There are two main benefits to this arrangement not found in the ordinary mutual funds sold by brokers and financial advisers. Taxes on variable annuities are deferred until the consumer takes out cash, which means it's possible to move your money among funds without paying taxes until the money is withdrawn. (An investor who cashes in shares of a mutual fund must pay taxes on any gains.)

Variable annuities also typically include a life insurance component called a guaranteed death benefit. With this guarantee, if the market crashes — but you die before your investment recovers — your beneficiary still gets a lump sum equal to either the death benefit or the value of the investments in your account, whichever is greater.

The target audience for brochures like that of ING's are people nearing retirement with a nest egg to safeguard and perhaps grow a bit. It's a huge and growing market. In 2011, as the first wave of baby boomers began to retire, there were more than 40 million people age 65 or over. Between 2001 and 2010, life insurance companies sold about $1.4 trillion worth of variable annuities, according to LIMRA, an industry association.

Caramadre got the seeds of his idea in the mid-90s when he attended an investment seminar for insurance agents. He quickly saw how variable annuities could be a hot product for insurance companies — particularly when they could charge hefty fees for attractive goodies like the guaranteed death benefit.

Caramadre decided that he wouldn't offer variable annuities to clients in the way the insurance companies envisioned. It was too expensive. "They are just whacking you for fees," he says.

What Caramadre wanted was a way to get his clients the benefits without their having to die.

* * *

Society has long frowned on certain behaviors. Taking out an insurance policy on a friend or neighbor and killing them? Not acceptable. Taking out a life insurance policy that gambles your neighbor will die soon, even without your help, also crosses the line. Today, it is well-established law that one must have what is called an "insurable interest" before purchasing an insurance policy on someone else's life. The person who benefits from the policy must be a relative or business associate who himself would face financial or familial loss from the death.

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