Annuity123 is dedicated to providing Americans with unbiased information about retirement, answering the tough questions you want to know.

With hundreds of articles on every retirement planning topic you can think of, peace of mind is just a click away.

Member Posts

Facts About Annuities That Your Agent Should Share With You

John L. Olsen

FACT #1: The economic benefit of payments under a Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit rider (GLWB) doesn’t materialize until after you’ve received your principal and all of your earned interest.           Here’s an example: At your age 55, you deposit $100,000 into a deferred annuity with a GLWB rider that guarantees a “roll up” interest rate (on the “benefit base”, on which the withdrawal payments are calculated) of 7.2%, compounded for ten years (which is the same as 10% simple interest). That produces a benefit base of...

View Article

Get Your 401k and IRA on Track and Arrive at Retirement on Time: 6 Key Points

John L. Olsen

Written By: Jeffrey Kiesel in Chester Springs, PA Remind yourself verbally, especially when you are listening to the business reports with all of their expert opinions about what will happen in the next quarter or next year: “There is absolutely nobody who knows what’s going to happen in the future. Not next week, month, year or decade. If they did, why didn’t they avoid the latest economic debacle or market disaster? Or why didn’t they retire on all the money they would have made?” Later...

View Article

Should I Consider An Annuity For Pure Market Growth?

Stan The Annuity Man

Question: Should I consider an annuity for pure market growth?  Can I get all of the upside with no downside like I hear on local radio ads?  Mary from San Diego, CA. Answer: Mary, this is a home run when it comes to questions!  A common myth that is promoted by too many annuity agents is that annuities are growth products.  Let me say, unequivocally, that they are not!  Annuities should never be considered for pure market growth. By the way, most agents will violently...

View Article

Myths About Annuities

John L. Olsen

One of the difficulties in working with annuities is the persistent mythology connected with them. Much of the “conventional wisdom” regarding these contracts is not “wise” at all, but is often mistaken, confused, or downright wrong. Here are five of my favorite “myths”: 1) “Annuities are…” Any sentence that starts this way will be misleading at best. Why? Because all annuities are not the same. Indeed, a true statement about deferred annuities is likely to be partly or wholly untrue when applied to immediate annuities,...

View Article

Best 10 Reasons to Own Annuities

John L. Olsen

Written By: Jeffrey Kiesel in Chester Springs, PA As Baby Boomers look ahead to a retirement with life expectancies which could be the longest part of their lives, they need to have an adequate, dependable and long lasting stream of income. This means their nest eggs should provide the funds to allow them to enjoy their retirement years and to not outlive the source of their income. For this reason retirement planning is extremely important. Besides being a complicated and somewhat threatening process, it is...

View Article

Can I Buy Annuities With No Fees or Surrender Charges?

Stan The Annuity Man

Question: Can I buy annuities with no fees or surrender charges? Are there no load annuities like no load mutual funds?  Ron in Roanoke, Virginia. Answer: Phenomenal question Ron!  The annuity industry is very late to the party when it comes to “no load” type offerings that are common in the mutual fund industry.  No load can mean a few things.  It can refer to no fees for buying a strategy, no fees to keep the strategy, and no fees to sell the strategy.  Let’s...

View Article

Annuity Rates, Caps, and Fees

Stan The Annuity Man

Provided By: The Annuity Guys “What are your best annuity rates?” This is how about 50% of our phone calls from website visitors start out after they visited www.AnnuityRatesInstantly.com. As independent advisors, fortunately, we are able to offer our clients the best fit from dozens of companies including those with the highest rates, best caps and lowest fees. So, if you find an annuity with the best guaranteed rate, the highest cap and the lowest fee, you have found the best annuity – right? Probably not. We do not believe that one perfect annuity exists...

View Article

Protect What’s Yours

Stan The Annuity Man

Written By: Nina Avery, CFP®, in Orlando, FL Annuities are a great way to safeguard your hard earned money. They also offer several options, any of which can be tailored to your individual needs with regard to immediate income, fixed rates like CDs, upside potential without market risk, guaranteed lifetime income and spousal benefits. If you are looking for safety of principal, guaranteed returns and guaranteed lifetime income; educating yourself about annuities is definitely worth your time.  Here is a brief discussion of two of...

View Article

Would You Rather Be Rich?

Stan The Annuity Man

Written By: Allen Trimble in San Antonio, TX When I talk with folks about their retirement income, or planning their retirement income, we discuss various savings and investment vehicles that we could use. This discussion often runs the gamut, from CDs to gold to the stock market and just about everything in between. Not surprisingly, most people in or near retirement want to know that their money is safe and that their income is or will be secure and sustainable. What could be worse, financially...

View Article

What Is a Longevity Annuity?

Stan The Annuity Man

Question: What is a longevity annuity?  Is this something new? – Ben from Dallas, Texas Answer: Thanks for the question Ben, and this is a product that I recommend a lot to my clients.  The longevity annuity was actually introduced to the market about 7 years ago.  It has also been called a “Deferred Income Annuity” and also a “Deferred Immediate Annuity.”  Confused?….don’t be because its strategy is easy to understand, which is a primary reason for its growing popularity with consumers. First of all,...

View Article