![Rick Graham]()
Rick Graham |
August 28, 2015 |
Annuity Basics, Fixed Annuities, Index Annuities, Variable Annuities
The truth about annuities is that there is not so much a good or bad annuity as much as a good or bad fit for your personal situation. There are many different types of annuities and dozens of insurance companies offering them. There are literally hundreds of different annuity product options. It can be very challenging to understand and compare products. To begin with, an annuity is a contract issued by an insurance company to meet specific financial goals, wants, or needs. It’s a contract...
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![Morgan Hill]()
Morgan Hill |
August 6, 2015 |
Annuity Basics, Annuity Bias, Index Annuities
How many times have your clients or prospects told you that they had “researched” indexed annuities? Only later you discover that “research” consisted of typing “indexed annuity” into Google and reading the first couple sentences. As a financial professional who offers indexed annuities in your array of products, you ought to familiarize yourself with Google search engine results related to the product. It doesn’t take long to recognize the negative results. Indeed, much of the easy-to-access Internet literature about annuities is inherently negative. While I...
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![Morgan Hill]()
Morgan Hill |
August 3, 2015 |
Annuity Basics, Index Annuities
For decades, a commonly cited rule of thumb for retirement portfolios has been the “rule of 100.” It states that individuals should hold a percentage of stocks equal to 100 minus their age. So, for a typical 60-year-old, 40% of the portfolio should be equities and 60% of the portfolio should be held in conservative or otherwise fixed-rate investments; bonds, treasuries, CDs, etc. However, with the large majority of these safe investments pay out roughly 2%-4%, many investors are keeping their exposure to equities disproportionately...
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![Dave Mortach]()
Dave Mortach |
July 28, 2015 |
Annual Reset, Annuity Basics, Index Annuities
People purchase annuities for a number of different reasons. Certainly, ensuring a lifetime stream of retirement income is one of the primary factors for purchasing this type of financial vehicle. But while the annuity is still in its funding—or accumulation—phase, it is also important to make sure that you are able to grow and protect the funds that are inside of the account. Using a fixed indexed annuity, or FIA, can be an ideal way to generate a retirement income. These annuities credit interest based...
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![Dave Mortach]()
Dave Mortach |
July 21, 2015 |
Annual Reset, Annuity Basics, Index Annuities, Retirement Planning
When obtaining any type of financial vehicle, there is typically some type of risk-return tradeoff. For instance, in today’s low interest rate environment, it’s tough to obtain the growth that you need, yet it’s important to also play it safe in order to protect your principal. The fixed indexed annuity, or FIA, can provide a great solution for offering the potential for market-related growth, yet protection from downside risk. This can in turn help you to generate more retirement income down the road. Ensuring that...
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![Craig Moser]()
Craig Moser |
July 20, 2015 |
Annuity Basics, Index Annuities, Retirement Planning
Looking back at my father, I see someone who was entitled to two pensions and Social Security. As he put it, he “just got money in the mail.” Fast forwarding to present day, I work with folks who are or will be solely dependent on the money they have saved and their Social Security to drive their retirement income. So the question is, “How do you not outlive your money?” We work on average 40 years. During that time we buy homes, perhaps raise and...
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![Art McPherson]()
Art McPherson |
July 6, 2015 |
Annuity Basics
If you are reading this article, you can probably identify with the title in some form. However, annuities are one of the largest growing financial segments in the financial industry. There are currently 223,000 advisors in the financial services industry and only 1% of those advisors produce more than 1 million in production annually. Out of those select few advisors, only a handful of advisors have a radio show that offers financial information on a regular basis to educate their clients and their communities. If...
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![John Hill]()
John Hill |
May 18, 2015 |
Annuity Basics, Retirement Planning
The question is not if annuities are good or bad. The question is what type of annuity works for your retirement. All tools exist for a purpose. Don`t use a hammer when you need a screwdriver. In this article, I will discuss the purpose of annuities, specifically fixed and fixed indexes annuities. By the end of this discussion, I will outline some of the questions surrounding annuities and why annuities are the right tool for your retirement. Question 1- How much money should I risk?...
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![Jim Fox]()
Jim Fox |
May 4, 2015 |
Annuity Basics, Your Retirement
If you’re like many Americans nearing retirement, you’ve been invited to more dinner and lunch seminars than you can count. What might surprise you is that only half a percent of people who receive those invitations actually attend the seminar. Even more shocking is that majority of seminars are geared toward one thing: presenting and soliciting annuities. When I began working as an advisor, almost two decades ago, I was trained that annuities were horrible retirement vehicles sold by seedy salesmen with little regard for...
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![Charisse Smith]()
Charisse Smith |
April 28, 2015 |
Annuity Basics, Retirement Planning
If you are embarking into the annuity world for the first time, it might be like being lost adrift in the movie “Water World.” You are wandering in a sea of never-ending questions. Folks who have been in annuities for years may still not understand them. There are fixed annuities, immediate annuities, variable annuities, and index annuities with caps, all of which are quite complex, especially if you have received your first annual statement and you only made 3%. Annuities have changed immensely from the...
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