Annuity Alternatives: How to Know Which Retirement Track Is Right for You

How do you know which retirement track, decision, or product is right for you? What are the annuity alternatives for that? And let's stop right there. Annuities aren't for everyone. Even though every single person watching this video who's a US citizen with a Social Security number already owns the best inflation annuity on the planet called Social Security. Yes, that's true. It doesn't mean you have to have another one. But when we're talking about retirement tracks, retirement decisions, retirement planning, and much of that revolves around income. You need to know about annuity alternatives if for no other reason than to eliminate them based on facts, not a sales pitch. Based upon facts, not some idiot that says, "I hate all annuities." Based upon facts, not some journalist that says, "Never look at annuities."

Annuities Are Contracts

Give me a break. Annuities are contracts. They're the only product on the planet, product type strategies, and there are many types of annuities, that can solve for lifetime income, period. That's going to pay as long as you're breathing. There's no ROI until you die because it's a transfer of risk. So, let's look at those annuity alternatives that fit into your specific retirement track after this.

Chapter Two Is About You

In retirement, you're always thinking about, okay, I'm retiring from my job. I'm going to try to retire from the stock market and the volatility in CNBC and Fox News, which I love, and I've been on both. But you get to that chapter two of your life, which is about you. Chapter two is about you. Chapter two is about you. Chapter two is about you. I need you to walk around the house chanting that to your spouse until they join you, and then you're both chanting that, but it is about you.

So, annuity alternatives for retirement income are legitimate. You need to look at them to see if you want to combine an annuity lifetime income stream with the other annuity you already own, Social Security, or if you're fortunate enough to already have a pension with your employer. You're going to stack up that income floor. As I say, that's the money hitting your account every month.

Annuity Types

I'm the first to say that annuities aren't for everyone, but they do solve for lifetime income. If you want a turnkey retirement approach, annuities have their place. There are four types of annuities for lifetime income: Single Premium Immediate Annuities, Deferred Income Annuities, Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts, and Income Riders attached to some Deferred Annuities. You can run those quotes on my site, 24/7, 365. You can go to my site and download PDF books, which are fantastic, free, and no obligation. You get them, and they're easy to read and understand, but you can start looking at which one fits. Now, I ask two questions every single time to every single person I talk to, even the people who are taking my order at McDonald's. Before ordering, I ask, "What do you want the money to contractually do? And when do you want those contractual guarantees to start?"

Of course, the person at McDonald's is going, "Huh?" But you are going to answer, "I need income to start in 30 days," or "I need income to start in six months," or "I need income to start in two years," or three years, or four years, or seven years, or ten years. From those two answers, we can quote all carriers for the highest contractual guarantee for your specific situation, and you understand that these quotes change like a gallon of milk, and there's not just one best annuity. If anyone says, "I've looked at all the annuities, Mr. And Mrs. Jones, this is the best one for you." Wrong. The annuity alternative for retirement income comes down to when you want that retirement income to start. That will eliminate products and get us down to the one type or two types that provide that lifetime income stream.

Never Touch the Principal

You can also look at the time of this blog. Interest rates are a little higher than they used to be, and you might have enough money and assets under management that you can peel off the interest from, say, CDs, treasuries, MYGAs, Fixed-Rate Annuities and never touch the principal. That's how I want you to look at annuities. You can take income, lifetime income from four different types, turnkey, and it's going to pay as long as you're breathing. Or you can say, you know what? I want to control the asset, peel off the interest, live off that, and never touch the principal. It's really that simple, and I would encourage you to look at it that simply. Don't get caught up in a lot of the sales pitches with products about, well, if you'd owned it ten years ago, or the hypothetical, theoretical, backtested numbers.

If It Sounds Too Good to Be True

The other thing that I'm going to warn you about is the annuity sales pitches. If it sounds too good to be true, without exception, there are no exceptions, it is too good to be true. If someone's showing you one product type, then they have their own agenda. There's not one product type that's better than the other. The problem is a lot of times in our world, in the annuity world, the built-in commissions, some are high with more complex annuities, and some are very, very low with the simple ones. I like the simple ones because if you're going to buy an annuity, you should be able to explain it to a nine-year-old, no offense to nine-year-olds. So, going into retirement planning and looking at annuity alternatives, understand there are many types of annuities. Also, understand you might not need an annuity.

You might come to me and say, "You know what? We're good. We have enough income coming in from Social Security and our pension, and we really just like CDs, short-term CDs, and treasuries." Great, you're done. Super, love you, hug you virtual. But you might say, "You know what? I don't have a pension. I want to create my own pension. I need it to start immediately." Okay, we look at Single Premium Immediate Annuities. Or you might say, "In combination with those CDs that me and the spouse love, we might do the annuity version of a CD, a MYGA, to get better and higher contractual rates that we can just peel off and live off the interest."

All annuities aren't bad. All annuities aren't expensive. Don't listen to everyone out there. When it comes to looking at annuities, come at it with an open mind. Let me educate and edutain you, right? Edutainment education. Go to my site at and download my free owner's manuals; nothing to lose. Watch my videos; nothing to lose. Listen to my podcast, Fun with Annuities, in which I bring in some of the smartest people on the planet to talk about finances, retirement, etc. Get educated. Make your decision on your terms and on your timeframe. Thanks for joining me. I'll see you on the next Stan the Annuity Man YouTube blog.

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.