Fixed Indexed Annuity
 

My wife just retired and won’t take Social Security for 5 years. I am considering replacing her income with a Fixed Indexed Annuity with West Financial Group. Has anyone used them or have a fixed indexed annuity they would recommend for immediate income? I am 66.

I wouldn't. It is a life insurance contract. Fixed index annuities have high fees and surrender charges. You can achieve better returns by investing the money yourself in a diversified portfolio of stock and bond index funds. I would suggest Vanguard Investments or Fidelity Investments.

I would suggest that you ask the company to send you a copy of the "entire" annuity contract so you can review it before you sign it. They will probably refuse to send it to you.

Have you look at the return you will get. In most cases you are better off not doing an immediate income annuity. CD’s rate are high. Think about laddering CD’s or take what you need the first year and put the balance in a one year CD at 5%.
With the immediate annuities, you tie up your principal, you can’t touch it at all and they give you minimal returns. In fact in most cases the agent selling the annuity makes more than you.
Also putting in an index annuity gives you no benefit of the index because once you annuitize the funds go into a fixed rate.
If you give some numbers like original deposit and monthly income I can help with the numbers.

Fixed Index Annuities do not have high fees. The fees come from riders that you add to them. If you have an index annuity without riders and have a fee you bought the wrong one because 99% of them do not have fees

Some weeks ago we attended a dinner seminar they put on. They spent the entire hour pushing this.

They made claims that I found unbelievable and when I asked questions he never did answer me.

I would never buy an annuity. There is an old saying, annuities are sold and never purchased.

Also index annuities are not the right vehicle for immediate income because you are going straight from the principal your first year, because index credit interest after your first year anniversary.
You can private message me and I will go over any questions you have.

Agree and disagree
Not a fan of income annuities but simply Fixed or Fixed Index have a good place for you safe funds. I five year fixed annuity paying 5.05% guaranteed for the your safe funds make sense.
An Index Annuity with income riders is what a lot push here in TV and I agree those are bad but an Index Annuity with no rides can be a way to safely grow your funds without fees or risk to your principal.

Why not just buy CDs with your safe money?

Also, if some of your money is invested in stocks, you will get a reduced capital gains tax rate, but any income you earn in an annuity is taxed at your ordinary tax rate.

do some dd and invest in the market. Investors are making a killing this year

I would not invest in an annuity, put your money in a CD.

OK but to me a better way to grow our funds is a basket of no load mutual funds with low fees with a good growth record.

A laddered CD for the next 5 years seems to the way to go in your scenario.

Also, my advice any time the investment question comes up, take time to read Paul Merriman’s 3 FREE ebooks.
1. First-Time Investor
2. 101 Investment Decisions
3. Get Smart or Get Screwed (read this first!)

Found at paulmerriman.com

Also on his site are recommended portfolios for using Vanguard, Fidelity, T.Rowe Price or Schwab for DYI'ers. Much good info, ignore the puffery and sales pitches.

Also, if you want to know too much about annuities, listen to Stan The Annuity Man® | Brutally Honest Facts About Annuities podcasts.

Podcast | The Annuity Man

Would the payout be more than you paid?
Without the actual terms of the annuity I would say do not get it.
I think annuities are good when you are toward the end of your life and your savings are low. The annuity would provide security that you will have income for the rest of your life where as the savings may not last. Thus you are buying insurance that you will not run out of money.

Annuities are only good for someone who cannot budget their money and find better investments

If you choose to buy an annuity I would not buy from Mr. West as he was arrested for a felony offense (it hasn't gone to trial, I believe). It involved a waitress after hours with alleged sexual overtones. He has pled not guilty.

While he is innocent until proven guilty there are dozens of salespersons who have not been arrested. I only deal with people above reproach who have not been accused of false imprisonment and battery against women.

Ground News - Prominent financial adviser arrested after alleged attack at Wolfgang Puck

You can Google "West Financial arrest" for other news articles.

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.

That qoute comes from AUM advisors who collect 1% of your assets every year and is NOT true. I have never been to a presentation and have bought 2 annuities with income riders as part of my retirement income planning. Last year they were by far the best performing asset I had. Of
Course if you have an advisor and he collects $10,000 out of your account that is SUCH a reasonable commission. You should research and know what you are talking about
Before giving advice
On the internet, but most
People don’t.

OP - as I suspected when I read your post, you got several pages of answers uneducated responses from people who don’t even know
There are MANY different types of annuities and most of the people who answered don’t know the difference between a SPIA, DIA, and a MYGA. I would suggest reading Wade Pfau’s retirement planning guidebook. Also, if you want to actually understand annuities watch Stan the annuity man on YouTube and you will learn a lot. I would not buy an annuity at a chicken dinner. All that being said, the main benefit of most annuities is lifetime income, not filling in a 5 year gap when you retire. Filling in that gap is best done with CDs or bonds. If you want more lifetime income, then look at a SPIA, DIA, or a FIA with a lifetime income rider. I will say I bought a MYGA ladder for 4,5,6,7, and 8 years 3 months ago and locked in 5.4% compound interest for that time period when I could not get 5% from CDs but I am not retiring for a few more years.

IMHO ..... give a call to Blackston Financial (they are on Rt. 466 not far from the Morse Blvd. gate) and ask for Travis. He is one of their fiduciary people. I've done well by him for the last six years.

I have to laugh that there is an ad at the bottom of this page 1 for an 8.5% annuity - very timely to say the least.

Quit her job over annuities
 

My spouse was a senior vice president of a financial firm. She quit her job because she could not live with herself because of the high fees, surrender charges, and unethical behavior of her firm selling annuities.

Buyer be aware. Do not get sucked into the hype.

Doesn't Wade Pfau also pitch reverse mortgages?

Post your question to the Bogleheads Forum for additional views from some pretty savvy folks. They tend to be fans of Vanguard, but you will definitely get additional input, which is good before making such a financial decision.

If you need immediate income then go with a immediate annunity. Mass Mutual is highest rated.

I have always been very careful around those guys who want to buy you dinner first.........

That being said, I get that you want to fill in the income gap between your wife's retirement and her Social Security. Depending on how much income you need to generate, there is a chance that maybe it could be done with solid dividend paying stocks. By solid, I mean that their dividend is highly likely to remain sustainable, and not only that, but the dividend has a long history of increasing annually.

For a start, you could look up Dividend Aristocrats and Dividend Kings. The Aristocrats have increased their dividend annually for at least 25 consecutive years. The Kings have a record of at least 50 consecutive years of dividend increases.

You will recognize a lot of the companies on these lists. Very few of them will take you on a rocket ride, but if you can pick them up at a good price, you might find that holding them can give you a steady stream of income (with annual raises) while the stock price goes up and down -- but the whole time, the stock is paying you to wait. The percentage of the dividend increase will depend on how the year has gone, but these companies do not want to lose their status as dividend stocks, so you will probably always get some kind of raise. And hold them long enough and the stock price will likely go up a bunch. (Of course, any company, no matter how big and supposedly solid, can end up cutting the dividend. GE is an example of what can happen.)

You would need to understand things like payout ratio and ex div dates, and date of record -- but that's not hard. Of course, you must keep an eye on the companies, all by yourself. Some people think that is fun. (Such people are often considered freaks if they are women of a certain age. (sigh))

Bigger is not always better with dividends, but if you can catch a good stock that has been pounded some, that can be a really good thing to do. The other thing to keep in mind is as the dividend increases, the percentage of your initial investment starts looking like an even better return.

But making up one's own "mutual" fund is not for everybody. There are lots of mutual funds and ETFs that will do it for you.

(Reinvesting dividends can be a good thing to do, if income is not needed. That is what Warren Buffett does with Berk.)

Another bonus of being a boring, old-fashioned, buy-and-hold, dividend investor is that in taxable accounts, dividend income gets friendlier treatment.

This is not for everybody. It is creating your own little stock fund, over which you have total control and pay no fees. This means you are responsible for all the decisions to buy or sell and not just if, but when. Some people do not like that. But they do like buying into a big fund, so they do that. And some do both.

This might not be for you, but I do have a suggestion that could help. There is a half-hour show called WealthTrack with Conseulo Mack. Each week on PBS, she interviews a big deal financial person. (I record the show and then decide if I am interested in the topic.) But it is also on the internet.

Give wealthtrack.com a Google, scroll, and find the April 7th interview with Christine Benz, who is the Director of Personal Finance for Morningstar. The title of the episode is "Retirement Blind Spots and How to Fix Them." (It is Part 2 of 2. I did not watch the first one yet. But that could help you, too.) She quickly mentions annuities and does not totally slam them -- but does not seem to be a fan of them either. You will find lots of good info in the interview.

There is a lot to know about annuities. I think they are too complicated and seem to grow surprising arms and legs. But some annuities seem to work for some people.

Don't leap too soon. Do a little homework. Find your options. You might be really glad you decided against an annuity.

One more thing: Take a good look at CDs, FDIC-insured and call protected, available through Fidelity and other big houses. They are paying over 5% now for the first time in many years.

Do your homework -- and Good Luck. :)

Boomer

This does not produce a guaranteed income stream and can be subject to significant market declines. Many financial advisors will suggest some “safe” funds be allocated to an annuity product.