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Life-Only Immediate Annuity Definition
Stan The Annuity Man, America's annuity agent is here to answer the burning question because everyone thinks every annuity is like this. What's the definition of a life-only annuity? That's the call I get from everyone who says, "I'd never buy an annuity because when I die, the annuity company keeps the money." That means life only; you don't have to do life only. But in this informative blog, I'm going to tell you why you might need to consider structuring your lifetime income payment life only or joint life only, so stick around.
Client Example
So, this is a story for all you parents out there with kids, and some of you say, "You know what, Stan? My kids are perfect. They've done everything I've told them to do. They've all gotten master's degrees and are perfect." And I applaud you because the rest of us don't have that, which leads me to a great story. A guy called the other day and wanted an Immediate Annuity. I went through all of the choices with him. You can do life only, life with installment refund, life with cash refund, and life with period certain. And we're going to get to why you might want to consider life only, but I wanted to at least lead into this because it was funny. This guy called me, and I said, "Okay, tell me about your situation".
Well, his spouse had deceased. It was just him, but he had three or four kids who were all kind of waiting for him to die, and he really didn't like his kids. I mean, he's like, "I don't like them, Stan. I don't like them at all. They've been nothing but a pain in my ass." Sorry for my French, I'm off, whatever. They've been a pain, and he just went off, and I'm like, slow down. Let's talk about annuities. Let's not talk about that because you're getting all riled up. He didn't want to leave them a penny. He was going to stick it to these kids. In fact, all of his money was going to charity. I'm not even sure the kids knew that which would be kind of fun to be at the hospital when they walk in and find out, and the lawyer hands them all that stuff.
But the bottom line is he didn't want to hear about anything but life only because when he died, the money goes poof, and the evil annuity company keeps it. And under that scenario, that made sense because he didn't want the kids to get any of it. He just wanted the lifetime income stream. But in a second, I will talk to you about why you should look at it even if you like your kids.
Life Only
Snapping back into life only Immediate Annuity definitions. It really is the one that everyone thinks encompasses the annuity story, which is when you die, the money goes poof. So you've got to say, well, why would I do that? I've worked hard for my money. I've worked all these years. I need a lifetime income stream. I need a pension income stream, and I need a gap filled.
And that's why you should look at Immediate Annuities and get quotes using our proprietary calculators because we represent all carriers in all 50 states, licensed in all 50 states. But I digress. So why would you even look at life only? Well, everything within the annuity world is a transfer of risk. You're transferring the risk to the annuity companies to pay you for the rest of your life, regardless of how long you live. There's no ROI until you die, period. That's why you do it. But why would you ever choose life only? This is because life only is the highest contractual guaranteed payout of all of the 30-plus structuring choices. So compared to life with period certain, life with installment refund, life with cash refund, or life with a COLA, Cost of Living Adjustment increase, life only will be the highest contractual guarantee.
Why? Because you are shouldering some of that risk. That makes sense, right? So, if you say, I don't care about anything. I just want the highest payout. I have enough money, enough life insurance, and enough planned within my estate plan that my people are taken care of. I just want the highest contractual guarantee, and you won't give a rip about it anyway because you'll be dead.
Getting Quotes
Now, you might be out there saying, I would never do that. I've worked so hard for my money, and I get it. That's why we need to discuss the customization of the quote. But I wanted you to understand why people choose life only and why people choose life; it's the highest contractual guarantee out there, period. A couple of things about life only you need to know is with the quotes, depending on whether you buy a life-only Immediate Annuity or a life-only Deferred Income Annuity. Which again, if you've watched my videos, a Deferred Income Annuity is an Immediate Annuity, but you're just deferring it out further.
Beneficiaries
But with both of those, if you choose life only, you can also put in something that says, if I die before the income starts, 100% of that money goes to the list of beneficiaries. So, let's give you an example. Let's just say you bought a Deferred Income Annuity. You have income starting in three years but died in year two. If, within the application, we communicated, and you said, "I want to make sure that I only care about life only after the income starts, but I want to make sure that if I die before the income starts, the money goes to the beneficiaries." We can do that. We can also do it to where if you die before the income starts, money goes poof anyway. Which payment would be higher? The second one, right? Because you are absorbing some of the risk. Hopefully, that answers a little more in detail about why someone would choose life only and how life only works contractually.
Application Process
Hey, I'm sitting down. I was tired. I had to gather my thoughts for this next round about life only Immediate Annuities. So, let's say you chose life only, and we had that conversation. You fully understood that when your Learjet hits the mountain, and you die, money goes poof, and you're okay with that. And you fully understand that transfer of risk and that you're getting the highest contractual guarantee for that structure. We'll go through the application and handle all the application process for you from start to finish. But be aware inside of that application, that carrier you choose, the annuity company you choose, will have you sign paperwork that says you fully understand that when you die, money goes poof. It won't say poof because the lawyers don't use the word poof, but it will translate into poof. In other words, you will sign again that you fully understand that the money goes away when you die, but the annuity company's on the hook to pay.
Remember, annuities are contracts. So, when you buy an annuity, you can customize that contractual guarantee to do exactly what you want to do to achieve your goal for your specific situation. But in addition to me explaining and making sure, as the number one agent in the country licensed in all 50 states, Stan The Annuity Man, America's annuity agent, I'm going to make sure that you fully understand what you're buying before you buy it. The annuity company, in addition, will make you sign off on some paperwork inside of that application so that you understand the good and the bad ramifications of a life-only structure.
The Will Do, Not Might Do
You own an annuity for what it will do, not what it might do. And we talked about life-only quotes. What will it do? It will pay you for the rest of your life, regardless of how long you live. I encourage you to visit our site to get your Single Premium Immediate Annuity quotes. We'll quote all carriers and send them to you, email you the PDF, and leave you alone if you want. If you want to engage with us and talk, we can also book a call with us. Also, while at our site, download my six owner's manuals for FREE at no cost or obligation. Or if you don't want to do that, go to Amazon and buy them and make my wife happy. But you can download them for free. So, with that, please subscribe to my YouTube channel because I'm releasing videos daily, Monday through Friday, for Infinity. And with that, 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.