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What is an Index Equity Annuity
There are annuities that provide a fixed rate of return where your principal investment will be held steady. This is called a fixed annuity. Rates are usually very low but the risk of principal loss is not a factor with these annuities. Another type of annuity is one where the ...
Fixed Annuity Fees Explained
Before we delve into the details of fixed annuity fees, we will first talk a little bit about what exactly a fixed annuity is. A fixed annuity is when a person deposits a set amount of money with an insurance company for the promise of a set future stream of income. The person ...
Variable Annuity Death Benefits
In looking at variable annuity death benefits we should first do a review of what a variable annuity is. A variable annuity is a contract that a person purchases from an insurance company. The insurance company in effect promises to pay you periodic payments for the rest of your ...
Equity Linked Annuities
If you’re considering investing in an annuity but you can’t decide between a fixed rate annuity or a variable annuity, you may be a candidate for an equity linked annuity. Most people know this annuities by the name Equity Indexed annuities. Equity linked annuities ...
How to Find the Best Rates on Annuities
Annuities are contracts sold by insurance companies to guarantee a steady stream of retirement income to the purchaser. They can be a variable annuity, which means that they are invested in the stock market and the rate of return is not guaranteed. They can be a fixed rate ...
Top Variable Annuities
Annuities are contracts sold by insurance companies that guarantee a lifetime income to the purchasers for a set payment. The payment can be a single payment or a periodic payment. Variable annuities can be described as annuity contracts with variable returns. The returns are pegged to ...
What is a Structured Annuity
A structured annuity, also known as a structured settlement or a periodic payment judgment, is an annuity or group of annuities with a very short accumulation phase funded by a lump sum payment similar to a single-pay annuity. It is typically funded by an insurance company or other third ...
Annuity Retirement Planning
In addition to providing a death benefit, annuities can be an important part of any retirement plan. Even so, there are a myriad of ways to set them up. In order to determine how best to use annuities to best fit an individual situation, it is important to know the main differences between ...
401k Annuity
What is a 401k Annuity
The 401k – sometimes styled 401(k) – is a qualified retirement plan first offered in the United States in 1978. Although originally intended for senior level corporate executives, over time it became popular among individuals of all income ...
Taxation of Annuities Explained
Many people know that annuities are tax deferred investment vehicles that allow them to accumulate returns on their money each year without having to claim taxes on the returns. This is the major benefit of a tax deferred annuity. If you have a long period of time to build your assets ...
Joint Life Annuities
In order to explain joint life annuities we must first understand what an annuity is. An annuity is a contract usually offered by an insurance company whereby they promise to pay a lifetime income to the annuity purchaser for a set initial premium. If it is a single premium ...
Annuities Explained
Many questions and misinformation exist regarding annuities. Even annuity owners may not fully understand what type of account into which they are invested. Though modern annuity contracts can be very complex, the nuts and bolts of all annuities are similar. Regardless of exposure to annuity ...
Variable Annuity Life Insurance
Variable life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance. Like all permanent life insurance products, it has two parts: The death benefit, which is the amount of money paid to the beneficiary when the policyholder dies, and the built-up cash value account to which interest is credited ...
What are Charitable Gift Annuities
A charitable gift annuity (CGA) is a type of charitable donation known as planned giving. The charitable gift must be made to a verified non-profit 501(c)(3) charity. This type of organization is exempt from both state and federal taxes. In exchange for a one-time lump-sum premium, the donor ...
What are Retirement Annuities
Retirement annuities are one more option an individual investor has for saving for retirement. Retirement annuities function similarly to a traditional individual retirement account in that they grow tax-deferred while the investor is able to contribute earned income. But instead of an ...
Lump Sum Annuity Investment
One choice for generating retirement income is to invest in a lump sum annuity, or immediate annuity. Though a lump sum can be invested and the income stream deferred, typically the income stream trigger will be pulled immediately after investing the money. The culmination of lifetime saving ...
How to Purchase Annuities
When considering an annuity investment for a portfolio, there are some steps that should be followed to get the most out of your account. Annuity contracts have become very complex and diverse, offering a wide range of investment choices and riders to protect income, assets, and family. ...
Pros and Cons of Annuities
Anyone that has walked into a bank to renew a certificate of deposit has probably had some exposure to an annuity presentation. Bankers have been pitching fixed annuities as a ‘tax deferred alternative’ to CD’s for many years now. This unfortunate situation has somewhat ...
Income Annuity Guide
An income annuity is an immediate annuity that provides a specified amount of income. It is a contract between the annuitant and an insurance company that is most often purchased with one lump sum, as opposed to monthly or annual contributions made over time.While most people consider an ...
Qualified vs Non Qualified Annuities
Financial planners and investment advisors, along with the Internal Revenue Service, make a distinction between non-qualified annuities and qualified annuities. Investors, however, are sometimes confused as to what determines whether the funds used to purchase an annuity are non-qualified or ...
Indexed Annuities and Their Benefits
Unlike other retirement investments that can yield dramatically reduced returns if the market to which they are tied drop substantially, indexed annuities offer equity-like results without the potential for huge losses. The rate of return on an indexed annuity is most often tied to the ...
The Single Premium Annuity
A single premium annuity is purchased with a one-time payment. Whereas an investor may have the option of purchasing an annuity through monthly contributions to an employer sponsored retirement plan, a single premium annuity is purchased directly from an insurance company or investment ...
Buying an Annuity: Five Points to Consider
While an annuity can be one of the most advantageous financial products an investor can choose to provide guaranteed income in retirement, he or she would be wise to consider five key points before committing to an annuity. Because an annuity represents a contract between the investor and ...
Taxation of Annuities
The taxation of annuities depends on two criteria: First, whether the annuity is purchased with qualified or non-qualified money, and second, whether the annuity is deferred or immediate. Qualified money is almost always used to purchase a deferred annuity. Non-qualified money is more likely ...
What is a Deferred Annuity
A deferred annuity is an investment contract between an investor and an insurance company in which both taxes and the distribution of payments are deferred until a later point in time. Deferred annuities can either be fixed or variable. The rate of return on a deferred fixed annuity is set ...
Investing in Fixed Income Annuities
Fixed income annuities can provide financial security and stability for those nearing retirement or who are already retired. When an investor purchases a fixed annuity contract from an insurance company, the premium is most often placed in ultra-conservative mutual funds. The payments ...
Annuities and Retirement
Annuities have a role to play in most retirement plans, that role is to protect families from outliving the assets they have spent a lifetime accumulating. Though the term ‘annuity’ may have a negative connotation, in fact annuities can provide guarantees and peace of mind to ...
Annuity Products Reviewed
Annuity products are offered by several of the largest and most trusted life insurance companies in the United States. But understanding the differences among the many companies and the annuity products they offer can be a challenge. For an investor looking to purchase an annuity, the first ...
How to Find a Great Annuity Advisor
Finding a great annuity advisor is similar to finding a great investment advisor: He or she must always act in the client’s best interest and provide honest advice that is best suited for an individual investor’s specific circumstances. He or she should also be able to provide ...
What is a Variable Annuity
A variable annuity is a long-term investment product sold by an insurance company. It differs significantly from other investment products because an annuity is a contract between the purchaser of the annuity, who is the annuitant, and the insurance company. The annuitant agrees to ...
The Best Age to Purchase an Annuity
While the exact best age to purchase a deferred annuity will be different for each annuity investor, financial planners generally agree that between the ages of 45 and 55 is optimal. Combined with additional retirement savings vehicles, the compounded tax-deferred interest earned and ...
Charitable Gift Annuity Guide
Although annuities are customarily issued by insurance companies, there is nothing to prevent any company or individual from issuing one. An excellent example of this is the charitable gift annuity (CGA), an annuity issued by a charity to a donor in exchange for a gift to the ...
Your Annuity Options
By definition, retirement is the time of life when you stop earning income and start living off your assets. Because you are utterly dependent on those assets, you must strive to make them as secure as possible. This entails guaranteeing both the stock of wealth that the asset controls and ...
How Life Expectancy Impacts Retirement Planning
Increases in productivity are responsible for increasing living standards over the last few centuries. In turn, productivity is enhanced by improvements in technology, which enable us to produce more output from the same number of inputs. Technological innovations can take various forms ...
What Most People Don’t Know About Annuities
What most people don’t know about annuities would fill a book. That is because annuities are contracts that contain many features, benefits, and costs. Rather than attempt an encyclopedic recitation, this article will focus on basic elements of annuity structure that are not well ...
Annuitization Explained
Annuitization is the process of converting a capital sum into a level, regular stream of payments. In practice, annuitization is normally synchronized with retirement, although this is not invariably true. By definition, retirement signals the end of earned income. The retiree will need to ...
Best Investments for Estate Planning
In an economic system undergirded by the principle of private property, the primary purpose of investment is to benefit the investor. One option available to the owner of property, however, is to pass it along to survivors via bequest. Since a bequest is intended to benefit people other than ...
Biggest Annuity Investment Mistakes
Investments are like medicine. They are rarely good or bad per se. Instead, people may pick the wrong kind or the wrong amount for their particular circumstances.
In this respect, annuities are like other investments. They have beneficial features and drawbacks. They are ...
Expected Rates of Return on Retirement Investments
In retirement, we expect to live on the wealth we have accumulated throughout our working lives. We do that by withdrawing wealth for current consumption, to replace the flow of earned income that dried up with retirement. The size and duration of these withdrawals depends on two things ...
When to Purchase Annuities
Few topics in finance preoccupy the general public more than when to purchase assets. Popular wisdom envisions investment success as knowing when to buy and (although this gets less attention) when to sell. In fact, this mentality is suited for trading, not investment. Few people possess the ...
Split Annuity Guide
A split annuity is an investment strategy that involves simultaneously purchasing at least two annuities with a single premium payment. As this definition shows, the term “split annuity” is something of a misnomer, since it doesn’t represent one single annuity but rather ...
Retirement Income Sources
Almost all Americans will receive income from multiple sources in retirement. All income sources are not created equal. Each source has its own advantages and disadvantages. There are two dimensions to consider when gauging the value of a retirement income source – vertical and ...
Are Annuities a Good Investment?
Every financial professional periodically faces the following question: Is X a good investment? X may be stocks in general or a particular stock; bonds in general or the debt of a particular company or government; a real asset such as gold or real estate or Egyptian ceramics; or a ...
Present Value of an Annuity
As originally defined, an annuity was a level stream of payments to an individual, lasting for the duration of the individual’s lifetime. The term “present value” denotes the technique for calculating the present worth of values received in the past or future (or both). ...
Retirement and Capital Gains Tax
Retirement and capital-gains taxation are a matched pair of discussion topics. One study finds that retirement capital gains comprise nearly one-quarter of retirement income. This contrasts with a total of less than 10% for the general population.
A capital gain is realized upon ...
Buy an Annuity
Time was when the financial world was neatly compartmentalized and access into and between the different compartments was strictly limited. If you wanted to buy insurance, you called up a particular insurance company and made an appointment with a representative, who came to your home. You ...
How to Select a Great Insurance Company
What makes for a great insurance company? To students of business history, a great insurance company is one with a long history of successful operation, a tradition of innovation, and the ingrained habit of serving their customers well. Several U.S. companies fit this description, with ...
Retirement Planning Essentials
Professional financial planners interview their clients carefully in order to tailor a plan to their specific needs. It is not possible to design a “one-size-fits-all” plan for retirement. Still, fundamental principles of economics and finance permit a skeletal framework for ...
Pension Annuity
The words “pension” and “annuity” are both sometimes used to describe the same financial arrangement – a stream of money paid regularly to somebody who is no longer employed and lasting for the lifetime of the recipient. The words are also used to denote the ...
How Deflation Affects Your Retirement
The words “deflation” and “retirement” are seldom uttered in the same sentence – or even in the same context. ...
Annuity State Guaranty Coverage
Unlike bank deposits and CDs, annuities are not covered by federal (FDIC) insurance designed to protect consumers from the consequences of the issuing company’s insolvency. Insurance companies are regulated at the state level, however, and each state has a guaranty fund intended to ...
Single Premium Deferred Annuity
A single premium deferred annuity is a contract between an individual and an insurance company in which the individual provides funds that are invested and later used as the basis for lifelong distributions to the annuity holder. Along with the single premium immediate annuity, the single ...
Common Retirement Investment Mistakes
Economic theory and logic tell us that we cannot reliably predict either stock-price movements or overall economic performance. Retirement investment strategy should focus instead on eliminating avoidable mistakes. Some of these are common enough to deserve special ...
Variable Annuity Types
Discussions of variable annuities generally involve comparison with other investment products, such as mutual funds. This is necessary and valuable, but the implication is that differences in variable annuities themselves are unworthy of consideration. That is untrue; differences among ...
IRAs vs. Roth IRAs: Which to Choose?
The Roth IRA is a particular type of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) that takes its name from its legislative sponsor, the late Sen. William Roth (R-Del.). The Roth IRA differs in important ways from a traditional IRA. Either type of IRA might be chosen by the investor, depending on ...
Retirement Investment Instruments
The defining feature of retirement is the end of income from full-time work. This is the one constant in retirement, unchanging from start to finish. We may associate retirement with old age, uncertain health and flagging vigor, but the fact is that age, health and vigor may vary across a ...
Reverse Mortgages: Pros and Cons
The United States has been the source of most of the world’s financial innovations over the last half-century, including index funds, junk bonds, financial derivatives, and many more. The life cycle of these products often follows a curious path. The products begin as designs on a ...
Annuity Advice
The recent worldwide financial crisis and accompanying recession have wreaked havoc on the portfolios of countless investors. In addition to the visible changes, this steep and prolonged downturn has also changed the attitudes of investors. First-hand experience with the volatility of equity ...
Structured Settlement Annuities
Structured settlement annuities are specialized annuities issued by insurance-company affiliates to compensate plaintiffs in personal-injury tort litigation. They are the artifact of two institutions: the court system and the tax system.
Prior to 1982, personal-injury plaintiffs ...
Tips for Selling Your Annuity
In the classic sense, annuities are intended to be terminal vehicles. That is, they are inherently designed to provide guaranteed income for life and cease operating only upon death of the annuitant(s). Annuities are retirement-oriented financial instruments, geared toward the final phase of ...
Annuity Investment Risks Overview
Annuities are contracts between individuals and insurance companies. Annuities are investments that also possess various insurance features. The purpose of insurance is to reduce risk. Thus, the association of annuity investment with risk may seem anomalous. In fact, risk is omnipresent and ...
How Inflation Impacts Your Retirement Savings
Inflation is traditionally defined as a concurrent increase in the prices of all or most goods. This is unlike ordinary circumstances, in which price increases for some goods are offset by decreases in others. A sustained inflation must be the result of an increase in the supply of money ...
How Annuities Handle Disability and Long Term Care
Annuities are retirement-oriented contracts between insurance companies and individuals. The nature of their commitment demands that insurance companies exert control over the funds entrusted to them. They do this by levying surrender charges on the full or partial withdrawal of funds by ...
Index Annuity Crediting Methods
Since their introduction in late 1995, indexed annuities have enjoyed great popularity. Like there fixed counterparts, indexed annuities credit holders with an interest return. This rate is not fixed according to a period stipulated in the annuity contract. Instead, it is tied to a financial ...
Retirement Planning
The stage when retirement planning shifts into high gear is perhaps the most crucial time in the individual’s financial life cycle. It begins between the ages of 45 and 55, roughly a decade before the planned retirement date. The individual is entering his or her peak earning period; ...
Benefits of Equity Indexed Annuities
In the last 15 years, equity-indexed annuities have become a popular addition to the roster of annuity products. They offer a solid list of benefits to prospective purchasers. These benefits more than offset the complicated mechanics and ground rules of this asset.
Annuities and IRAs
Annuities and IRAs are both retirement-oriented investment entities. Both offer favorable tax treatment to owners. Both subject owners to penalties for premature withdrawals.
Despite these similarities, the two are fundamentally different things. Outlining these differences helps to ...
Mass Mutual Annuities
Mass Mutual Financial Group is one of the world’s leading providers of insurance and financial services. From its inception in the mid-19th century, it has remained a mutual insurance company, owned by its participating policyholders. It enjoys the distinction of having paid dividends ...
How to Choose a Financial Advisor
The reason why modern economies are so much more productive than ancient and medieval ones is because specialization is more highly developed. We don’t grow our own food, make our own clothes, build our own houses, or attend to our own medical needs. Most of us don’t even change the ...
Variable Annuity Comparison
Much time and effort has been spent comparing variable annuities with other financial instruments - particularly mutual funds, which they closely resemble. Much less time has been devoted to comparing variable annuities with each other. Presumably, this is because the mistake of choosing the ...
How to Save for Retirement
When people save for retirement, what action contributes the most to their success? Casual observation suggests that most people consider the selection of investments and the amount saved to be paramount. This is wrong. To see why, consider the ...
Genworth Life and Annuity
Genworth Financial Group is an international financial-services company headquartered in Richmond, VA. The company was spun off from General Electric Financial in 2004 in an initial public offering that raised about $2.8 billion. At that time, this was the14th largest IPO of all time. A ...
Single Premium Annuity
Annuities provide retirement income in the form of payments from insurance companies to annuityholders in return for premiums paid to the companies. Annuity contracts specify the amount, frequency and duration of payments from annuityholders to insurance companies. Usually the payments ...
Retirement Investment
In former times, an article on retirement investment would have been short and simple: “Shift everything to cash and conservative, fixed-income securities.” Advances in medicine, nutrition and fitness have lengthened life expectancy and changed the perspective of investing. Today, a ...
Tax Sheltered Annuity
A tax-sheltered annuity (TSA) is an investment vehicle that allows an individual to make pre-tax contributions to a retirement account. Original TSA participants were restricted to annuities in their choice of investment instruments. Today the name is a misnomer because the menu of investment ...
Fidelity Annuities
Fidelity Investments is a financial services company that began in 1946 as a mutual fund company. Today, Fidelity Management and Research LLC (headquartered in Boston) owns and manages mutual funds throughout North America and is the world’s largest mutual fund company. As of September 2007, ...
Annuities for Dummies
An annuity is a contract between an individual and an insurance company. The individual pays the insurance company money, either in a lump sum or regularly over time. The money is invested. When the individual retires, he or she begins receiving regular payments from the insurance company. The ...
Annuity Contracts
Annuities have a reputation for being complicated financial instruments. This is not unjustified, but the features and details inside annuity contracts are there for a reason. Each one enhances a particular investment or insurance benefit. Since the annuity holder pays for those benefits, it is ...
Fixed Annuities vs Bonds
A fixed annuity is a contract between an insurance company and one or more individuals, in which individuals make premium payments over the course of an accumulation period. The insurance company invests the premiums, then uses the investment proceeds to make distribution payments to the ...
Lincoln Annuities
Lincoln Financial Group (the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation) is a full-service financial company offering insurance, investment and fund management services. Its headquarters are in Radnor, PA. It offers annuities through its affiliates, the Lincoln National Life Insurance ...
Variable Annuities vs Mutual Funds
Variable annuities have much in common with mutual funds. In many respects, variable annuities can be described as mutual funds wrapped up inside an annuity contract. Since variable annuities and mutual funds are popular investment vehicles chosen by millions of people, both their similarities ...
Annuity Regulation
No topic is more current in financial circles these days than regulation. Consequently, it is logical for would-be buyers of annuities to wonder how and by whom these products are ...
Annuity Investment Tips
An investor who goes shopping for annuities for the first time might stop dead in the middle of the financial-products store, paralyzed by confusion and indecision. The imposing array of products, housed in colorful packaging with complicated wording and directions on the back of each box, are ...
Aviva Annuities
Aviva is an international financial group, based in Great Britain, who specializes in long-term savings, fund management and general insurance. It is the 5th-largest insurance concern in the world, serving 50 million customers and employing 54,000 people in 28 countries throughout Europe, North ...
Insurance Annuities: Protecting Your Retirement
Today the word "annuity" refers to an investment contract between an insurance company and one or more individuals. Originally, however, the word denoted the stream of lifelong payments from insurance company to annuity holder that represented ...
1035 Exchange
A 1035 exchange is an exchange of similar insurance-related assets. The purpose of the exchange is to avoid taxes that would be due if the insurance consumer redeemed one asset, then purchased the other one in two separate transactions. The term gets its name from Section 1035(a) – (d) of the ...
Single Premium Immediate Annuity Guide
Dating back to the beginnings of annuity contracts, the single premium immediate annuity is the simplest, most basic of annuity products. Its uses are many, its drawbacks few – yet today it is overshadowed by its more colorful and complicated relatives, the deferred annuities. It deserves ...
Equity Indexed Annuities Made Clear
Equity indexed annuities are investment contracts between insurance companies and individuals. The investment returns on these contracts are closely tied to returns on an index of equity (stock) prices. The most popular index employed by equity indexed annuities is the Standard & Poor‘s ...
AXA Annuities
AXA – Equitable is the U.S. arm of AXA Group, a French company whose holdings comprise the 15th-largest company in the world, according to the 2007 Fortune Global 500. In 1991, AXA Group acquired a controlling interest in The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, known as The ...
Life Insurance Annuity Coverage
Annuity contracts are agreements between individuals and insurance companies, in which individuals pay money to the companies in exchange for the promise of lifelong income. Annuity contracts very commonly include a provision for payment to a beneficiary or beneficiaries in the event that the ...
Understanding Annuities
There are many different annuity products on the market. The key step in understanding annuities is in grasping the underlying principles of the annuity concept. Annuity products can be divided into three groups. The three basic types of annuity share a common structure: the holder makes ...
Annuity Rollovers Overview
In financial parlance, a rollover has two common meanings, one general and the other specific. It can refer to the reinvestment of funds upon the maturity of an asset, such as a CD or a bond. More specifically, it can refer to reinvestment of funds that have been removed from a qualified plan, ...
Allianz Annuities
Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Allianz SE is the holding company for a worldwide financial colossus of insurance, banking and asset management. Its operations extend to over 70 countries and employ over 182,000 people. In 2008, Allianz SE earned 92.5 billion DM in revenue (over $140 billion) ...
CD Annuities vs. Fixed Annuities
A new annuity wrinkle is the CD annuity, a type of fixed annuity with a superficial resemblance to a bank CD. What is it? How does it differ from the traditional fixed annuity? How does it compare to a bank CD? For what class of investor is the ...
Variable Annuity Investment Tips
Variable annuities are currently riding a wave of popularity, notwithstanding that variable annuity investment is reputedly complicated and difficult. Fortunately, the principles of efficient shopping can also apply to variable annuity investment. If there is one thing that Americans know how ...
Annuity Funds: Distribution Types
The word annuity refers to the payment of money over time, but it has come to be associated with the insurance contract of which the distribution of annuity funds is the concluding feature. Since the contract takes its name from those money distributions, it is appropriate to examine their ...
Pacific Life Annuities
Pacific Life Corp. today ranks as one of America’s leading financial and insurance operations, with over $96 billion in assets and over $5 billion in policyholder equity. It is a mutual insurance holding company, owned by its policyholders, which boasts over half of America’s 100 largest ...
Define Annuity Contracts
An annuity contract involves one or more people and an insurance company. The universal common feature of annuity contracts is the option of the holder or holders to receive assured lifelong income in the form of regular payments from the insurance company. The source of these payments is ...
Annuity Insurance: Securing Your Retirement
Annuities are contracts between individuals and insurance companies. For the purpose of securing their retirement, individuals provide investment funds to the companies, who provide the means to enlarge the funds over time. When the individuals retire, the companies distribute income back to ...
Nationwide Annuities
From its start in 1925 as the Ohio Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Company, the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company has grown into one of the leading insurance and financial firms in the world, with over $160 billion in assets. Nationwide sells automobile, motorcycle, boat, homeowners, life ...
Retirement Annuity Guide
Retirement planning covers the time leading up to retirement, the conclusion of work and the years spent in retirement. Annuities can play an important role at each stage of the process. An analogy illustrates the role played by investments ...
Prudential Annuities
Prudential Financial is America’s third-largest issuer of advisor-sold variable annuities. It is number 84 on the Forbes 500 list of the largest firms in the U.S. and number 74 on the Fortune 500, with a market value exceeding $9 billion. It is an affiliate of the Prudential Life ...
Top Annuity Companies
Annuities typically contain a death benefit, a key feature of life insurance contracts. Consequently, it is not surprising that annuities are offered by insurance companies. When shopping for annuities, don’t focus only on the annuity product itself – the credited interest rate offered by a ...
What Is An Annuity?
The word annuity refers to a regular stream of level payments, whose duration may be specific or indefinite. In the United States, the word has come to be identified with multi-purpose insurance contracts terminating in a payment stream. This makes it logical to ask: What is an annuity ...
Tax Deferred Annuity Advantages
As its name implies, the biggest advantages of the tax deferred annuity derive from the privilege of tax deferral. The ability to invest money and have the gains compound tax free is a powerful tool for building wealth. The three basic types of annuities share a common structure: the holder ...
Immediate Annuity Quotes Online
When you know you need a steady source of income to meet future financial hurdles, like retirement or paying for a child’s college tuition, an immediate annuity offers benefits like no other investment vehicle.. If you have a single large sum of money from the sale of a house, a bonus or ...
Best Annuity Investments in this Economy
The American economy has begun showing its first faint signs of recovery. Leading financial analysts agree that long-term economic indicators hit their bottom and turned back upward in November of 2008; short-term indicators bottomed and began showing modest gains in February of 2009. Although ...
Income Annuities Investment Tips
Ideal for rollovers of other retirement investments, income annuities turn savings into steady, secure income. Income annuities supplement Social Security, pensions, and other retirement income while allowing the original investment to continue earning tax deferred. The best income annuities ...
Single Premium Annuity Rates Explained
If you have liquidated an individual retirement account, received either a large bonus or a considerable severance package, or in any other way come into possession of a large lump-sum, consider investing it in a single premium annuity. By far the best way to secure a large sum of money, a ...
Top Annuity Interest Rates
Although they become complex, sophisticated investment instruments, annuities still run on common sense: longer and later are better.
The longer the insurance company can invest your money before disbursing it, the later in your life you allow the company to keep your money, and the ...
Buy Annuity: The How To Guide
Some financial planners and investment brokers discourage their clients from considering annuities, arguing they are too complex, cumbersome, and conservative. They especially caution that interest penalties and fees for early withdrawal may negate the entire annuity’s growth. Although ...
Comparing Lifetime Annuities
In the search for the best investment vehicles to secure your retirement, it quickly becomes apparent that each investment product has its own special vocabulary, host of options, and caveats. Becoming reasonably fluent in these options will mean the difference between a comfortable and ...
How to Compare Annuities
Annuities come in many distinct flavors, designed to meet a wide variety of retirement and financial planning goals and satisfy various risk levels. To choose an appropriate type for you, ...
Immediate Annuity Rates Explained
By far the safest, most reliable wealth-management tools, immediate annuities begin paying regular benefits within thirty days of purchase. If circumstances have left you in possession of a significant lump sum, a fixed immediate annuity assures its healthy growth and your secure ...
Fixed Index Annuity Investment
What is a fixed index annuity?
In order to really make sense of a fixed index annuity, we need to take it apart and then put it back together. The basic concept is not difficult, but a fixed index annuity has quite a few “moving parts”—terms and conditions that vary ...
How Do Annuities Work?
How do annuities work – and what do they mean for your financial situation? Annuities can be an effective insurance investment for you and your family. However, just like any other financial choice, a wise investor should research annuities and see how they work to determine ...
Hartford Annuities: Shopping by Carrier
Hartford Life Annuities offer many benefits. These include tax-deferral, a guaranteed death benefit, and a lifetime income. The Hartford Life Annuities available have two phases, an ...
Investing in Fixed Equity Indexed Annuities
Fixed equity indexed annuities have become one of the latest investing choices in the last fifteen years. Built as an investing vehicle that can provide a greater return than a traditional fixed annuity, fixed equity indexed annuities are often a smart investing choice for ...
Lump Sum Annuity Guide
An annuity investment can be a great choice for individuals looking for ways to enhance their retirement options. However, if you have invested in an annuity or inherited an annuity recently, you might have recently realized that you need more cash than what your monthly allowance is ...
Pacific Life Annuities: Shopping by Carrier
Pacific Life and Annuity Company offers a variety of annuity plans. Pacific Life annuities are chiefly of the variable type, and the company provides seven different variable annuity plans and only one fixed annuity option. The Pacific Life annuities are the Pacific ...
Annuity vs IRA
Retirement investment decisions have become increasingly complex as fewer employees are covered by traditional, employer-sponsored pension plans. The shift to 401(k) plans has presented new retirees with difficult choices, including the annuity vs IRA decision. When ...
Annuity Formula Explained
The easiest way to deal with an annuity formula is to use an annuity calculator to determine the amount of money you’ll receive based on investments made over time. However, it’s a good idea to understand the annuity formula used by the calculator in order to have a better idea of what ...
New York Life Annuities: Shopping by Carrier
New York Life focuses on life insurance and annuities. Its retirement savings product line includes fixed, deferred, immediate, and variable annuities, with several life insurance hybrids. Unlike other insurers, New York Life has maintained top-notch security ratings amid the '08 financial ...
What Are Annuities?
The question that comes to mind when you first hear about adding annuities to your investment portfolio is “what are annuities?” The short answer is that annuities are agreements between two parties in which one party provides a “stream” of payments – a series of payments – to ...
Annuity vs CD: Fixed Income Options
Are you looking for the best places to put your money for your retirement? For some investors, the debate will be between putting their money in a CD (certificate of deposit) versus a fixed annuity. The debate of the annuity vs CD is best determined with a thorough analysis of your ...
Variable Annuities Pros and Cons
No investment product has created as much controversy or spawned so much division as the variable annuity. Since its introduction in the early 1980s, it has gone through periods of tremendous popularity and relative neglect. A sizable body of literature, both technical and popular, has ...
AIG Annuities: Shopping by Carrier
AIG annuities are available through three companies. AIG Annuity is a subsidiary of AIG that deal primarily in fixed rate annuities while SunAmerica offers variable annuity products. The AIG Annuity Insurance Company is the top issuer of fixed ...
Annuity Payment Calculator Guide
There are several types of annuity payment calculators, each designed for slightly different annuities. The Immediate Annuity Calculator below can be used to determine monthly payouts for a single premium immediate annuity (SPIA). The Future Value Annuity Calculator can be used to determine the ...
Common Annuity Questions Answered
If you are thinking about planning for retirement, you probably have many annuity questions. ...
ING Annuities: Shopping by Carrier
ING specializes in retirement investments and life insurance. ING offers a range annuity products, including fixed, variable, equity index, and immediate. ING also offers universal, term, and variable life insurance policies. ING annuities are diverse, with the firm itself noting: the ...
Retirement Annuity Rates Online
Retirement annuities are generally those obtained through a pension plan provided by an employer to provide monthly payments for life or a non-qualified annuity product bought by an investor from an insurance company with after-tax dollars in exchange for monthly payments over a specified ...
Metlife Annuities: Shopping by Carrier
Metlife — full name: Metropolitan Life — offers a wide assortment of financial and insurance products, including mutual funds, annuities, estate planning, education planning, and portfolio management. As far as annuities products, Metlife deals in all types, including fixed, ...
Advantages of Fixed Rate Annuities
Fixed rate annuities offer a host of advantages over interest-based and equity-based vehicles. CDs, bonds, and mutual funds have their upsides, but often pale in comparison to a quality fixed annuity. Chief of the advantages offered by fixed rate annuities are: tax-deferred growth, higher rates ...
Annuity Ratings: Finding the Best Annuity
Annuity ratings are an important factor in finding the best annuity plans. It’s vitial to your retirement that the insurance company backing the annuity contract is financially sound and stable enough to meet its obligations.
Annuity ratings are provided by several professional ...
Free Annuity Calculators: Where to Find Them
One of the great things about the Internet for people who are interested in annuity plans is that you can find a number of free annuity calculators online. In most cases, the free annuity calculators found on the web make certain assumptions about withdrawal rates and timing of ...
Best Variable Annuity Choice
All large insurance firms provide their own brand of variable annuities, and plans labeled “best variable annuities” by one insurer can differ significantly from another. In part, this is because variable annuity plans are brought to market in order to keep up with the rate of inflation. ...
How Does An Annuity Work?
The first question you’re likely to ask yourself when entering the annuity universe is how does an annuity work? The answer to this question depends on the type of annuity program you select. There are generally three broad categories of annuity, each working a bit differently: fixed, ...
Annuity Purchaser: What to Look Out For
Once the decision to buy an annuity is made, the annuity purchaser needs to understand the fundamentals of the different annuity plans. And as an annuity purchaser, you also need to be aware of the specific factors that will impact your annuity ...
John Hancock Annuities: Shopping by Carrier
John Hancock deals in a wide variety of fixed and variable annuities products, life insurance, 401(k)s, mutual funds, pension management services, and college saving plans. The majority of John Hancock's business involves structured settlements ...
Finding the Present Value Factor of an Annuity
Finding the present value factor of an annuity involves calculating compounding interest over a given number of years based off a desired end-goal. An annuity calculator can be used to find the present value of a fixed annuity by entering an interest rate, the number of years will be ...
Finding High Interest Annuities
High interest fixed annuities are a refuge from the uncertainties of the equity market because their rate of return is guaranteed, and often beats CDs and money market accounts. When looking for high interest annuities, expect to examine not only fixed annuities, but also ...
The Best Annuity Type
If you are ready to choose an annuity plan, you want to select the best annuity type available. However, it pays to make your decision on the basis of what the best annuity type is for your particular situation. Different kinds of plans are appropriate in difference ...
Annuity Quotes Online
One of the most important matters to consider when thinking about buying an annuity is getting the right information. Good annuity quotes will act as summaries of individuals' investment profiles over a period of time. Annuity quotes will also detail the returns they will provide ...
Fixed Annuities: Guaranteed Retirement Income
Fixed annuities provide guaranteed retirement income and are typically favored by individuals who either have already left the work force or who are nearing retirement. The guaranteed retirement income results from the fact that fixed annuities give their owners - who are called ...
Tax Deferred Annuity Benefits
A tax-deferred annuity allows individuals to save for their retirement with pre-tax contributions. The contributions to a tax-deferred annuity are usually taken directly from employees' salaries, thereby reducing current taxable income. Investors do not pay taxes on their contributions or their ...
Why Annuities are Safer than Stocks
When looking at annuities as retirement vehicle, it's important to ask if annuities are safer than stock. And the answer is yes! There are two types of annuity we should consider:
Fixed Annuities: These are unequivocally safer than a stock market investment because they ...
A History of Annuities
Annuities in Rome
Many people today make use of annuity as for retirement, but it is not a new instrument. Back during the time of the Roman Empire, citizens could obtain what was known as an annual stipend, or annua. In exchange for a one-time disbursement to the annua, the ...
Sources of Retirement Income
As people approach their retirement, the need to maintain a reasonable level of income during their retirement turns into a real concern. It occurs that one needs a reasonable and steady stream of income if they are to maintain the standard of life they had been accustomed to during their ...
Annuity Pros and Cons
Like all financial products, annuities come with pros and cons which everyone getting into them should be aware of.
Starting with the pro side, the main advantages attached to annuities are the financial security and tax deferment features they offer, which we will briefly ...
Using Present Value Annuity Tables
When analyzing your annuity plan, you should consider the time-value of money, or its present value and future value. A present value annuity table is a useful shortcut for computing the current value of your annuity plan. A present value annuity table can also be used to determine the future ...
An Annuities Explanation
It is easy to become confused about the exact nature of annuities. Explanations of annuities tend to focus on the types available, without providing an overview of the plans. In general, a bank’s Certificates of Deposit are similar to annuities. An annuities explanation follows, ...
Differences Between A Fixed and Equity Annuity
When considering the difference between a fixed and equity annuity, investors should remember that equity annuities, also called equity-indexed annuities, ARE fixed annuities. Both the fixed and equity annuity are designed for conservative investors, but equity annuities can provide potentially ...
Finding the Best Annuity Rates
Annuity plans often start out with a good interest rate, but then that rate tends to decrease after the plan's first year ends. To find the best annuity rates, investors must shop around. In fact, it is even possible trade in under-performing annuities for plans with the best annuity rates ...
Annuity Rates Comparison: What to Look Out For
When considering the purchase of an annuity plan, investors must make a careful annuity rate comparison. It has become relatively easy to perform an annuity rate comparison because of the availability of online tools and annuity information websites. Insurance firms continue to offer new types ...
Equity Annuity Primer
In this equity annuity primer, you'll learn what you need to know about equity-indexed annuities, a relatively new form of annuity plan designed to combine features of stock investment plans and those of traditional fixed annuity plans. The equity annuity primer will discuss the nature of ...
Can Annuities Outperform Stocks
Annuities are generally considered to be safer than stocks as retirement investments, but their safety comes at a price - relatively low investment returns. Conventional wisdom has it that annuities cannot outperform stocks in a growth market, but is this true. The new equity-indexed annuities ...
Fixed Rate Annuity: The Lowest Risk
The fixed rate annuity plan offers the lowest risk of any retirement savings option. With a fixed rate annuity plan, a guaranteed rate of return is locked in for a specific period of time, usually from one year to ten years. While the return rates may fluctuate over that period, they will never ...
Equity Annuities: Managing Retirement Risk
Equity annuities offer a good avenue for managing retirement risk because they provide the potential for a good return without the potential losses of principal associated with traditional investments. Equity annuities invest most of their premiums into a fixed annuity, with the rest placed ...
Annuity Investment Risks
Annuities have often been marketed as good investment vehicles for risk-averse investors, like retirees and other people who can’t afford to gamble with their money. Annuities work such that the annuity holder makes a payment or a series of payments to the company offering the annuities, ...
How Annuities Work
Annuities have lately become some of the most popular investment options available to many people, especially among retirees and people who are prudently preparing for their retirement.
An annuity can be described as an arrangement in which the annuitant (the person taking up the ...
Annuities Vs CDs
When it comes to choice of low risk investments that offer a reasonable return, many people find themselves torn between ...
The Benefits of Owning a Fixed Annuity
There are fixed and variable annuities; and which you choose depends on several factors. First off, a fixed annuity has (as its name implies) a fixed rate of return. So, you know exactly what you’re going to get for your money. If you’re older and want to be more conservative in your ...
Top Mistakes of Annuity Owners
Annuities are an excellent means of investing for the future, but there are some things to ...
Annuity Taxes Made Easy
The subject of annuity taxes can be confusing and loaded with jargon. But there is a simpler way to approach annuity taxation, based on the fact that the way an annuity is taxed depends primarily on the type of annuity in question. And since there are only two major types of annuities, it ...
Finding The Best Annuity
The most important step in finding the best annuity is understanding why you'd want one in the first place. Annuities are good investments, but not ideal for everyone. Annuities are designed for retirement saving and involve long terms and disincentives for early withdrawals, similar to a ...
Retire Early With Annuities
Did you know that you can earn an early retirement through annuities?
Retirement in this context refers to the attainment of such a degree of financial independence that you don’t have to work again. It is the stage at which the stream of income coming from your investments is strong ...
Immediate Vs. Deferred Annuities
Annuities are financial products, usually offered by insurance companies in which the annuity holder pays an amount of money to the company offering the annuities, which in turns invests the amount and guarantees the annuity holder a stream of income for the rest of his life, or up to an agreed ...
Fixed Rate Vs. Variable Annuities
Annuities are insurance products in which the annuity-holder makes a payment or a number of payments to the company offering the annuities, in exchange for a guaranteed stream of income for the rest of the his or her life or up to a pre-agreed expiry date of the annuity. Based on their ...
Annuity 101
If a person has a lot of money and decides not to spend it, there are ways of making this grow. One option is keeping it in the bank and letting it grow interest. The other is investing it in the stock market with the help of a financial consultant. This professional will be able to know ...
Annuity Basics
Annuities can be very good things for some of us and a disaster for those of us who have not been made aware of the pitfalls and traps that in turn can easily befall them. Since most people have or are going to look into annuities as a retirement or and an investment vehicle, make sure it ...
Buy Retirement Annuity
Buying an annuity is linked with a person’s age. When the investor is young the expectations are more. Since the investor is employed or running own business, the risk factors take a secondary position. However, when a person is about to retire, the earnings become as vital as the ...