Protect What’s Yours
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 my favorite reasons why you should own an annuity to protect what’s yours.
How annuities protect your principal: When you invest in an annuity, you enter into a contract with the insurance company. As is the case with any contract, both parties agree to certain terms to be adhered to during the course of the agreed term. You agree to time in the investment and the insurance company assumes ALL THE RISK.
The first thing the insurance company does is offer a guarantee of your principal investment. This means that whether you start with $10,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000; the insurance company will guarantee in writing that your investment will never be worth less than your initial investment – as long as you maintain the terms of the contract.
Why should you care? With all the volatility on Wall Street, the potential for double digit, if not complete loss looms around every corner.
If you are comfortable with the idea that you could lose it all, an annuity is not for you.
However, if you believe that you worked hard for your money and you are not willing to accept even a penny of loss because someone sneezed in Greece and the market crashed, continue reading – you may like what you learn.
How an annuity can be tailored to your individual income needs: Do you have a pension? Have you even heard of a pension? Not many companies use them anymore, so if you do have one count yourself as lucky.
If you don’t, but would like the stability of “pension” income, you may want to consider an annuity. You can get income immediately, or you can let your “pension” grow and receive a higher payout because you were willing or able to let your investment grow within the annuity.
Just like the insurance company guarantees your principal, they will contractually guarantee that your investment will grow at a specified rate and be worth a specified amount in any year that you wish to begin receiving your income. Some annuities have features that will allow you to “capture the upside of the market”, making your contract grow faster and be worth more if the markets do well, giving you an even higher potential income.
I do not recommend this particular feature be the most important when choosing an annuity. Choose strong guarantees and anything that your contract makes above that will be a very nice surprise indeed.
Why should you care? Are you tired of seeing the word “contractual” yet? If you maintain the terms of the contract, the insurance company will pay you an income for the rest of your life.
Can you say that about your 401k or IRA? Not unless it’s in an annuity!
Once you start taking income from your traditional retirement accounts you are going to run out of money. It is a mathematical certainty. Add some market volatility and you could be out of money MUCH sooner than you planned on.
Not so with an annuity. Even if you did mathematically get to a zero balance, the insurance company would continue to pay you FOR AS LONG AS YOU LIVE.
Got longevity in your family? Consider an annuity.
Afraid you may not have saved enough for retirement? Consider an annuity to help stretch your retirement payments, so they will last as long as you do.
You owe it to yourself to have all the facts. Qualified Safe Money Advisors specialize in educating you and helping you create the safest and most profitable retirement possible. Before you buy into the market hype, please explore the wonderful and satisfying benefits of owning an annuity as part of your retirement portfolio.
For more information and to learn how you can protect what’s yours, call 407.367.8845 or email NinaAvery@TheSafeMoneyPro.com for a free consultation.
About Nina K Avery, CFP ® and Avery Safe Money Solutions:
Restoring confidence with Safe Money Solutions to help everyone create secure retirement incomes they can count on for the rest of their lives. Nina K Avery, Certified Financial Planner ™professional, is gaining recognition in and around central Florida for being a Qualified Safe Money Advisor, Financial Literacy Coach & Guaranteed Retirement Income Expert. With all of the economic turmoil in the markets, the country and around the world, it’s more important than ever to understand how to keep your wealth safe and secure…but also growing.
Nina’s mission is first to educate and restore confidence. Using Safe Money Solutions, she then helps her clients create GUARANTEED retirement incomes for life. She also helps her clients avoid losing money and instead build wealth SAFELY and SECURELY. Regardless of your current financial situation, Nina can help you get on the Path to Safe Money and sleep well at night.
Click here to see more educational articles from Nina. Also, be sure to visit her website: www.TheSafeMoneyPro.com.
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1 Comment
Great information. You make it so easy to understand.