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Alleviating Annuity Ambiguity

Do you have money sitting in a 401k, IRA or TSP?

Does it sometimes seem like protecting and growing your hard-earned retirement savings is like trying to win a game of musical chairs, but the music stops randomly, and sometimes the chairs disappear?”

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Rolling over your savings into an annunity is one way to steady the ship and guarantee that your lifetime of hard work doesn’t sink like a rock.

And annuities don’t have to be complicated. I really dislike that my colleagues in the financial services business find a way to make everything sound difficult and confusing. 

In fact, all of the various financial products you use for retirement can be simplified. Here is a simple “cheat sheet” of the types of annuities available:

Retirement Annuities, sometimes called life annuities—retiree makes a single deposit and then gets monthly payments for life, no matter how long he or she lives.

Deferred annuities, sometimes called fixed annuities—pay interest like a bank account.  If the interest is reinvested, you won’t pay any tax on it.  You pay tax only when you make withdrawals.  Frequently, people in their 50s buy this type of annuity and let the reinvested interest grow their account. Then, upon retirement, they convert this to a retirement annuity and get lifetime payments.

Fixed Index Annuities–rather than paying a set interest rate, the interest rate varies based on the performance of the stock market. But your original investment is guaranteed by the insurance company so that declines in the stock market will not effect your annuity value.

Variable Annuities—offer a menu of different investment accounts (similar to a menu of mutual funds). The value of your annuity will rise and fall with the investment accounts that you select.

The reason that annuities are popular with retirees is that they are flexible. They can be used as a cash accumulation vehicle or an income vehicle, depending on your retirement needs.

What do you need? Let us know and I will set up a quick zoom call to see what retirement strategy would work best for you.

We are ready to help you with:

  • Annuity Rollovers and Individual Pension Plans
  • Term and Cash Accumulation Life Insurance 
  • Group and Individual Medical Insurance
  • Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplement
  • Prescription Drug Plans
  • Vision and Dental
  • Accident, hospital, cancer
  • ACA and low-income assistance
  • And so much more!