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6 Things to Consider When Buying an Annuity

Bryan Bentley

So, you are considering purchasing an annuity to help protect your retirement savings or to solve a concern that may not be easily addressed with other investment vehicles. Here are a few things to consider when making a decision about buying an annuity. 1. Surrender Charge Period Expressed in terms of years, the surrender charge defines how long your money must remain in the annuity before you have unrestricted access to it. With most annuities, a portion of your money is available penalty-free during the...

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Rebuttal to ‘Don’t Buy Index Annuity Article’ on AARP

Brent Welch

In the May 2014 AARP magazine, Allan Roth set the tone for his article “Don’t Buy It”with a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio, star of the movie The Wolf of Wall Street. In the film, DiCaprio plays a dishonest, immoral and unethical investment banker. This “Wolf of Wall Street” ended up in prison for the rest of his life, convicted of felony charges, racketeering, extortion, and stealing money from the general public. He was a wicked and completely dishonest criminal, much like Bernie Madoff. Roth suggested...

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How Do You Compare Fixed Index Annuities?

Laura Johnson

The idea of having a savings vehicle that can take advantage of the market upside while protecting your money from market downside sounds extremely promising. This is the usual description of a Fixed Index Annuity.  But how do you choose which Fixed Index Annuity?  Annuities have now many different options built into them and it make them harder to compare. To answer that question accurately, you first need to ask “What is the primary purpose of the money?” For example, many of my clients are...

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Fixed Index Annuities – In Them We Trust!

Anton Hendler

For those of you who are clients of ours, you will know that one of our primary retirement strategies is the use of the right combination of annuities including Fixed Index Annuities (FIAs). Fixed Index Annuities (FIAs) are annuities which are tied to the stock-market via one or a combination of indexes such as the S&P 500. This allows owners of these annuity policies to share in any upside growth BUT at the same time, investors are shielded from any downside risk. The most important...

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What In The World Is An “Annual Reset” Indexed Annuity?

John L. Olsen

There are several different kinds of index annuities, but the “Annual Reset” type is the most commonly sold (and bought). The name refers to the interest crediting period – the length of time over which gains and losses in the equity index (often, but not always, the S&P500®) will be measured and index-linked interest will be calculated and credited. There are different types of annual reset annuities. Some measure monthly index movements, from which they calculate and credit interest annually (the “Monthly Sum” or “Monthly...

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