Stop Complaining About Inflation: Shootin' It Straight With Stan®

I have a controversial topic that will either make you mad, make you think or both. Hopefully, both; I want you to get mad about this because I want you to realize that what I'm getting ready to tell you is true if you think about it.

The topic of today is stop bitching about inflation. If you don't like the word bitching, then insert complaining, and stop complaining about inflation. But I like to say stop bitching about inflation because it hits you in the forehead. Now, most of us who have scrimped and saved and done without workedhard worked extra hours and worked on weekends to accumulate money. We have a nest egg of money that, it's good.

If you're watching this video, you probably have a nest egg, and you're trying to figure out what to do with it, and you've heard about annuities, and you go to these sales pitches, you go to the bad chicken dinner seminars. You're trying to figure out what the deal is. Okay?

Contractual Guarantees

The deal is you buy annuities for the contractual guarantees. But when we talk about inflation, most of you out there are solid. I mean, does it make us all mad that groceries are higher? Yes. Does it make it all mad that gas prices are higher? Yes, but most of us can afford it. I'll give you a story. My wife called me from two places last week, bitching, and I love her. I do. She's put up with me for 35 years. Man, you talk about a martyr, and a woman full of grace is my wife, Christine.

Client Example

But she calls and says to me from the gas station, "Can you believe gas prices? They're $4 and $5," et cetera, et cetera. I said, "We can afford the gas. Fill it up. We're good. We can afford it." "Yeah, but have you seen it?" "I understand; we can afford it. Fill it up to the brim. We can do it. Fill all the cars. Fill them up." About a day later, she called me from the grocery store. "Can you believe the prices? Stan, the prices are like $200 for just a few things." I said, "We can afford the groceries. Buy the groceries. If you want to buy a grocery store, we can put a down payment on one." We've worked hard. We've done without. She grew up in a trailer in rural Nebraska. It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there, if you know what I mean.

I grew up in rural North Carolina, and my whole family worked in textile mills. We grew up poor. We grew up without. We worked hard, but we can afford it. And I'm not going to sit here and bitch about inflation. Do I want to pay less for gas and food? Yeah, but we can afford it. But guess what, you can too.

I was on a call the other day. A gentleman said, "What will we do about inflation?" He's a client. "What are we going to do about inflation?" I said, "What are you talking about? You got $3 million. That's the ..." I told him, "Take this the right way. That's the most arrogant thing I've ever heard in my life. You are talking to me about inflation, and you are trying to solve for inflation, and you are worrying and wasting time on inflation."

Is that you? Please don't let it be you because let me tell you about reality. Because right now, you're watching this video, and we're living in a bubble. You and I are living in a bubble. We have showers, houses, heat, air conditioning, cars, food, and gas. It's all good, but 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. That's a fact.

That's who's getting their butts kicked with inflation. Those are the people that we should be concerned about. So when you call me and say, "Well, this agent said that he's got the annuity that adjusts for inflation," that agent is not telling the truth. Annuity companies don't give anything away. Listen to me. They do not give anything away. That includes upfront bonuses. That includes any type of promise for inflation increases to your income stream. There are contractual inflation increases to your income stream, like a COLA or cost of living adjustment.

Immediate Annuities

Like on an immediate annuity, you can run it with a 3% increase. But when you compare that to the same immediate annuity without the 3% increase, guess what? The annuity company drastically lowers the payment for the one that has the increase, duh. Same thing at the bad chicken dinner, expensive steak dinner seminar, where the person stands up there and says, "This indexed annuity will increase with inflation. Every time the index annuity increases your income stream by that amount." And you go, "Well, that sounds great."

Remember my saying, though; annuity companies don't give anything away. So if there's a potential increase to your income, the annuity company will severely and drastically lower the initial payment to compensate for that potential increase. And typically, it's a long time to make up for it, and it's not worth it. You already own the best inflation annuity on the planet, and that's called social security.

Are We Fixed on Inflation?

Nod your head. But why are we fixated on inflation? It's because we all watch too much cable television. We all read too much news. "News on the internet." Inflation here, inflation there, inflation, inflation, inflation. It's killing people at the low end. The poor people are getting hurt here. That's horrific. But for people looking to place their money in annuities and investments, and they have nest eggs, and they have 401ks, and they have IRAs, and hundreds of thousands here, and 100,000 there, do not bring up inflation with me.

I will wake you up to reality. Inflation's going to come. It's going to go; it’s going to go high; it’s going to go low. Is it going to be here forever? No. Could it be here for a long time? Yes. But I'm asking you, are you going to live your life ... Is it going to affect your lifestyle? Are you going not to get the eggs you want? Are you not going to buy the milk you want? Are you not going to buy the peanut butter you want? Are you not going to put gas in your car?

I need you to stop bitching about inflation. I need you to stop complaining. I need you to look at life glass half full. Life is fleeting for many of you out there—all you baby boomers hitting age 65. Every day, all 11,000 plus of you, it's time to start living. It's time to stop bitching. Go live your life. Inflation, who cares?

Life, Health, and Family

It's all about your life, your health, and your family. It's all about you in chapter two. It's not about inflation. Now, if you're watching me out there, and you don't have a ton of money, and inflation is hitting you, my heart goes to you. That does nothing for you. I wish I could ... I wish ... I mean, I hate it when politicians say, "Well, my heart goes out to them and the people that got shot." I mean, that's all they could say. But it's not helping, right? And when politicians go to the microphone, "Well, we're trying to address this inflation thing, and [inaudible 00:07:49]." Shut up.

Can annuities address inflation? No, they can't. Are there products out there that are pitched to? Yes, there are. Do annuity companies give anything away? No, they don't. Can income from annuities increase with a specific number or index? Yes. Do annuity companies drastically lower the payments to make up for that? Yes. Do annuity companies give anything away? No. Does inflation truly affect your life, your spouse's, and your family’s?

Does it affect ... I need you to think about that for a second before you call up anybody, especially me or my team, and say, "I want to solve for inflation. How do we solve inflation?" Listen, they cherry-picked that when inflation is running at 8%, 9%, and 10%, and they're not factoring in major things. But let's just say it's 8% or 9%, or 10%. There's not a product on the planet that truly addresses that.

You can get I bonds at a very small amount, a limited amount you can put in, and get a good interest rate on those. And those are great, and I don't sell them, but I love my bonds. But you can't put $500,000 in an I bond and get 8%, 9%. If you did, then great, then we kind of solved it, right? But we can't, and you don't solve for inflation with potential. You don't.

The Inflation Truth

A lot of people ... A guy called me the other day, and he had a lot of money. And I said to him ... Because he was talking about inflation, and he was worried about it. And I had to kind of slap him a little bit. And I said, "You need to act rich." And he goes, "I'm not rich." I go, "According to the stats, you are rich. You might not think you're rich, but you are rich. So I need you to act a little bit ..."

Not arrogant. Not arrogant from, "I got money, and I'm driving a Bentley." No, none of you are going to do that. Come on. People who drive Bentleys either have so much money they just flush it down the toilet, or they're posers, and they have no money, and they're trying to convince you that they do. But I need you to do a soul search here.

This is important to me. We talked about you've won the game; why are you still playing? We've talked about that. We've talked about ... I just did a video about if you had more money, would it change your life? Probably not. And this one kind of dovetails with those, is yeah, inflation isn't any fun. We don't like that. And we don't like that for our fellow citizens because we're all patriots and love everybody.

We love one another, and we want everyone to succeed. And this is the best country on the planet for people who don't think it is. I understand we're not perfect, but this is where poor, redneck people from rural North Carolina can make it.

My wife from rural Nebraska can make it. And wherever you're from, you could make it, and you've made it. Hallelujah. High five, virtual. Correct? So stop talking about inflation because six out of the ten cars that are around you, 60% of the people, it's hurting them. Some people are going without food and gas, and they're going without heating oil because inflation is hurting them.

And if that's not you, I need you to stop bitching about it because it's arrogant, okay? It's arrogant. Yes, we are concerned about inflation. Yes, I hope that the Fed gets ahold of it. Yes, I hope our politicians do something, either party, if there is something to do.

But inflation, does it affect you? Buy the eggs, buy the milk, and fill the car with gas. Do the best you can, and live your life to the fullest every day. There's no U-Haul behind hearses. And if you see one, take a picture, and send it to me. My point is you can't take it with you. Go live your life. Enjoy it. Buy nice stuff if you can afford it. Buy nice food if you can afford it, but don't complain while doing it. My name is Stan, the annuity man®, and that is shooting it straight. 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.