Ventilator Annuity Lifetime Income: Shootin' It Straight With Stan

Welcome to Shooting it Straight with Stan. I am your host Stan The Annuity Man, America's annuity agent, licensed in all 50 states. Today's topic is a good one. It's the reason you clicked because you read it and you went what? Ventilator annuity lifetime income. Yes, ventilator like you're in the bed in the hospital, and they got a ventilator on you. I'm glad you clicked it because the reason I did that is to get your attention so we can explain to you, I can explain to you, we, I guess that's my multiple personalities, what annuities are all about when it comes to lifetime income, I always say that there's no ROI, return on investment, there's no ROI until you die. It rhymes, and it's good, and it makes sense. Up until you die, it's a transfer of risk to the annuity company to solve for what's called in the business longevity risk.

‌What's longevity risk? Good question. It's the fear of outliving your money. An annuity will pay as long as you are breathing, even if you are on a ventilator. The reason this hit me, it's kind of sad actually. A very, very, very good friend of mine; I consider him a brother. His father is getting ready to pass away, and he had to get on a plane and spend the last few days with his dad. Pretty sad. He's sending me pictures, and we're keeping up with it, and it's just end of life's tough, man. That's the reason you have got to live for the day. I always tell people there's no U-Haul behind hearses, which is one of my sayings. The other is to fly first class, or your kids will. In other words, live for the day.

‌As we were talking, I had him on the phone, and it was emotional. I was thinking if his dads on a ventilator and lives forever, the annuity, if he has annuities, I'm assuming he does because his son is kind of a higher executive in the business. He's not on the ground floor like I am. He's in the ivory towers. They're going to pay as long as he's breathing, as long as he's on a ventilator. I would love to know a case study of someone who, unfortunately, is in a coma and has a lifetime income annuity, and the family has decided not to pull the plug, as they say. Under the contract, the annuity company has to pay as long as they're breathing. It doesn't say in there if it's assisted breathing, breathing's breathing.

‌Pensions

‌I think this is important because with 11,000 baby boomers hitting age 65 every single day, lifetime income guarantees are increasingly important. They're also more important because companies don't offer pensions. You have 401ks, accumulation-type products, but less than 10% of private companies offer pension payouts. The ones offering pension payouts aren't really good because we always do those comparison quotes. If you work for the government, state government, or a very good labor union, you might have a good pension and good for you. You already have the best annuity on the planet, Social Security, which is the best inflation annuity ever. You already have one. You might have two if you have a pension, but I want you to put the value on breathing.

‌Annuity Types

‌I put a value on breathing, and if we're not breathing, we're dying, right? If we're not breathing, we're dead. The annuity company says, "We will pay you as long as you are breathing." What drives me crazy is when people are trying to look at lifetime income products. There are four major types in the annuity industry. Single Premium Immediate Annuities, acronym SPIAs, Deferred Income Annuities, acronym DIAs, which are just Immediate Annuities that you defer, Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts, QLACs, which are DIAs that you can use in your traditional IRA, and then Income Riders. All four provide a lifetime income stream. All four will pay as long as you are breathing. If you set it up joint life and it's joint with a hundred percent survivor, as long as one of you is breathing. If one of you dies, the income continues uninterrupted and unchanged for the second person.

‌Structuring

‌Breathing, if I was annuities are for the day, and I should be, and maybe I will be one day, and if that happens, things will change. I would have ads that run annuities breathing. If you're breathing, the annuity will pay as long as you're breathing. People understand that. Forget all the shiny things, upfront bonuses, and all that nonsense and shiny things that agents fixate on. If the annuity industry would say, "As long as you're breathing, you're going to get paid, and we can structure that payment so that when you stop breathing, and you die, then whatever money is left in the account goes to the beneficiaries." Let me say that again. We can structure it so the annuity company is contractually obligated and on the hook to pay as long as you're breathing and on a ventilator. But when you pass, if there's money left in the account, it goes 100% to the beneficiaries listed on the policy, not the evil annuity company. Enough of that nonsense, "I'll never buy an annuity because the company keeps money when I die." Please stop talking. I'm getting dumber listening to you. I'm losing IQ when you say stuff like that. Please don't say that because you don't have to structure it that way. You can structure it so you can almost have your cake and eat it. I love cake. I can't have it because of the sugars. The point is breathing.

‌I always make fun of it, as long as you are breathing, but it weirdly hit me in a tragic way when my friend's father passed away. Boy, is he a tough hombre from Texas. Not taking any pain meds tough; I love it. If he's on a ventilator, that annuity is going to pay. The benefit proposition of lifetime income is the word life. As long as you're alive, it's going to pay.

As people, COVID was a wake-up call for all of us, but as people get older, they will look at income and the guarantees for income in a more favorable light. The fact that the annuity industry hasn't pounded this on the table and made people think about annuity equals lifetime income. Annuities equal breathing. Yes, other annuity types do other things, but at the end of the day, when you go into chapter two of your life, you need income. You need an income floor, Social Security, rental income, dividend income, pension income, and annuity income.

‌Our Process

‌The other thing about lifetime income annuities or annuities as long as you're breathing, ventilator annuities, however you want to talk, I might have to come up with ventilator annuities. It would be a great brochure. When you think of it like that, it's pretty simple, the thought. That's the way I need you to think about it. Now, obviously, we shop all carriers for the highest contractual guarantee. We lock in the guarantee and take you through the application process. It will hit the bank as long as you're breathing, that income when you want it to start. We can show you all the machinations and choices and carriers and all of that. We can walk you through that in a very simple fashion. What I want you to do is break it down even more simply than that. When you look at your spouse, and they go, why in the world are we buying an annuity? It's because you say, "Listen, even if we're on a ventilator, it's going to pay."

‌Go-Go, Slow-Go, and No-Go

‌Here's the other thing that is hard for many of us people out here who consider ourselves A personalities and IQ, have some IQ, there will come a time that we will not be hitting on all cylinders cognitively. I always say there are three phases to retirement: go-go, slow-go, and no-go. A lot of us are in go-go. Some people who are in slow-go think they're still in go-go, but they're not, and they're deteriorating mentally. The good thing about turning on a lifetime income stream and transferring that risk to an annuity company to pay for as long as you're breathing and/or on a ventilator is that it's turnkey. If we live long enough, all of us, there will come a point when we need that income to be turnkey. Or if you're a master of the universe, Gordon Gekko out there, that your spouse doesn't care about stocks or investments, you will have to set it up for them when you aren't hitting on all cylinders. They don't want to do the stocks and the butterfly spread condor option strategies you're doing.

‌I got your attention here. I got your attention by saying the word ventilator, but I did that for a reason. It's so that you won't go down the analytical rabbit hole of trying to figure out, "Well, is a mutual fund or an ETF better than a lifetime income product?" Garbage. Apples and oranges. I laugh out loud at some of the smart people who write articles. I saw one recently, a guy on my podcast was like, "Is a QLAC a good deal?" You're damn right it's a good deal. If you live forever, it's a really good deal. They are making the classic mistake of comparing it to investments and, "If you'd have done this, and the hypotheticals, and the projection," no, no, no. It's about how long you're breathing. Even if it's assisted breathing through a ventilator, the annuity company will pay.

‌Food for thought, oxygen for thought, breathing for thought, lifetime income for thought, transfer risk. It's really simple. Don't make it difficult. Go to my site and schedule a call, and you might get me. Wouldn't that be fun? Wouldn't that be a hoot out there? You know I'm going to shoot it straight, as my grandfather said. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. Heck, that's our business model. Someone asked me the other day, "What's your business model?" Tell the truth. Sounds crazy, right? But it works, and that's what we do. Are we perfect? No, but we tell the truth. I mean, you can bank on that all day long. With that, let's get together next week. Same time, same place, same title, Shooting It Straight With Stan. I'm Stan The Annuity Man, see you next time.

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.