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Normal income units pay out the dividend or interest earned to investors on a regular basis, but accumulation units do not.
1) Accumulation units are used to accurately measure the value of contributions by the annuitant. In times when the variable annuity's investments dip, a fixed amount of funds will buy more accumulation units than when the securities are more highly priced, just as investors are able to by more shares of cheaper stock than they can of higher priced stock with the same amount of currency.
2) Accumulation units within a unit trust can be reinvested back into the trust via boosting the unit price, or issuing additional units to investors. Either way, the investor is able to reinvest their share of profits back into the trust.