The New York Times, "U.S. and New York Look at Annuity Sale Practices"

          Regulators in New York and the federal government are expanding their investigations into the insurance industry to include certain sales of investments that produce new commissions for sales representatives but can be harmful to customers.
          The new avenue in the inquiries, according to regulators, involves so-called churning, or the unnecessary replacement, of old variable annuities with new ones. Variable annuities are a combination of insurance and stock and bond funds virtually identical to mutual funds. Churning can cost the customer up to 7 percent of an investment, increase restrictions on future withdrawals and, in some cases, add to taxes, investigators say.