The Board of Directors of the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA), at a called meeting on December 29, 2008, approved a recommendation from the Rates Committee to reduce the expected return assumption from 5.75% to 5.25%. A new rate schedule has been developed reflecting this change and is now available for annuities issued on February 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009.

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Recommended rates have been lowered by .4% to .7% at each age with a maximum rate of 9.5% at ages 90 and above. The new rates will qualify for all immediate gift annuities at all ages for a CMFR of 2.4% or above. In the case of deferred gift annuities, there may be a few instances in which rates based on the ACGA's suggested schedule and methodology do not qualify when the CMFR is quite low. In those instances, the deferred rates would have to be reduced to qualify.

For all rate schedules, go to the ACGA's website at http://www.acga-web.org/2009ratesfeb/ratesfeb09.html.