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I Bond, No Brainer: Shootin' It Straight with Stan®

Stan Haithcock
August 3, 2022
I Bond, No Brainer: Shootin' It Straight with Stan

Today's topic is I bond, no brainer. Yes, I only sell annuities. Yes, I only sell annuities for their contractual guarantees. You own an annuity for what it will do. Not what it might do®. I used to be with Dean Witter and Morgan Stanley, UBS PaineWebber. I used to be a securities license, Series 7 license, wealth architect, master of the universe, stock broker, whatever you want to call it, I did all that. But when I became Stan The Annuity Man, America's Annuity Agent®, I didn't need the securities license anymore. So I don't give financial advice on mutual funds and ETFs. I'm never going to tell you which one to buy. But people are calling me a lot about these I bonds. "Hey, Stan, these I bonds are getting 9%" And I'm like, "Yeah, those are cool." And ran it by the lawyers and I'm like, "Can I talk about I bonds on my video?" And they're like, "Yeah, because you're pointing them to a direct site to the government where they can buy it." So, this isn't financial advice. This is a no-brainer.

Buying Direct

You can go to treasurydirect.gov and you can buy direct, from the treasury, I bond. The downside to I bonds is that they don't allow you to put as much money in it. Typically, the call I get is, "I really like these I bonds. What do you think Stan?" I'm like, "I do too." “Is there any way that you can figure out and help me get to get maybe a couple 1000,000 of that?” “No, I can't.” The rules are very limiting, but it's one of those things, why wouldn't you do it? Why wouldn't you lock in that percentage?

Are Treasuries Safe?

Now, conspiracy theorists, listen, treasuries are as safe as it gets because they can tax us and confiscate our money to pay them off. And guess what? That would happen if we needed to do that. So yes, they are safe. So don't go down the conspiratorial rabbit hole. Treasuries are safe. So, with all of the safe money that you're trying to put out there, and really there's only five legitimate, in my opinion, places to put your money that protect the principle so you're not going to lose a dime and you're going to get an interest rate. And what are those, Stan? That's a really good question. Those five are money market, CDs, Fixed Rate Annuities (which are also called MYGAs), treasuries (which we're talking about right now), and AAA/aaa insured municipal bonds. Those are the five safe places to go.

Municipal Bonds

Now, I don't have any insight on the great place to go for municipal bonds. I wish I did. Back in the day, there were some really good companies that you could buy direct, but what's happening in the municipal bond business is a lot of the institutional money has just swiped up a lot of the paper. With that being said, if you have a wealth architect or advisor, municipal bonds are great. They're tax-free income, tax-free coupons, and AAA/aaa insured means it's insured and it's AAA/aaa rated. That's the reason I'd put it like that because when you're buying safe money, you're buying safe money. Money markets, CDs, those can either be FDIC insured or if it's a brokerage, SIPC insured. Treasury is obviously backed by the full faith and credit of the United State government. And then Fixed Rate Annuities, Multi-Year Guarantee Annuities, and I guess you could throw in from a principal protection standpoint, Indexed Annuities, but right now I think that Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuities are a little bit more attractive, because you can buy short-term durations. And there's no reason to lock in anything long-term.

In my opinion, even though I do sell Indexed Annuities, they're CD products like everything else. But people always ask me, "Hey, Stan, should we buy treasuries?" And my answer is yes, and you can buy them at treasurydirect.gov. The only thing you're going to get mad at me about is that limitation. Just remember, when you're looking at chapter two of your life or you're approaching retirement or you're in retirement, you have to look at it from a lifestyle standpoint. Can you live off the interest derived, or do you need to create a lifetime income stream to coincide with the other lifetime income stream you have with Social Security and the forced income stream, which is your required minimum distributions from your IRA? To me, chapter two of your life, for all of you baby boomers out there, for all the ones turning 65 every single day, is this: “I don't want to do the markets anymore, I just want to go live my life. What's my income floor? What's that amount that I need every single day?”

Inflation

Now, one of the things about these I bonds that are attractive to people is the word inflation and the interest that's derived from these I bonds. And you can go to treasurydirect.gov and read about the I bonds. I'm not going to go into the details. You can go do that yourself. It's a pretty good site for a government site. But I was having a conversation today with a person who had a significant amount of money. They brought up inflation. They go, "Well, how are we going to solve inflation? What's the plan, Stan The Annuity Man®, for inflation?" I looked at him virtually and said, "Hey, it doesn't matter. It's irrelevant to you. Solving for inflation is like solving for me dancing in the Bolshoi ballet. We shouldn't be planning for that, because it ain't going to happen." Inflation is personal.

Turn the TV Off

Turn the television off, please turn the cable TV off, all channels because I'm telling you, they're driving you and they're driving me crazy. Now, yes, I do have to watch it because, A, it's comedy and B, I do have to see what they're saying so when people call and go, "Did you see what he said last night?" Yeah, I did and it's crazy. But don't get caught up on all this inflation stuff. Yes, it's tough when you go buy gas. Yes, it's tough when you go buy eggs and bread and all that stuff, but for most people in retirement, it's not really affecting them that much. For a lot of people, it is and God bless you, it's hard. But inflation is personal. For most of us, we're like the Romans sitting up in the stands, eating grapes, and the people are in the pit fighting with the tigers. That's inflation from a Roman viewpoint. And it probably is for us.

Ask yourself the same question. Are you really being affected by it? Are you just over planning and working yourself into a froth because of it? So be careful with that. Don't let yourself go down that rabbit hole. But the key here is treasurydirect.gov. No, I'm not some pound-the-table government person, but if it's a no-brainer, it's a no-brainer, and I bonds are the ultimate no-brainer. And you can do it every year, so why not do it every year and put it on your calendar and do it every year? It just makes sense.

Conclusion

I think the conclusion to this is that when you schedule a call with The Annuity Man®, go to theannuityman.com and book a call. And sometimes you get me. Sometimes you get my team. They're smarter than me and they're better looking, of course. That's a given. But we're going to tell you the truth. We're not going to give you investment advice, but we are going to tell you the truth. We are not going to be your friends. You don't need friends. If you need an annuity friend, buy a dog and name the dog annuity. We're not going to be your friends. We are going to be brutally factual with you. And in this case, with I bonds, I don't get paid. I don't get a referral fee. I don't get a commission. I don't get anything. You know what I get though? The satisfaction of telling you the truth. And as my grandfather always said, "Hey, Stan, if you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." And then he followed it up with this, "Life comes down to two things primarily." And I said, "Well, what's that granddad?" Show up on time and tell the truth.

If you said Stan, "What's the business model of The Annuity Man, licensed in all 50 states with thousands of great clients and growing every month and doing all these videos?" It's that. We're going to call you on time when you schedule a call, right on the dot, we will not be late to tell you the truth. And if we are, it's an emergency and somebody fainted or had a heart attack. Isn't that what you want? You don't need a friend. I'd be a great friend, but you don't need one. So, I bond, no brainer, treasurydirect.gov, go there.

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.

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