Guess he forgot to mention that at the dinner.

He is not a fiduciary. He is only held to the suitability standard. Huge difference. Unfortunately, as we are well aware, even some fiduciaries put their own financial interests first.
He pushes this product due to very high commissions. Did he explain the surrender period? He is just one of many free-dinner salesman peddling this product in TV.
People need to stop buying these products simply because they got a free dinner. I would add this guy to my blocked-call list, immediately. Vanguard and Fidelity are the way to go. High-rate CD’s are also very attractive.

Did you read what I posted? He is accused of a felony against a woman. FELONY.

The standard is human decency, huge difference.

Thank you. I just read the article. I wonder if Wolfgang Puck will ever allow him to solicit business at their restaurant in the future. Hopefully, justice will be served.

If you are set on an annuity, I would suggest Vanguard. At least with them you will only get royally screwed, vs, totally screwed.

A sucker is born every minute.

Nobody asked about a surrender period so he had no reason to volunteer such negative info. He did go on and on about the lack of risk in the annuity and how risky investing in the stock market is. He claimed that for the last few major downturns it took about 8 years to be back where you were.

He showed us charts that was supposed to show this but a close review showed he was (to be kind) not saying the correct info.

At least the dinner was very good. No idea how many people actually bought what he was selling.

Hopefully none.

Annuities get a bad rap but can actually be a valuable part of one’s investment portfolio.

West Financial …….

Check with Fidelity and others.

Fixed Indexed Annuity
 

I purchased 3 Fixed Indexed Annuities 13 years ago. Dumbest thing I have ever done. Read the contract in detail. You will never understand it.. Indexed usually to S&P 500. When market declines this year (and it will), buy a simple S&P 500 index fund. Had I done that, I would have been hundreds of thousands richer. If you can't understand the contract, run. Administrative fees will eat up your savings.

Unfortunately, most annuity companies will not to allow you to read the contract before you buy it. You pay the money first, and then they send you the contract. Then, if you don't like it, you have 30 days to ask for your money back. If you ask to review the contract in advance, they will get mad and refuse to provide it. That is a terrible way to do business.

There benefits in fixed annuities that CD’s don’t have.
Capital gains only coming to play after you’ve had any investment for 12 months, the OP wants income now.

There are no admin fees on Fixed annuities unless you add riders. Sounds like you have an agents that doesn’t care.
Sorry they didn’t sell the right one to you.
Not all annuities are created equal. You are right buyer beware.
Stop adding riders to your annuities

Simply not true
The companies have outlines and sample contracts.
If the agent doesn’t want you to have you are not run from them.

It is absolutely true. I have had several nasty conversations with annuity salespeople when I tried to get a copy of a contract to review for a friend. They flat out refused to provide the contract. And, an outline, a sample contract, or a fancy brochure are not the same as the actual contract. None of the information in those documents can be enforced. I learned a long time ago, that you should never sign a contract that you are not allowed to read before signing. That is just common sense.

From what I understand, at times MYGAs pay higher rates than CD's. Currently they seem to be about equal.