE is closed, except for normal holiday and weekend closings;
–
trading on the NYSE is restricted, according to SEC rules;
–
an emergency, as defined by SEC rules, makes it impractical to sell securities or value the net assets of the accounts; or
–
the SEC permits us to delay payment for the protection of security holders.
We may also postpone payment of the amount attributable to a purchase payment as part of the total surrender amount until cleared from the originating financial institution.
Surrender Restrictions
Surrender Restrictions Before Age 59½
The Code imposes certain restrictions on your right to receive early distributions from your certificate account. Except for amounts held in the contract on behalf of participants on December 31, 1988, no amounts may be distributed from the certificate accounts unless one or more of the following conditions has been satisfied:
•
You have attained age 59½;
•
You are disabled;
•
Your death has occurred;
•
You have severed employment with the contract holder;
•
You are a qualifying military reservist;
•
You are terminally ill as defined in the Code;
•
You are adopting or are having a baby your are supplying Personal or Family Emergency Expense;
•
You are a Domestic Abuse Victim: or
•
You are you are in need to cover Expenses and losses on account of a FEMA declared disaster.
If permitted under the Plan, elective deferral contributions may be surrendered if you have satisfied the requirements for a financial hardship as defined in the Code.
If permitted by the Plan, multiple distributions can be taken under these rules.
Financial Hardship Distributions
If the Plan has established independent criteria for financial hardship distributions, then any financial hardship distributions made from the certificate account under the Plan shall adhere to the rules set forth in the Plan, subject to the approval of the contract holder or the Plan administrator. If the Plan has not established independent criteria for financial hardship distributions, then, in the event of a financial hardship that satisfies the requirements of the Code, you may receive a distribution of only elective deferral contributions. Certificate account distributions of nonelective contributions and/or earnings on your contributions are not permitted for financial hardships.
No hardship distribution is permitted from the certificate account unless the “safe harbor” standards with respect to establishing an immediate and heavy financial need are satisfied. For purposes of satisfying the lack of other resources requirement, any method acceptable under the IRS rules is permitted.
Direct Rollover Distributions
Notwithstanding any other provision of the contract, a distributee may elect to have any portion of an eligible rollover distribution paid directly to an eligible retirement plan specified by the distributee in a direct rollover.
If provided in the Plan and if allowed by us, a direct rollover of amounts in a 403(b) account may be made to a designated 403(b) Roth account of a 403(b) annuity/403(b)(7) custodial account or a Roth IRA.
For purposes of this section, a “distributee” is any participant (or former participant) entitled to receive a distribution from a certificate account under the contract, a surviving spousal beneficiary and any spouse or former spouse that qualifies as an alternate payee.
In addition, a nonspouse beneficiary may make a direct rollover of all or any portion of an eligible rollover distribution to a new inherited IRA contract only. No other rollover options are available to a beneficiary who is not a spouse.
30 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Restrictions on Texas Optional Retirement Program
You cannot receive distributions before the annuitization start date unless you become totally disabled or end your employment at a Texas college or university. This restriction means that loans are not available and affects your right to:
•
surrender all or part of your certificate account at any time; and
•
move up your annuitization start date.
If you are in the program for only one year, the portion of the purchase payments made by the state of Texas will be refunded to the state. These restrictions are based on an opinion of the Texas Attorney General interpreting Texas law.
Loans
If permitted by the Plan and if allowed by us, you may take loans from your certificate account in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in your Plan. Any certificate account loan is subject to the requirements of Section 72(p) of the Code and applicable regulations in addition to any terms and conditions that the Plan may impose. You should consult a tax advisor before taking a loan.
You may have only one loan outstanding at any time. You must complete and sign a loan agreement. No actual distributions to repay loans shall be made which would be in violation of the Code. We reserve the right to specify a minimum loan amount, even if the Plan has not established a minimum. Currently, the minimum loan amount is $500. The maximum amount of a certificate account loan cannot exceed the surrender value of the certificate account and shall not exceed the least of:
•
the maximum amount permitted by the Plan, if applicable;
•
fifty percent (50%) of your certificate account value; or
•
$50,000 minus the highest outstanding balance of your loans from any plans the contract holder sponsors during the year prior to the loan effective date, and
•
your certificate account value minus the value of any Special DCA fixed account and any GPA.
On the annuitization start date, any certificate account loan shall become immediately due and payable in full and, if not repaid, the loan balance will be treated as a partial surrender and will be reported as taxable to you. An active loan may be prepaid in whole at any time. If a certificate account is surrendered while a loan is outstanding, the certificate account’s surrender value will be reduced by the loan balance. Unless the certificate account is continued as provided by the spouse’s option to maintain certificate account provision, the loan balance and any applicable charges due at the time of your death, will be deducted from the death benefit’s proceeds prior to making payment to your beneficiaries.
While you have an outstanding certificate account loan, the following transactions may not be permitted under the contract and described in the certificate:
•
exchanges from the certificate account,
•
plan to plan transfers, and
•
additional loans.
Loans may also be subject to additional limitations or restrictions under the terms of the Plan. Loans permitted under the contract and described in the certificate may still be taxable in whole or in part if you have additional loans from other plans or contracts. We will calculate the maximum nontaxable loan based solely on the information provided to us by Plan sponsor or you, in writing.
Loan Account
Loans shall be secured, to the extent necessary to adequately collateralize the loan, by your vested interest in the certificate account. The certificate account will be the sole security for the loan. At the time a loan is taken, the loan amount is subtracted pro rata from all accounts in which you invested, but not Special DCA fixed account and any GPA, and transferred to a loan account.
The loan account will earn interest daily. The current crediting rate will never be less than the fixed account minimum interest rate.
Loan Balance
At any point in time, your loan balance will be the principal amount owed plus unpaid accrued interest charges. Loans will be made at an interest rate determined by us at the time the loan is taken and will be fixed for the life of the loan. The maximum interest rate for loans will not exceed 8%.
Loan Payments
Loans must be repaid in substantially equal payments, not less frequently than quarterly unless paid in full. Loans must be repaid within a maximum of 5 years. If permitted by us and the Plan, loans used to construct or purchase your principal residence may be extended for longer periods, but not to exceed 30 years. Loan payments will consist of
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 31
principal and accrued interest charges and will be applied first to interest charges. The payment amounts are set forth at the time the loan is taken. Any excess payment reduces the loan balance and shortens the length of the loan. It does not change future payment amounts.
On the date of each loan payment:
1.
your loan balance is reduced by the amount of the loan payment, and
2.
a transfer is made from your loan account to all accounts in which you invest according to existing purchase payment allocations, but not any Special DCA fixed account or GPAs. The amount to be transferred is determined by subtracting the loan balance after the loan payment from the loan account prior to the loan payment (but not less than zero).
Military Service
If we are notified in advance, loan payments can be delayed during time of service. Interest charges on your loan balance will continue to accrue. Payments continue after service ends, and the maturity date of the loan is extended. Payment amounts may be recalculated.
Leave of Absence
If we are notified in advance, loan payments can be delayed during qualified leaves. Interest charges on the loan balance will continue to accrue. Payments continue after the leave ends, however, the maturity date of the loan does not change. Payment amounts may be recalculated.
Loan Defaults
Unless a different grace period is provided for in the Plan, a grace period of at least 30 days will be available for loan payments under the terms of the loan agreement. If a loan payment is not made by the end of the applicable grace period, your loan balance will be in default.
If you are eligible for distributions from the certificate account, the loan is canceled. The loan balance will be treated as a partial surrender to pay off the loan. The partial surrender will first be deducted from your loan account followed by any remainder deducted pro rata from all accounts in which you are invested. The partial surrender will be reported as taxable to you.
If you are not eligible for distributions from the certificate account, the loan is considered a deemed distribution at that time in order to secure the loan to the extent necessary to adequately collateralize the loan. The difference between your loan balance and your loan account is transferred pro rata from all accounts in which you are invested, but not any Special DCA fixed account or GPAs, to your loan account. Transfers will be made from Special DCA fixed accounts and GPAs if insufficient amounts are available from other accounts in which you are invested. Additional interest on the loan account will continue to accrue and will be credited only if the loan is repaid. The loan balance will be reported as taxable to you. Additional interest owed on the loan balance will continue to accrue for repayment purposes only. The loan account and loan balance remain in the certificate account until one of the following occurs.
1.
The loan balance, as of the date the loan was deemed distributed, is treated as a partial surrender of the certificate account in these circumstances:
•
you are eligible for distributions from the certificate account. This will occur automatically if your eligibility is based on your age.
•
on the annuitization start date,
•
a full surrender of the certificate account,
•
a rollover into another eligible retirement plan, or
•
upon your death.
The loan account and loan balance will be zero.
2.
You repay the full amount of the loan balance. On the date of repayment, the loan account, plus credited interest on the loan account since the date the loan was deemed, is then transferred to all accounts in which you are investing according to existing purchase payment allocations, but not any Special DCA fixed account or GPAs. After such repayment, the loan account and loan balance will be zero.
If we agree, loan balance repayments may be made for less than the full amount.
You may not take another loan until the loan balance is repaid or deducted from your certificate account value.
For more information on loans, consult your loan agreement.
32 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Changing Ownership
You may not sell, assign, transfer, discount or pledge the contract and related certificate as collateral for a loan, or as security for the performance of an obligation or for any other purpose except as required or permitted by the Code. Your vested rights under the contract and described in the certificate are nonforfeitable.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 33
| |
|
Maximum Fee |
Current Fee |
|
| | ||||
| |
|
N/A |
N/A |
|
| |
|
N/A |
N/A |
|
| |
|
N/A |
N/A |
|
| |
|
N/A |
N/A |
|
| |
|
average daily certificate value in the variable account value |
|
|
34 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
average daily certificate value in the variable account value |
|
|
| Adjusted partial surrenders |
= |
a X b |
| c |
| a |
= |
amount by which the certificate account value is reduced as a result of the partial surrender. |
| b |
= |
the ROPP value on the date of (but prior to) the partial surrender. |
| c |
= |
the certificate account value on the date of (but prior to) the partial surrender. |
| We calculate the death benefit as follows, assuming $0 loan balance: |
| ||
| The total purchase payments minus adjustments for partial surrenders: |
| ||
| |
Total purchase payments |
$20,000 | |
| |
minus adjusted partial surrenders, calculated as: |
| |
| |
$1,500 × $20,000 |
= |
|
| |
$18,000 |
–1,667 | |
| |
The death benefit is the ROPP value of: |
$18,333 | |
| |
since this is greater than your certificate account value of $16,500 |
| |
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 35
How we handle cERTIFICATES under unclaimed property laws
Every state has unclaimed property laws which generally declare annuity contracts and certificates to be abandoned after either 1) a period of inactivity of one to five years from the certificate’s maturity date (the latest day on which income payments may begin under the certificate) or 2) the date the death benefit is due and payable. If we determine
36 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
that the death benefit has become payable, we will use our best efforts to locate all beneficiaries. If we are unable to locate a beneficiary, the death benefit will be paid to the abandoned property division or unclaimed property office of the state in which the beneficiary or you last resided, as shown in our books and records, or to our state of domicile. Generally, this surrender of property to the state is commonly referred to as “escheatment”. There is also a presumption of abandonment that requires escheatment when a known beneficiary fails to demand or present an instrument or document to claim the death benefit in a timely manner. If your beneficiary steps forward to claim escheated annuity proceeds (with the proper documentation), the state is obligated to pay any such proceeds it is holding. To prevent escheatment, and ensure an effective process for your beneficiaries, it is important that your personal address beneficiary designations are up to date, including complete names, current addresses and phone numbers, and taxpayer identification numbers for each beneficiary. Updates to your beneficiary designations should be sent to our service center.
The Annuity Payout Period
As a participant and owner of the certificate account, you have the right to decide how and to whom annuity payouts will be made starting on the annuitization start date. You may select one of the annuity payout plans outlined below, or we may mutually agree on other payout arrangements. Currently, we make annuity payments on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annual basis. Assuming the initial payment is on the same date, more frequent payments will generally result in higher total payments over the year. In general, the more frequent annuity payments the lower each payment will be. As discussed below, certain annuity payout options have a “guaranteed period,” during which payments are guaranteed to continue. Longer guaranteed periods will generally result in lower monthly annuity payment amounts.
You also decide whether we will make annuity payouts on a fixed or variable basis, or a combination of fixed and variable. The amount available to purchase payouts under the plan you select is the certificate account value on your annuitization start date, plus any positive or negative MVA (less any applicable premium tax). Additionally, we currently allow you to use part of the amount available to purchase payouts, leaving any remaining certificate account value to accumulate on a tax-deferred basis. If you select a variable annuity payout, we reserve the right to limit the number of subaccounts in which you may invest. The GPAs and the Special DCA fixed account are not available during this payout period.
Amounts of fixed and variable payouts depend on:
•
the annuity payout plan you select;
•
the annuitant’s age and, in most cases sex;
•
the annuity table in the contract; and
•
the amounts you allocated to the accounts at settlement.
In addition, for variable payouts only, amounts depend on the investment performance of the subaccounts you select. These payouts will vary from month to month because the performance of the funds will fluctuate. Fixed payouts generally remain the same from month to month unless you have elected an option providing for increasing payments or are exercising any available liquidity features we may offer and you have elected.
For information with respect to transfers between accounts after annuity payouts begin, see “Making the Most of The Contract and Certificate — Transfer policies.”
Annuity Tables
The annuity tables in your certificate (Table A and Table B) show the amount of the monthly payout for each $1,000 of certificate account value according to the age and, when applicable, the annuitant’s sex. (Where required by law, we will use a unisex table of settlement rates.)
Table A shows the amount of the first monthly variable annuity payout assuming that the certificate account value is invested at the beginning of the annuity payout period and earns a 5% rate of return, which is reinvested and helps to support future payouts. If you ask us at least 30 days before the annuitization start date, we will substitute an annuity table based on an assumed 3.5% investment rate for the 5% Table A in the certificate. The assumed investment rate affects both the amount of the first payout and the extent to which subsequent payouts increase or decrease. For example, annuity payouts will increase if the investment return is above the assumed investment rate and payouts will decrease if the return is below the assumed investment rate. Using a 5% assumed interest rate results in a higher initial payout, but later payouts will increase more slowly when annuity unit values rise and decrease more rapidly when they decline.
Table B shows the minimum amount of each fixed annuity payout. We declare current payout rates that we use in determining the actual amount of your fixed annuity payout. The current payout rates will equal or exceed the guaranteed payout rates shown in Table B. We will furnish these rates to you upon request.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 37
Annuity Payout Plans
We make available variable annuity payouts where payout amounts may vary based on the performance of the variable account. We may also make fixed annuity payouts available where payments of a fixed amount are made for the period specified in the plan, subject to any surrender we may permit. You may choose any one of these annuity payout plans by giving us written instructions at least 30 days before the annuitization start date.
•
Plan A: Life income — non refund: We make monthly payouts until the annuitant’s death. Payouts end with the last payout before the annuitant’s death. We will not make any further payouts. This means that if the annuitant dies after we made only one monthly payout, we will not make any more payouts.
•
Plan B: Life income with guaranteed period: We make monthly payouts for a guaranteed payout period of five, ten, or 15 years that you elect. This election will determine the length of the payout period to the beneficiary if the annuitant should die before the elected period expires. We calculate the guaranteed payout period from the annuitization start date. If the annuitant outlives the elected guaranteed payout period, we will continue to make payouts until the annuitant’s death.
•
Plan C: Life income with installment refund: We make monthly payouts until the annuitant’s death, with our guarantee that payouts will continue for some period of time. We will make payouts for at least the number of months determined by dividing the amount applied under this option by the first monthly payout, whether or not the annuitant is living.
•
Plan D: Joint and survivor life income — non refund: We make monthly payouts while both the annuitant and a joint annuitant are living. If either annuitant dies, we will continue to make monthly payouts at the full amount until the death of the surviving annuitant. Payouts end with the death of the second annuitant.
•
Plan E: Term certain installment: We make monthly payouts for a specific payout period of ten to 30 years that you elect. We will make payouts only for the number of years specified whether the annuitant is living or not. Depending on the selected time period, it is foreseeable that the annuitant can outlive the payout period selected. During the payout period, you can elect to have us determine the present value of any remaining payouts and pay it to you in a lump sum. We determine the present value of the remaining annuity payouts which are assumed to remain level at the amount of the payout that would have been made 7 days prior to the date we determine the present value. A 10% IRS penalty tax could apply to the taxable portion if you take a surrender. (See “Taxes.”)
For Plan A, if the annuitant dies before the initial payment, no payments will be made. For Plan B, if the annuitant dies before the initial payment, the payments will continue for the guaranteed payout period. For Plan C, if the annuitant dies before the initial payment, the payments will continue for the installment refund period. For Plan D, if both annuitants die before the initial payment, no payments will be made; however, if one annuitant dies before the initial payment, the payments will continue until the death of the surviving annuitant.
In addition to the annuity payout plans described above, we may offer additional payout plans. These plans may include cash refund features providing a guarantee of receiving at least a return of the annuitization amount (less any annuity payments made and premium tax paid) in the event of the annuitant’s death, and liquidity features allowing access under certain circumstances to a surrender of the underlying value of remaining payouts. Terms and conditions of annuity payout plans will be disclosed at the time of election, including any associated fees or charges. It is important to remember that the election and use of liquidity features may either reduce the amount of future payouts you would otherwise receive or result in payouts ceasing.
Utilizing a liquidity feature to surrender the underlying value of remaining payouts may result in the assessment of a surrender charge (See “Charges — Transaction Expenses Surrender Charge for Fixed Annuity Payout Plans”) or a 10% IRS penalty tax (See “Taxes”).
Liquidation charge under Variable Annuity Payout Plan E — Payouts for a specified period: If you are receiving variable annuity payments under this annuity payout plan, you can choose to surrender those payments. The amount that you can surrender is the present value of any remaining variable payouts. The discount rate we use in the calculation will be 5.17% if the assumed investment return is 3.5% and 6.67% for the assumed investment return of 5%. The liquidation charge equals the present value of the remaining payouts using the assumed investment return minus the present value of the remaining payouts using the discount rate.
You have the responsibility for electing a payout plan under your certificate that complies with applicable law. Your certificate describes your payout plan options. The options will meet certain IRS regulations governing RMDs if the payout plan meets the incidental distribution benefit requirements, if any, and the payouts are made:
•
in equal or substantially equal payments over a period not longer than your life expectancy or over the joint life expectancy of you and your designated beneficiary; or
•
over a period certain not longer than your life expectancy or over the life expectancy of you and your designated beneficiary.
You must select a payout plan as of the annuitization start date set forth in your certificate.
38 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
If we do not receive instructions: You must give us written instructions for the annuity payouts at least 30 days before the annuitization start date. If you do not, we will make payouts under Plan B, with 120 monthly payouts guaranteed.
If monthly payouts would be less than $20: We will calculate the amount of monthly payouts at the time amounts are applied to a payout plan. If the calculations show that monthly payouts would be less than $20, we have the right to pay the amount that would otherwise have been applied to a plan to the participant in a lump sum or to change the frequency of the payouts.
Death after annuity payouts begin: If you die after annuity payouts begin, we will pay any amount payable to the beneficiary as provided in the annuity payout plan in effect. Payments to beneficiaries are subject to adjustment to comply with the IRS rules and regulations.
Taxes
Under current law, your contract has a tax-deferral feature. Generally, this means you do not pay income tax until there is a taxable distribution (or deemed distribution) from the contract. We will send a tax information reporting form for any year in which we made a taxable or reportable distribution according to our records.
Adverse tax consequences may result if you do not ensure that contributions, distributions and other transactions under the certificate comply with the law. 403(b) annuity contracts have minimum distribution rules that govern the timing and amount of distributions. You should refer to your Plan or consult a tax advisor for additional information about the distribution rules applicable to your situation.
When you use your certificate to fund a retirement plan that is already tax-deferred under the Code, the certificate will not provide any necessary or additional tax deferral. Because your certificate is used to fund an employer sponsored plan, your right to benefits may be subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan regardless of the terms of the contract and described in the certificate.
Annuity payouts: The entire payout generally is includable as ordinary income and is subject to tax unless you or the contract holder has contributed after-tax dollars or unless you direct such amounts to be transferred to another investment within the 403(b) plan or have them directly rolled over to another eligible plan such as an IRA. We may permit partial annuitizations of your certificate. If we accept partial annuitizations, please remember that your certificate will still need to comply with other requirements such as required minimum distributions and the payment of taxes. Prior to considering a partial annuitization on your certificate, you should discuss your decision and any implications with your tax adviser. Because we cannot accurately track certain after tax funding sources, we will generally report any payments on partial annuitizations as ordinary income.
Surrenders: The entire surrender will generally be includable as ordinary income and is subject to tax unless you or the contract holder has contributed after-tax dollars or unless you direct such amounts to be transferred to another investment within the 403(b) plan or have them directly rolled over to another eligible plan such as an IRA.
Loans will generally not be treated as distributions if:
–
the terms require repayment within five years;
–
the loans have substantially level payments over the term of the loan;
–
the loans do not exceed $50,000 or 50% of the value of the certificate if less; and
–
the loans are evidenced by a legally enforceable agreement.
Required Minimum Distributions: Retirement plans are subject to required surrenders called required minimum distributions (“RMDs”) beginning at age 73. RMDs are based on the fair market value of your certificate at year-end divided by the life expectancy factor. Certain death benefits may be considered in determining the fair market value of your certificate for RMD purposes. This may cause your RMD to be higher. You should consult your tax advisor prior to making a purchase for an explanation of the potential tax implications to you.
In accordance to the Code and supporting regulations, you must begin receiving distributions, including distributions of 403(b) Roth contributions and earnings, by your required beginning date. Unless a later date is authorized under the Code or applicable regulations, your required beginning date is April 1 of the calendar year following:
•
the calendar year in which you attain age 73 or, if later,
•
the calendar year in which you retire from employment with the contract holder.
Your certificate account shall be distributed (both in determining the timing of subsequent distributions and the amount of all required distributions) in a manner consistent with the Code. For purposes of determining required minimum distributions, the certificate account will be valued considering your accumulated benefit plus the actuarial present value of any additional benefits provided. Distributions from the certificate account shall be made in the annuity payment plan option selected by you or your beneficiary on or before the date which is at least 30 days before your required beginning date.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 39
Multiple 403(b) Annuity Contracts and 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts: If you have multiple 403(b) annuity contracts, certificates and/or 403(b)(7) custodial accounts, the required minimum distribution requirements may be satisfied by receiving a distribution from one 403(b) annuity or 403(b)(7) custodial account that is equal to the amount required to satisfy the required minimum distribution requirements for all of your 403(b) annuity contracts, certificates and 403(b)(7) custodial accounts. Under this method, you must still calculate the required minimum distribution requirements separately for each 403(b) annuity or 403(b)(7) custodial account, even though you can satisfy the minimum requirements by taking a distribution from one or more annuity contracts, certificates or custodial accounts.
Annuity Payment Plan Options: You can schedule receipt of irrevocable annuity payments according to one of the plans (A through E) or another plan agreed to by us, provided:
•
the plan selected provides for payments that satisfy the RMD rules described above;
•
payments are made in periodic payments at intervals of no longer than 1 year;
•
the first required payment must be the payment that is required for one payment interval, and the second payment need not be made until the end of the next payment interval, and
•
once payments have begun under the RMD rules over a period certain, the period certain will not be changed even if the period certain is shorter than the maximum permitted.
For purposes of this section, required distributions are considered to commence on your required beginning date, or if applicable, on the date distributions are required to begin to your surviving spouse. However, if you begin receipt of payments pursuant to an irrevocable annuity payment plan, required minimum distributions are considered to commence on the annuitization start date.
Permissive Service Credit Transfers: If permitted by the Plan and if you contribute to a tax-qualified defined benefit governmental plan as defined in the Code, that accepts plan-to-plan transfers for the purchase of permissive service credits under the Code, you may elect to have any portion of your certificate account transferred to the defined benefit governmental plan at any time.
Distributions Due to Termination of the Plan: Nothing in the contract and described in the certificate shall prohibit us from making a distribution of the certificate account to you following written notification by the contract holder (or the contract holder’s representative) of the termination of the Plan with instructions from the contract holder to distribute the certificate account to you. The certificate account may not be distributed unless the instructions to distribute the certificate account conform to the requirements and any other applicable guidance issued by the IRS. Nothing herein shall prevent us from treating the certificate account as a fully paid annuity upon termination of the Plan provided it would otherwise qualify for such status.
Withholding: If you receive directly all or part of the certificate account value, mandatory 20% federal income tax withholding (and possibly state income tax withholding) generally will be imposed at the time the payout is made from the Plan. Any withholding represents a prepayment of your tax due for the year. You take credit for these amounts on your annual income tax return. This mandatory withholding will not be imposed if instead of receiving the distribution check, you elect to have the distribution rolled over directly to an IRA or another eligible plan. Payments made to a surviving spouse instead of being directly rolled over to an IRA are also subject to mandatory 20% income tax withholding.
In the below situations, the distribution is subject to an optional withholding instead of the mandatory 20% withholding. We will withhold 10% of the distribution amount unless you elect otherwise.
•
the payout is one in a series of substantially equal periodic payouts, made at least annually, over your life or life expectancy (or the joint lives or life expectancies of you and your designated beneficiary) or over a specified period of 10 years or more;
•
the payout is a RMD as defined under the Code;
•
the payout is made on account of an eligible hardship; or
•
the payout is a corrective distribution.
State withholding also may be imposed on taxable distributions.
Federal and state tax withholding rules are subject to change. Annuity payouts and surrenders are subject to the tax withholding rules in effect at the time that they are made, which may differ from the rules described above.
Penalties: If you receive amounts from your certificate before reaching age 59½, you may have to pay a 10% IRS penalty on the amount includable in your ordinary income. However, this penalty generally will not apply to any amount received:
•
because of your death;
•
because you become disabled (as defined in the Code);
40 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
•
if the distribution is part of a series of substantially equal periodic payments made at least annually, over your life or life expectancy (or joint lives or life expectancies of you and your beneficiary);
•
if the distribution is made following severance from employment during or after the calendar year in which you attain age 55;
•
or others allowed by the IRS.
Death benefits to beneficiaries: The entire death benefit generally is taxable as ordinary income to the beneficiary in the year he/she receives the payments from the certificate.
Assignment: You may not assign or pledge your certificate as collateral for a loan.
Other
Important: Our discussion of federal tax laws is based upon our understanding of current interpretations of these laws. Federal tax laws or current interpretations of them may change. For this reason and because tax consequences are complex and highly individual and cannot always be anticipated, you should consult a tax advisor if you have any questions about taxation of your certificate.
RiverSource Life’s tax status: We are taxed as a life insurance company under the Code. For federal income tax purposes, the subaccounts are considered a part of our company, although their operations are treated separately in accounting and financial statements. Investment income is reinvested in the fund in which each subaccount invests and becomes part of that subaccount’s value. This investment income, including realized capital gains, is not subject to any withholding for federal or state income taxes. We reserve the right to make such a charge in the future if there is a change in the tax treatment of variable annuities or in our tax status as we then understand it.
The company includes in its taxable income the net investment income derived from the investment of assets held in its subaccounts because the company is considered the owner of these assets under federal income tax law. The company may claim certain tax benefits associated with this investment income. These benefits, which may include foreign tax credits and the corporate dividend received deduction, are not passed on to you since the company is the owner of the assets under federal tax law and is taxed on the investment income generated by the assets.
Tax qualification: We intend that the contract qualify as an annuity for federal income tax purposes. It is also intended to qualify as a 403(b) Tax Sheltered Annuity as defined in the Code. To that end, the provisions of the contract and described in the certificate are to be interpreted to ensure or maintain such tax qualification, in spite of any other provisions of the contract. We reserve the right to amend the contract to reflect any clarifications that may be needed or are appropriate to maintain such qualification or to conform the contract to any applicable changes in the tax qualification requirements. We will send you a copy of any amendments.
Voting Rights
As a contract owner with investments in the subaccounts, you may vote on important fund policies until annuity payouts begin. Once they begin, the person receiving them has voting rights. We will vote fund shares according to the instructions of the person with voting rights.
Before annuity payouts begin, the number of votes you have is determined by applying your percentage interest in each subaccount to the total number of votes allowed to the subaccount.
After annuity payouts begin, the number of votes you have is equal to:
•
the reserve held in each subaccount for your certificate account; divided by
•
the net asset value of one share of the applicable fund.
As we make annuity payouts, the reserve for the certificate account decreases; therefore, the number of votes also will decrease.
We calculate votes separately for each subaccount. We will send notice of shareholders’ meetings, proxy materials and a statement of the number of votes to which the voter is entitled. We are the legal owner of all fund shares and therefore hold all voting rights. However, to the extent required by law, we will vote the shares of each fund according to instructions we receive from policy owners. We will vote shares for which we have not received instructions and shares that we or our affiliates own in our own names in the same proportion as the votes for which we received instructions. As a result of this proportional voting, in cases when a small number of contract owners vote, their votes will have a greater impact and may even control the outcome.
Substitution of Investments
We may substitute the funds in which the subaccounts invest if:
•
laws or regulations change;
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 41
•
the existing funds become unavailable; or
•
in our judgment, the funds no longer are suitable (or are not the most suitable) for the subaccounts.
If any of these situations occur, we have the right to substitute a fund currently listed in this prospectus (existing fund) for another fund (new fund), provided we obtain any required SEC and state insurance law approval. The new fund may have higher fees and/or operating expenses than the existing fund. Also, the new fund may have investment objectives and policies and/or investment advisers which differ from the existing fund.
We may also:
•
add new subaccounts;
•
combine any two or more subaccounts;
•
transfer assets to and from the subaccounts or the variable account; and
•
eliminate or close any subaccounts.
We will notify you of any substitution or change.
In the event of any such substitution or change, we may amend the contract and take whatever action is necessary and appropriate without your consent or approval. We will obtain any required prior approval of the SEC or state insurance departments before making any substitution or change.
About the Service Providers
Principal Underwriter
RiverSource Distributors, Inc. (RiverSource Distributors), our affiliate, serves as the principal underwriter and general distributor of the contract. Its offices are located at 70100 Ameriprise Financial Center, Minneapolis, MN 55474. RiverSource Distributors is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc.
Sales of the Contract
•
Only securities broker-dealers (“selling firms”) registered with the SEC and members of the FINRA may offer the contract.
•
The contracts are continuously offered to the various education associations and school administration associations through authorized selling firms. We and RiverSource Distributors have a sales agreement with the selling firm. The sales agreement authorizes the selling firm to offer the contracts to the public. RiverSource Distributors pays the selling firm (or an affiliated insurance agency) for contracts its financial advisors sell. The selling firm may be required to return sales commissions under certain circumstances including but not limited to when certificates are returned under the free look period.
Payments We May Make to Selling Firms
•
We may use compensation plans which vary by selling firm. For example, we may pay ongoing trail commissions of up to 1.25% of the certificate account value. We do not pay or withhold payment of commissions based on which investment options you select.
•
We may pay selling firms a temporary additional sales commission of up to 1.00% of purchase payments for a period of time we select. For example, we may offer to pay a temporary additional sales commission to get selling firms to market a new or enhanced contract or to increase sales during the period.
•
In addition to commissions, we may, in order to promote sales of the contracts, and as permitted by applicable laws and regulations, pay or provide selling firms with other promotional incentives in cash, credit or other compensation. We generally (but may not) offer these promotional incentives to all selling firms. The terms of such arrangements differ between selling firms. These promotional incentives may include but are not limited to:
•
sponsorship of marketing, educational, due diligence and compliance meetings and conferences we or the selling firm may conduct for financial advisors, including subsidy of travel, meal, lodging, entertainment and other expenses related to these meetings;
•
marketing support related to sales of the contract including for example, the creation of marketing materials, advertising and newsletters;
•
providing service to contract holders and participants; and
•
funding other events sponsored by a selling firm that may encourage the selling firm’s financial advisors to offer the contract.
These promotional incentives or reimbursements may be calculated as a percentage of the selling firm’s aggregate, net or anticipated sales and/or total assets attributable to sales of the contract, and/or may be a fixed dollar amount. As noted below this additional compensation may cause the selling firm and its financial advisors to favor the contracts.
42 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Sources of Payments to Selling Firms
We pay the commissions and other compensation described above from our assets. Our assets may include:
•
revenues we receive from fees and expenses that you will pay when buying, owning and surrendering the certificate account (see “Expense Summary”);
•
compensation we or an affiliate receive from the underlying funds in the form of distribution and services fees (see “The Variable Account and the Funds — The funds”);
•
compensation we or an affiliate receive from a fund’s investment adviser, subadviser, distributor or an affiliate of any of these (see “The Variable Account and the Funds — The funds”); and
•
revenues we receive from other contracts/certificates and policies we sell that are not securities and other businesses we conduct.
You do not directly pay the commissions and other compensation described above as the result of a specific charge or deduction under the contract. However, you may pay part or all of the commissions and other compensation described above indirectly through:
•
fees and expenses we collect from contract holders/ participants; and
•
fees and expenses charged by the underlying funds in which the subaccounts you select invest, to the extent we or one of our affiliates receive revenue from the funds or an affiliated person.
Potential Conflicts of Interest
Compensation payment arrangements made with selling firms can potentially:
•
give selling firms a heightened financial incentive to sell the contract offered in this prospectus over another investment with lower compensation to the selling firm.
•
cause selling firms to encourage their financial advisors to sell you the contract offered in this prospectus instead of selling you other alternative investments that may result in lower compensation to the selling firm.
•
cause selling firms to grant us access to its financial advisors to promote sales of the contract offered in this prospectus, while denying that access to other firms offering similar contracts or other alternative investments which may pay lower compensation to the selling firm.
Payments to Investment Professionals
•
The selling firm pays its financial advisors. The selling firm decides the compensation and benefits it will pay its financial advisors.
•
To inform yourself of any potential conflicts of interest, ask the financial advisor before you buy, how the selling firm and its financial advisors are being compensated and the amount of the compensation that each will receive if you buy the contract.
Issuer
We issue the contracts. We are a stock life insurance company organized in 1957 under the laws of the state of Minnesota and are located at 829 Ameriprise Financial Center, Minneapolis, MN 55474. We are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc.
We conduct a conventional life insurance business. We are licensed to do business in 49 states, the District of Columbia and American Samoa. Our primary products currently include fixed and variable annuity contracts (including indexed linked annuity contracts) and life insurance policies.
Legal Proceedings
RiverSource Life is involved in the normal course of business in legal proceedings which include regulatory inquiries, arbitration and litigation, including class actions, concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of its activities. These include proceedings specific to the Company as well as proceedings generally applicable to business practices in the industries in which it operates. The Company can also be subject to legal proceedings arising out of its general business activities, such as its investments, contracts, and employment relationships. Uncertain economic conditions, heightened and sustained volatility in the financial markets and significant financial reform legislation may increase the likelihood that clients and other persons or regulators may present or threaten legal claims or that regulators increase the scope or frequency of examinations of the Company or the insurance industry generally.
As with other insurance companies, the level of regulatory activity and inquiry concerning the Company’s businesses remains elevated. From time to time, the Company and its affiliates, including Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC (“AFS”) and RiverSource Distributors, Inc. receive requests for information from, and/or are subject to examination or claims by various state, federal and other domestic authorities. The Company and its affiliates typically have numerous pending matters, which includes information requests, exams or inquiries regarding their business activities and practices and other subjects, including from time to time: sales and distribution of various products, including the
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 43
Company’s life insurance and variable annuity products; supervision of associated persons, including AFS financial advisors and RiverSource Distributors Inc.’s wholesalers; administration of insurance and annuity claims; security of client information; and transaction monitoring systems and controls. The Company and its affiliates have cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the applicable regulators.
These legal proceedings are subject to uncertainties and, as such, it is inherently difficult to determine whether any loss is probable or even reasonably possible, or to reasonably estimate the amount of any loss. The Company cannot predict with certainty if, how or when any such proceedings will be initiated or resolved. Matters frequently need to be more developed before a loss or range of loss can be reasonably estimated for any proceeding. An adverse outcome in one or more proceedings could eventually result in adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties or other sanctions, in addition to further claims, examinations or adverse publicity that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.
Financial Statements
The financial statements for the RiverSource Variable Account 10, as well as the consolidated financial statements of RVS Life, are in the Statement of Additional Information. A current Statement of Additional Information may be obtained, without charge, by calling us at 1-800-862-7919, or can be found online at www.ameriprise.com/variableannuities.
44 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
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Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 45
| Investment Objective |
Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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46 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
| Investment Objective |
Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 47
| Investment Objective |
Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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48 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
| Investment Objective |
Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 49
| Investment Objective |
Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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50 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
| Investment Objective |
Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 51
| Investment Objective |
Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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52 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
| Investment Objective |
Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 53
| Investment Objective |
Fund and Adviser/Sub-Adviser |
Current Expenses Ratio [NET] |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/2023) | ||
| 1 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year | |||
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1
This Fund is managed in a way that is intended to minimize volatility of returns. See “Principal Risks of Investing in the Contract.”
2
3
This Fund is a fund of funds and invests substantially all of its assets in other underlying funds. Because the Fund invests in other funds, it will bear its pro rata portion of the operating expenses of those underlying funds, including management fees.
54 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
Appendix B: Example — Market Value Adjustment (MVA)
As the examples below demonstrate, the application of an MVA may result in either a gain or a loss of principal. We refer to all of the transactions described below as “early surrenders.” The examples may show hypothetical certificate account values. These certificate account values do not represent past or future performance. Actual certificate account values may be more or less than those shown and will depend on a number of factors, including but not limited to the investment experience of the subaccounts, GPAs, Special DCA fixed account, and the fees and charges that apply to your certificate.
Assumptions:
•
You enroll under the contract and allocate part of your purchase payment to the ten-year GPA; and
•
we guarantee an interest rate of 3.0% annually for your ten-year Guarantee Period; and
•
after three years, you decide to make a surrender from your GPA. In other words, there are seven years left in your guarantee period.
Remember that the MVA depends partly on the interest rate of a new GPA for the same number of years as the Guarantee Period remaining on your GPA. In this case, that is seven years.
Example 1: Remember that your GPA is earning 3.0%. Assume at the time of your surrender new GPAs that we offer with a seven-year Guarantee Period are earning 3.5%. We add 0.10% to the 3.5% rate to get 3.6%. Your GPA’s 3.0% rate is less than the 3.6% rate so the MVA will be negative.
Example 2: Remember again that your GPA is earning 3.0%, and assume that new GPAs that we offer with a seven-year Guarantee Period are earning 2.5%. We add 0.10% to the 2.5% rate to get 2.6%. In this example, since your GPA’s 3.0% rate is greater than the 2.6% rate, the MVA will be positive. To determine that adjustment precisely, you will have to use the formula described below.
Sample MVA Calculations
The precise MVA formula we apply is as follows:
| Early surrender amount |
× |
[ |
( |
1 + i |
) |
n/12 |
–1 |
] |
= |
MVA |
| 1 + j + .001 |
| Where i |
= |
rate earned in the GPA from which amounts are being transferred or surrendered. |
| j |
= |
current rate for a new Guaranteed Period equal to the remaining term in the current Guarantee Period (rounded up to the next year). |
| n |
= |
number of months remaining in the current Guarantee Period (rounded up to the next month). |
Examples — MVA
Using assumptions similar to those we used in the examples above:
•
You enroll under the contract and allocate part of your purchase payment to the ten-year GPA; and
•
we guarantee an interest rate of 3.0% annually for your ten-year Guarantee Period; and
•
after three years, you decide to make a $1,000 surrender from your GPA. In other words, there are seven years left in your guarantee period.
Example 1: You request an early surrender of $1,000 from your ten-year GPA earning a guaranteed interest rate of 3.0%. Assume at the time of your surrender new GPAs that we offer with a seven-year Guarantee Period are earning 3.5%. Using the formula above, we determine the MVA as follows:
| $1,000 |
× |
[ |
( |
1.030 |
) |
84/12 |
–1 |
] |
= |
-$39.84 |
| 1 + .035 + .001 |
In this example, the MVA is a negative $39.84.
Example 2: You request an early surrender of $1,000 from your ten-year GPA earning a guaranteed interest rate of 3.0%. Assume at the time of your surrender new GPAs that we offer with a seven-year Guarantee Period are earning 2.5%. Using the formula above, we determine the MVA as follows:
| $1,000 |
× |
[ |
( |
1.030 |
) |
84/12 |
–1 |
] |
= |
$27.61 |
| 1 + .025 + .001 |
In this example, the MVA is a positive $27.61.
RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus 55
The current interest rate we offer on the GPA will change periodically at our discretion. It is the rate we are then paying on purchase payments, renewals and transfers paid under this class of contracts for guarantee period durations equaling the remaining guarantee period of the GPA to which the formula is being applied.
56 RiverSource Retirement Group Annuity Contract I — Prospectus
The Statement of Additional Information (SAI) includes additional information about the Contract. The SAI, dated the same date as this prospectus, is incorporated by reference into this prospectus. The SAI is available, without charge, upon request. For a free copy of the SAI, or for more information about the Contract, call us at 1-800-862-7919, visit our website at riversource.com/annuities or write to us at: 70100 Ameriprise Financial Center Minneapolis, MN 55474.
RiverSource Life Insurance Company
70100 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, MN 55474
1-800-862-7919
70100 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, MN 55474
1-800-862-7919
PRO9022_12_C01_(05/24)
Reports and other information about RiverSource Variable Account 10 are available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, upon payment of a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
EDGAR Contract Identifier: C000109013
© 2008-2024 RiverSource Life Insurance Company. All rights reserved.