Anton Hendler |
August 14, 2014 |
Annuity Basics
Against a background of more and more talk of another market correction, we thought it a good time to revisit the role that Fixed Index Annuities (FIAs) play in one’s overall retirement strategy. Essentially you have your safe money-that is money that you want to protect and on which you never want to take a loss, and then you have ‘risk’ money-that is money that you are prepared to place at risk in return for promise of greater returns. As always, there is risk vs....
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Anton Hendler |
August 4, 2014 |
Annuity Basics
We spend so much time dwelling on why you should buy an annuity that we never go over some reasons not to do so. Also there are some myths out there regarding annuities that we hope to dispel. First, let us make the point that not all annuities are the same. We work primarily with Fixed Index Annuities which have little to nothing in common with, say, a variable annuity. For the purposes of this article for annuities read Fixed Index Annuities (FIA). 1) Your...
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Anton Hendler |
July 11, 2014 |
Annuity Basics
The single biggest retirement concern facing seniors today is running out of money in retirement. A recent survey* questioning 1,000 Americans with $50,000 to $250,000 in investable assets—found that 55 percent of respondents were terrified of not having enough money to live out retirement. This beat fears of losing a job (35 percent), public speaking (25 percent), weight gain (24 percent) or going to the dentist (23 percent). If you are in retirement or still working and saving for retirement, take a few minutes to...
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Anton Hendler |
May 1, 2014 |
Index Annuities, Inflation
It wasn’t that long ago, that inflation was the topic of choice but, after a protracted period of next-to-no inflation, and perhaps a touch of deflation, not much has been heard about this inevitable fact of our lives for quite some time now. The latest annual inflation rate for the United States is 1.1% through the 12 months ended February 2014* and the average annual inflation for the past 100 years or so has been about 3.2%. Effectively this means that if you are not...
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Anton Hendler |
April 14, 2014 |
Index Annuities
Not that long ago, many corporate and government employees had the safety of a defined benefit pension plan which was funded by the employer and would provide a steady stream of “guaranteed” retirement income for the rest of their life. Sadly, this type of pension plan is a disappearing commodity and, with them, goes the security of an income stream to support one throughout retirement. So, given the inevitability of the current trend to alternative vehicles, what can a retiree or future retiree do to...
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Anton Hendler |
March 31, 2014 |
Annuity Caps, Index Annuities
One thing that is for certain in the Insurance Industry (or any service industry) is that the market will always react to demand for a product. It’s no different with Fixed Index Annuities (FIAs), and recently we have seen more and more ‘Uncapped Products’ offered in reaction to the markets demand for a greater share of upside gains. As with any FIA where you always only share in the market upside (but never in the downside) there are costs and limitations involved so provided you...
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Anton Hendler |
March 21, 2014 |
Fixed Annuities, Index Annuities
Given the current market uncertainty we thought it a good time to revisit the question of Fixed Index Annuities (FIAs) and whether one can, in fact, gain without losing. The short answer is, of course, yes. But there are a few points that need to be made to properly explain what is meant by gaining and losing. Certainly with a FIA you will never share in any market losses. Your gains, if there is a gain, are ‘locked in’ on a set basis (usually every...
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Anton Hendler |
March 4, 2014 |
Annuity Basics
With the recent uncertainty around bitcoin in general and Mt.Gox (the biggest bitcoin exchange) in particular, we felt this was an apt time to reiterate a few of the points we have made in recent months regarding Fixed Index Annuities (FIAs). For those not familiar, bitcoin is a virtual currency that can be used as payment for certain transactions and is traded on various exchanges. According to their site bitcoin “uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the...
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Anton Hendler |
February 22, 2014 |
Annuity Basics, Fixed Annuities, Index Annuities
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, so the saying goes. So it is that with an article of this nature, it depends on who is writing it and that persons perspective as no two people will share the same opinion. So let us nail our colors firmly to the mast, so to speak, and share with you that we promote Fixed Index Annuities (FIAs) to our clients and are firm believers in their place in any Retirement strategy. Now that we have our...
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Anton Hendler |
February 4, 2014 |
Annual Reset, Annuity Basics, Fixed Annuities, Index Annuities
Of all the features of a Fixed Index Annuity (FIA), arguably the one with the greatest value is the annual reset. What this means is that every year on the anniversary of the policy, any gains in the market (based on the strategy which you have chosen and an index such as the S&P 500) will be credited to your policy and then ‘locked in’. So if the market goes down in the next year, not only will you not go down (you will stay...
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