Every American Already Owns an Annuity

Hello America, Stan The Annuity Man, America's annuity agent, licensed in all 50 states. I'm happy to be here. Today, we are talking about everyone hating annuities. "I hate annuities, Stan. Do you see the ads? I hate all annuities." That's funny because every U.S. citizen with a Social Security number already owns an annuity. And I'm going to explain that today.

‌Many haters out there are like, "No, I do not own an annuity. I'll never own annuity. I'm only reading this because I can't believe a guy even has a website that talks about annuities. Who would name themselves Stan The Annuity Man? Who would choose to work in the ugly curse word, financial word, annuity field? Who would do that?" Stan The Annuity Man, me, of course. I mean, I like the pain. I like people yelling at me. No, I like annuity products because they're contractually guaranteed transfer of risk products issued by life insurance companies. But getting back to the original premise and the teaser of every single American owns an annuity. Is that true? You darn right it's true. It's called Social Security.

‌Brief History

‌Yes, Social Security is an annuity. End of story. You can't even argue it. Why? Because Social Security pays a lifetime income stream. Annuities pay a lifetime income stream. Annuities are the only products on the planet that pay a lifetime income stream. Annuities were introduced in Roman times to pay the dutiful Roman soldiers and their families a pension plan because they had been laying it on the line for the emperor. That's where annuities come from. The word annua means payment. A-N-N-U-A means payment in Latin. That's the root word for annuity. That's where the Single Premium Immediate Annuity product came from and has been sold in this country to people wanting lifetime income for a couple of hundred years. But when people say that they hate annuities, it cracks me up because they love those Social Security payments. They love those Social Security payments coming in every single month that they can never outlive, but they hate annuities.

‌Life Expectancy

‌How's that even possible? Or boy, they love that pension payment from good old State U or whatever government entity they work for. If they were fortunate to work for a private company offering a pension, boy, they love those pensions but "I would never buy an annuity." What's a pension? It's a lifetime income stream guarantee. So, how does Social Security work? The older you are, the higher the payment. If you wait till 70, the payment's the highest. If you take it at 65, it's lower. If you take it at 66, it's a little bit higher than if you took it at 65; why? Social Security bases those payments on your life expectancy at the time you take the payment. That's eerily familiar because annuities do the same exact thing. The lifetime income stream is based on your life expectancy at the time you take the payment or life expectancies if you set it up joint life at the time you start the payments.

‌Our Friends in DC

‌Social Security works just like an annuity because it is an annuity. Now, you also own the best inflation annuity on the planet. That still is Social Security because our friends in DC in the House and the Senate and boy did they get along, and isn't it fun to watch them work together? That's just harmony. But what they do is raise that income stream on their own because they're just printing money up there. They don't think about finances or fiscal responsibility; they go, you know what? Let's raise Social Security because we need those voters and people who get Social Security payments; they vote. I'm going to tell you right now if you ever want to get voted out of office, come out and say, you know what? We're going to means test Social Security, we're going to do something to it. We're going to mess with it.

‌Being a Hypocrite

‌That will get you voted out of office. But in the future, there will be means testing, and there will be the people who are rich, and whatever rich means, whatever the politicians deem that to mean, in the future, Social Security will be limited for those people. But it was never put on the planet as the primary resource for lifetime income. It was supposed to be a supplement, but that was back in the day when companies offered pensions. But less than 10% of private companies offer a pension-type payment. So, this whole, I hate annuities mantra is interesting. The people that run those ads, I would love to ask them, so you hate annuities, and you're running these ads saying you hate annuities; I'm assuming you're going to decline your Social Security payments?

‌I will guarantee you all the people out there that say that, the advisors, the journalists, the ads, all the people that are poo-pooing the annuity world, they're going to take their Social Security payments or they're going to take their pension payments. I'll guarantee that. And that is the height and the definition of being a hypocrite, in my opinion, an annuity hypocrite.

‌Income Floor

‌Let's talk a little bit more about Social Security. Everybody owns Social Security. They own the annuity that Social Security provides, which are the payments. Everybody out there is an annuity owner. Isn't that fantastic? Don't you think that the annuity industry would talk about that? But what does Social Security represent as the anchor of? It anchors your income floor. Your income floor is the guaranteed income stream that comes into your bank account every single month. That's what you're looking forward to. That's what Social Security provides. But if you need more of that income floor, in other words, if Social Security does not provide what you need, which it shouldn't, which was never designed to do, then you will have to add more guaranteed income to that income floor. And the only way to do that is with annuities because annuities will provide that lifetime income stream that you cannot outlive.

‌I encourage you to go to The Annuity Man and punch in numbers on our proprietary annuity calculators or work with me on putting together a plan for you for additional income in addition to the annuity that you already own, Social Security. Because I think going forward, with 10,000 baby boomers retiring or reaching that age or retirement every single day, and the demographic tidal wave of people getting older and wanting guarantees and wanting more income, I think it's time for people to give a second look to the annuity category and look at it for what the benefit proposition is for annuities that only annuities can provide, which is lifetime income. And I think that's very, very important.

‌In conclusion, you do own an annuity. Your neighbor owns an annuity. Your mom owns an annuity. The person you hate owns an annuity. That person in high school that you hated owns an annuity. That girlfriend or boyfriend that you had in high school owns an annuity. It's called Social Security. The question is, do you need another one? I don't know. Contact me. We'll find out. 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.