I get this question from prospective clients, do you use annuities in your retirement planning?
The simple answer is yes. I have multiple annuities as part of my retirement portfolio. And the reason I use allowances for my retirement is the same reason that anyone would use them:
Safety, Guarantees, Growth Potential, and INCOME.
I started working in the financial industry in the fall of 1990. At that time, we were preparing for one of the most prolific stock markets in history. You could pick any mutual fund, and it would increase in value. Not by a little, but by huge percentages each year. And that’s precisely what I did with my portfolio and clients. It was a great time to be an advisor and an investor. As with all good things, they don’t last. Toward the ’90s, I discovered that the market could take quite an ugly turn. Now, what am I going to do?
At that time, your choices in the annuity industry were limited to variable or fixed annuities. Neither one of those was very satisfying. Then I was introduced to a Fixed Indexed Annuity. I sounded much like many investors when they first heard of this product. That’s too good to be true. An annuity that will let you participate in an upward stock market with 100% downside market protection? But it was true! Now there was a financial strategy that would credit a portion of an increasing stock market, protect me in a down market, and provide me with a monthly income that I couldn’t outlive. Sign me up!
Over the years, as my client demographic has moved more into pre-retirement and retirement age people, I’ve learned to appreciate the Fixed Indexed Annuity even more. What is arguably the essential aspect of enjoying your retirement? INCOME, of course. Income is king in retirement, and we want to make sure there is income for the rest of a client’s life. Do stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or ETFs provide a guaranteed lifetime income? No, they don’t. But, FIA’s do. Having an income rider as part of your annuity account is one of the most important things you can do for a client. This will ensure that a bad economy, an adverse market, decreasing interest rates, or living into your 90s or even 100s doesn’t destroy your retirement plan.
In the past, you could work for a company and retire with a guaranteed pension check for the rest of your life. Now with 401s, clients have a lump sum of money dumped in their lap, and the responsibility of making that money last is on their shoulders. You don’t get a second chance on this one, either. Now, you either go to the bank and settle for low-interest accounts, invest in the stock market and hope things go well, or use a financial strategy somewhere in the middle.
The Fixed Indexed Annuity provides safety, guarantees, growth potential, and INCOME. After using these products for 20 years, personally and with my clients, I’ve found they are genuine , honest, and perfect for retirement planning.
