Addressing Annuity Myths: Part 1

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Ten Lies People Will Tell You About Fixed Index Annuities with Income Riders

The following content is excerpted from the book, Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success,” by Dan Ahmad, Jim Files, and Jack Canfield, with valuable contributions from other leading professionals from around the world. This excerpt was written by John Kirker, fiduciary financial advisor, and reviews ten annuity myths – specifically, annuity lies people believe about fixed index annuities with income riders.

This is Part One of our two-part Annuity Myths series.

If your goals are to:

  1. Protect your money against 100% of all stock market losses.
  2. Guarantee you won’t run out of income for as long as you live.
  3. Receive the same or higher income for as long as you live regardless of stock market volatility or how long you live.
  4. Pay a relatively low total annual fee of approximately 1%.
  5. Have the opportunity to earn a competitive rate of return.
  6. Defer 100% of the taxation on any growth until you take distributions.
  7. Never subject current or previous gains to future stock market losses.
  8. Pass 100% of all remaining funds at your death to your beneficiaries.

One of the only, if not the only, financial instruments you can use to do all of these things is a fixed index annuity with an income rider.

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How Do You Set Up a Fixed Index Annuity? (And What Do You Get Back?)

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Understanding More About Fixed Index Annuities with Income Riders

We’ve told you previously about the one key reason why people decide not to purchase a fixed index annuity with an income rider as part of their overall retirement income plan. It’s not because of surrender charges, fees, or lower returns. It’s because the benefits of a fixed index annuity with an income rider simply sound too good to be true. Of course, they’re NOT, and you can read more about that here if you need a refresher.

So, let’s assume you’re ready to move forward with your fixed index annuity with an income rider – where do you start and how, exactly, does it work? We’re here to walk you through it.

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The Next Step to Enhance Your Financial Security: A Second Opinion

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When You’re Retired, You Need to Ensure Your Finances Are on Track

With the articles we publish here on our blog, many of which are based on content in our book Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success, we hope to take you down the path of “financial enlightenment.” We do it because some of the facts and strategies we share may be the complete opposite of what you have been told before. We want you to think differently – and to plan your retirement differently – because you have no other option than to succeed.

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The Retirement Income Myth: Income Riders and Sequence of Return Risk

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Income Riders and Sequence of Return Risk

The following is an excerpt from the book, Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success,” by Dan Ahmad, Jim Files, and Jack Canfield, with contributions from other leading professionals from around the world. This excerpt was written by Dave Lopez, a recognized retirement planning speaker, and writer.

Retirement Income Myth:

You shouldn’t buy an annuity because the stock market is the best place for you to invest for dependable retirement income that will last for as long as you live.
You are retired and want a high level of dependable income from your savings that is guaranteed to last for as long as you live. You research on your own. You talk to your Advisor. You even ask friends and family what to do, because you desperately want to know the truth about how to protect your principal and guarantee you won’t run out of income late in life.

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Should I Hide My Money Under the Mattress or Trust an Insurance Company?

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Why No Other Institution Can Match the Safety of the Life Insurance Industry

The following is an excerpt from the book, Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success,” by Dan Ahmad, Jim Files, and Jack Canfield, with contributions from other leading professionals from around the world. This excerpt was written by Laura Barron, president and co-founder of Barron Financial Group, LLC.

Twenty years ago, Sarah and Mark were 55 years old as they reviewed their plans for retirement. They both had done an excellent job accumulating assets of well over a million dollars. Mark felt confident they could trust the expert advice of their broker at a large firm to continue making money for them in most stock market investments during retirement. Sarah and Mark were very confident the income from their stock market investments, Social Security, and a small pension would allow them to self-insure for long-term care, stay fully invested in the market, and live a very comfortable retirement in a nice neighborhood. They were totally confident they would never run out of money.

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Section Four of Your Comprehensive Written Retirement Income Plan

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Getting Your Plan Details in Writing

In previous articles in this series, we have shared the first three steps in creating a written comprehensive retirement income plan. If you haven’t yet read about those steps, we recommend you start here.

In this fourth and final installment, we are sharing the fourth step in this planning process, which is getting your plan details recorded in writing.

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Section Three of Your Comprehensive Written Retirement Income Plan

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It’s Time for an Analysis of Assets to Beneficiaries

In previous articles, we shared everything you need to know about the very first step in creating a comprehensive written retirement income plan: the Retirement Income Projection. Then, we discussed the second step in your planning, the Income Tax Analysis. If you didn’t get a chance to read those articles yet, you can start here. In this final installment of this series, we give you details about the third step in your comprehensive written retirement income planning: an analysis of assets to beneficiaries.

Having a comprehensive written retirement income plan you can rely on is incredibly important to your financial health in retirement, so let’s dive into this final step.

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Your Comprehensive Written Retirement Income Plan Section 2: Income Tax Analysis

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Income Tax Analysis

Estate Planning Guidance for Those Without Heirs

In three previous articles, we discussed all the details of the very first step in creating a comprehensive written retirement income plan: the Retirement Income Projection. If you didn’t get a chance to read it yet, you can start here. Now, we move on to the second step in your planning, which is the all-important Income Tax Analysis.

Why are we continuing to discuss this topic? Because having a comprehensive written retirement income plan is just that important!

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Your Retirement Income Projection Part 3: Fee Analysis

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Estate Planning Guidance for Those Without Heirs

This article is part three of a three-part series in which we’ll dig deeper into the first aspect of preparing your comprehensive written retirement income plan: the retirement income projection. This series is based on content that originally appeared in our book, Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success, and you can grab your copy here.

In our last installment, we shared details on the second step in developing your comprehensive written retirement income plan, which is a risk analysis. As a reminder, this series is all about completing the three aspects that make up step one in our four-part process of completing your Retirement Income Projection:

  1. Income analysis
  2. Risk analysis
  3. Fee analysis

In this article, we’ll walk you through the fee analysis step.

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Your Retirement Income Projection Part 2: Risk Analysis

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The Second Step in Your Comprehensive Written Retirement Income Plan

This article is part two of a three-part series in which we’ll dig deeper into the first aspect of preparing your comprehensive written retirement income plan: the retirement income projection. This series is based on content that originally appeared in our book, Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success, and you can grab your copy here.
In our last installment, we shared details on the very first step in developing your comprehensive written retirement income plan, which is a retirement income analysis. As a reminder, this series is all about completing the three aspects that makeup step one in our four-part process of completing your Retirement Income Projection:

  1. Income analysis
  2. Risk analysis
  3. Fee analysis

In this article, we’ll walk you through the risk analysis step.

Continue reading