Annuities
- What is an Annuity anyway?
An annuity is an insurance product that pays out income, and can be used as part of a retirement strategy. Annuities are a popular choice for investors who want to receive a steady income stream in retirement.
There are several specific benefits to annuities:
- Unlike your ‘regular assets’, all annuity proceeds by-pass probate and your beneficiaries will receive their portion immediately.
- All gains, either from market increases or ‘fixed’ annuity interest, are tax deferred – this means there is no annual 1099 to reduce an accounts value AND as most annuity owners wait until they are retired to make withdrawals, their future tax rate is usually lower because they are retired.
- Owners make receive ‘payments for life’ s0 that they will never run out of money – ever! This is especially comforting in these fluctuating financial times.
Several of the annuities offered include substantial ‘up-front bonuses’ to help reduce any transfer fees or early withdrawal charges. Plus, many have guaranteed annual increases.
Still, one other highly rated insurance company will ‘double’ the payments should the owner enter a nursing home – at this time, no other investment anywhere will make this offer!
As with all investments, there are fees, and withdrawal limitations which must be understood before investing – we like annuities – let us discuss them with you! And, of course, both Federal and state tax laws apply.
