055: Gary Baker is the Annuity Wizard Behind the Curtain

About Fun With Annuities Episode #55

Gary Baker, the President and Chief Operating Officer of CANNEX and I, share the mic again in this week’s Fun With Annuities podcast. He’s a friend and a fellow music junkie. Check his bio below for all the bullets behind his super annuity status.

If you’ve ever wondered how we spin those annuity calculators on our website – Gary and CANNEX are the brains, the engine, and the data behind those lifetime income numbers you will see. The work he and CANNEX are doing in the annuity world is ground-breaking.

Gary’s a mega source for the annuity world. His insight into the current annuity industry and where things are headed is a can’t miss episode for my annuity lovin’ super fans. Want to know how the pricing works? What to know about the variables that drive the pricing train? Are you thinking about purchasing an annuity and locking in a lifetime income stream to go along with your Social Security annuity payments? Find out why Gary and both see annuities as more than payments, but as Lifetime Income Insurance. Choo Choo! Hop on board.

Bio Celebrity Co-host: Gary Baker

CANNEX USA is an independent and privately held company with operations in the U.S. and Canada. Gary and his team at CANNEX facilitate the efficient and accurate exchange of pricing and analytics for annuity and bank products between financial institutions and are the firm behind most SPIA, DIA, and QLAC quotes run in the U.S.. I have known and worked with Gary for years. He’s a brilliant guy who knows the industry, and frankly, if there is someone out there who knows more than me when it comes to annuities, it may be this guy. He oversees product management and research, quantitative research, actuarial services, business development, and marketing in his role. We use CANNEX for our Annuities Calculators because they share the same commitment to giving investors easy access to the tools they need to make informed decisions. In addition, they continue to invest resources in the research and development of concepts that will assist in the education of retirement income products and programs. They also produce an informative video series called Conversations with CANNEX that I suggest you add to your binge list.

In This Episode:

• The pricing of lifetime income.
• How mortality tables (life expectancy tables) work and function within annuities and life insurance.
• The future of the annuity industry.
• How Cannex works with carriers and some of the challenges with doing so.

Key Takeaways:

• You buy a life insurance contract in the event that you die too soon, you buy an annuity in the event that you live too long.
• Annuity companies don’t give anything away. If you add things onto your contract (like cost of living adjustments or cash refund options), it will change your payments.
• The annuity contract has been built to provide four basic types of insurance (but not all at once): tax deferral, death benefit, guaranteed income, and growth insurance.
• It helps to have human, eyeball to eyeball, contact with these annuity products to ensure you are getting the best thing for your individual situation.

Fun With Annuities® Podcast is hosted by America’s Annuity Agent®, Stan Haithcock, The Annuity Man®. Hear brutal annuity facts with no sales pitches from the top independent agent in the country, licensed in all 50 states. Author of 7 books, Stan dives deep on all annuity types and strategies. It’s fun, learning the contractual truths on how annuities actually work and if they’ll fit your personal retirement lifestyle.

Listen in on how you can be livin’ the reality, not the dream®. Listen and subscribe on Libsyn, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Spotify.