Annuity, Annuity, Annuity - Do I Sound Like A Broken Record

Let the Annuities Sink In

Annuity, annuity, annuity. Do I sound like a broken record? We're talking about the repetitive nature of me and my message. As you probably know, I started with a firm called Dean Whittier; then I went to Payne Weber, then I went to Morgan Stanley, then I went to UBS Union Bank of Switzerland. So I've worked with the large wirehouse firms, and no one wakes up in the morning and says, I think I'm going to go into the annuity business. Nobody does that.

An annuity is currently the curse word in the financial services industry. And I blame the annuity industry for that. It shouldn't be that way because annuities have a monopoly on the industry, lifetime income. No other product on the planet can provide lifetime income. Don’t argue with me unless you want to get filleted like a flounder. I'm so repetitive and sound like a broken record with some of these videos and some of my podcasts, et cetera, because I want to drive home the point of why annuities should be considered for your portfolio. Period. And why they should not.

The first one is “Will Do, Not Might Do.” You hear me say that all the time. You own an annuity for what it will do, not what it might do. They will do the contractual guarantees. They might do the hypothetical, theoretical, projected, back-tested, unicorn chasing the butterflies pitches that you hear from agents and advisors. If you'd owned it ten years ago, there's a potential to do this. You buy an annuity for the contractual guarantee. You buy an annuity for the transfer risk.

2 Questions

Another thing I repeat is, “What do you want the money to do contractually? And when do you want those contractual guarantees to start? From those, I can determine if you don't need an annuity, if you do need an annuity, and which annuity type would provide the highest contractual guarantee.

So you can't say I hate all annuities. If you have a social security number, you already own the best inflation annuity called social security. Don't believe me? Let's just digress a little bit. What's social security? It's a lifetime income stream based upon your age when you make the payment, and it's going to pay you as long as you're breathing, and the older you are, the higher the payment. Sounds eerily familiar to a lifetime income stream, annuity type, correct? Nod your head. So when people say I hate all annuities, they already own one.

PILL Acronym

The other thing I've come up with, which is unique, is the acronym pill, PILL. P stands for Principal Protection. I stand for Income for Life. L stands for Legacy. The other L stands for Longterm Care/Confinement Care. If you do not need to solve for any of those four items in the PILL, you do not need an annuity. If someone's trying to sell you an annuity for potential hypothetical, theoretical back-tested returns, don’t do it.

You buy an annuity for what it will do, not what it might do. Will do the contractual guarantees. Don't buy the sales pitch dream because you will own the contractual realities. You hear me say that repeatedly and repeatedly like a broken record. Why? Because if you go anywhere, to an advisor or a bank or the bad chicken dinner seminar you're going to hear too good to be true things. My job is to let you know that if it sounds too good to be true, it is every single time with annuities. Period. You buy the worst-case scenario. You buy the contractual guarantees.

Contractual Guarantees

Why would you say that, Stan? Why do you keep saying contractual guarantees? Because when you buy an annuity, you get something in the mail called a policy. What's a policy? It's a contract. And I tell people that if you want to look at the contract before you buy, we'll send you that specimen policy. So you can read and act as a lawyer, put on your lawyer hat, and do your thing. But I'm just saying there's no urgency you buy an annuity. The urgency is to understand the annuity that you’re buying fully. I keep saying it over and over and over and over. I'm drilling it into your head.

I am in the lane of annuities and annuities only. That's all I do. That's all I breathe. I've written seven books, hundreds of articles, and videos. I've got a podcast that comes out every week on all major platforms and a Fun With Annuities YouTube channel. And our saying there is living the reality, not the contractual dream. I'm driving home that these are contracts. If you're a client of mine, I hope you will consider us because we have the best team on the planet, and you get to talk to me, and I get to make the recommendations. Maybe talking to me is a little scary, but it's not. When you and I talk, you can book a call on my site when you set a time for me to talk. What are you going to get? Factual truth. I call myself the walking middle finger of annuity truth, and I do not shy away from that.

The Industry Truth

That's what the industry needs. They need truth. They need facts. People need to know exactly what they're going to get. Not some pie in the sky nonsense. Annuities are commodity products. I say that all the time. Annuity quotes are like a gallon of milk. What does that mean? It means that quotes change. That's the reason we have to quote all carriers for the highest contractual guarantee for your specific situation. That's why we represent pretty much every carrier. All the ones that we can, we do. And we quote them for the highest contractual guarantee.

The 7-10 days gallon of milk thing that I came up with is great because we all used to buy the gallon of milk and it goes bad in 7-10 days. So same thing with annuities, seven to 10 days, quotes change. Why? Because buying annuities is like buying a plane ticket. You got to punch in where you want to go, how you want to go, and all the benefits you want. And then, we see the highest contractual guarantees, and we list them for you. Now the only way to lock those guarantees in is to go through the application process, and no, that's not a sales pitch; that’s reality.

I go over this stuff for a reason. I want you not to listen to the current environment of sales pitches. Now there are many people out there who are doing it the right way in the annuity world. And they talk about the transfer risk and a lot of the stuff they're taking from me, thank goodness. But most agents and advisors don't understand annuities. If you want to filter some guy or a lady trying to sell an annuity, ask him if they know what a QLAC is. Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract, which is the newest version of an annuity that was introduced in 2014. If they don't know what that is, they're out. They're not qualified.

Never forget to live in reality, not the dream, with annuities and contractual guarantees! You can use our calculators, get all six of my books for free, and most importantly book a call with me so we can discuss what works best for your specific situation.