Lovingly Handcuffing Your Beneficiaries with Annuities: Shootin' It Straight With Stan

Welcome to Shootin' It Straight With Stan. I am your host, Stan The Annuity Man, America's annuity agent, licensed in all 50 states, sporting the new fashionista, annuity, goatee. It's the talk of Paris. It's the talk of fashion week. It's the talk of the town, except in my town where my wife's like, "Shave the goatee. Okay, what are you doing?" I'm like, "I don't know. Annuity, goatee, annuity, goatee."

‌Today's topic is a good one. It's a personal one, and I can share some stories. It's called lovingly handcuffing your beneficiaries with annuity guarantees. You might be saying, "Wait a minute, handcuffing? That doesn't sound lovingly." It does when it comes to finances. A lot of us out there, including me. I have two great daughters at the time of this blog, aged 26 and 24. One lives in Denver, Colorado, and one lives in Manhattan, East Village; went to NYU and loves the city. She's this that person. She's like her dad. I love New York City as well. But they are great kids, and they, thank God, look like their mother and take after their mother. But when I die, they will not be getting lump sums, period. And it's nothing against them. It's just that I'm going to lovingly handcuff them so that they don't make dumb mistakes with lump sums, period. "Wait a minute, how do you do that Stan The Annuity Man?" Well, that's what this blog is for player. That's what I'm doing.

‌The Structure

‌So, what I have done in the trust, I have dictated in the trust that when I die, when my Learjet hits the mountain, when the Lamborghini hits the tree, when I can't put on The Annuity Man hat anymore, and I die, and the goatee is like 12 inches long down here, and you go, "Man, that's an annuity goatee right there. That's what I'm talking about." When that happens, lifetime income annuities will be purchased for each daughter for the rest of their lives to pay as long as they're breathing. So, regardless of when I die, if I died four years from now, then there'd be an Immediate Annuity purchased for a 30-year-old and a 28-year-old at that point in time.

‌Understand that Single Premium Immediate Annuities are primarily priced on life expectancy at the time of the payment; interest rates play a secondary role. So, that's what I've done, and that's what they're going to get. And they're going to hate me every single month that money hits their bank account. What have I done? I've lovingly handcuffed them.

‌Deferred Income Annuity

‌I've also bought what's called a Deferred Income Annuity. I'm not sure I recommend you doing this. I did this to see what the numbers were, and they were pretty good, so I did it. That's who I am. I'm nothing to moderation impulsive, and that's what I did. I bought them a Deferred Income Annuity a while back and deferred it to when they're age 50, and it turns on it when they're age 50, and there's a lifetime income stream. I am not sure that's a perfect way to do it because that's an irrevocable contract with no liquidity, etc. Unless they read this blog, which they won't, they don't even know they have it. I bought it, but they don't even know they have it. So that's another way to do it.

‌Firm Believer

‌But when I talk about lovingly handcuffing beneficiaries, we're doing them a favor by creating a payment income stream for them to supplement if they have a job if there's social security in the future. And there might not be. There might be a means test that is out of the way from them, but I'm a firm believer in doing that. I'm a firm believer in setting things up so that the kids will have an income stream. You can do that for grandchildren as well. At the time of this blog, I don't have any grandchildren. I think that's going to change because my lovely older daughter just got married to a fantastic dude that I signed off on. Great guy, and they're going to have little Stanettas, Stanielles, Stanfords, and Stanleys running around all the time. I mean, there are incentives for them to name them after me. If they named them all after me, I'd give them a lump sum, right? But I do like Stanetta and Stanielle for girls. I think that's really good. Stanford, obviously, Stanley, Stan Jr., I'm good with all of that.

But if that happens, I'll probably go back to the trust and lovably handcuff them instead of getting a lump sum or doing a 529 plan. Nothing wrong with that. I would set up a lifetime income stream for them, triggered upon my death. And what my wife and I are now discussing, the lovely Christine, of 35 years, married to Stan The Annuity Man. Her name is Christine, The Annuity Man. She doesn't really like that, but it rings and works in marketing, talking about doing something when she passes away because I have the same things structured for her, and it's not lovingly handcuffing my wife. She's going to get the lump sum, too, but also want to put an income floor in place for my wife when I pass away. But you can lovingly handcuff your beneficiaries.

‌Client Example

‌I get calls all the time. I got one the other week, about a week and a half ago. They scheduled a time with me and you can to by clicking on this link. There's about a 5% chance to get me. Otherwise, you're going to get somebody really, really smart on my team.

‌I got one the other week, and the person said that they wanted to buy an Immediate Annuity because their son just had some substance abuse issues, what I call wandering ambiguity. Just wandering around and can't really get it together. They don't want to give them the lump sum. So, what do you do? You buy an Immediate Annuity for them. You pay them. They get mad at you for that.

I'll never forget. I did one a long time ago when I used to do face-to-face appointments, about 20 years ago. But I flew in somewhere. It was a big case, and I flew in. And it was the family at the table. And we were lovingly handcuffing one of the beneficiaries. The beneficiary thought they would get a lump sum, but they found out they were signing a piece of paper saying they would get an Immediate Annuity. I was cussed out pretty well, but you know what? It was the right thing to do. And I told the father at that time, and he was like, "Man, that was tough. Was that the right thing?" I'm like, "That was the right thing to do."

‌I want you to think about that. I want you to think about your kids and your grandkids. If they're solid and they're rational, give them a lump sum. They can figure it out. And then 90% of the people, I'm sure that's what you're going to do. I believe in an income floor. I believe in payments that are ongoing and hit the bank account every single month. I like that. It's because when you're in the sales business, that doesn't happen, right? I guess you're looking for that. But I want that for my daughters, and I want that for my wife. And I want that for them because I don't want them to worry. And I want them to know that lifetime income is coming in every single month. Could they do better by taking the lump sum and buying the best stock in the world? Probably. But why take that chance, and what a legacy?

‌My daughters have put up with me and my eccentricities. I'm a maniac as a father. I don't drink or do drugs or anything like that. I'm a wild man. You know that. And I love them to death. I really look at this, and I go, "You know what? It's going to be cool for them too." That money hits that bank account every single month. And I'm like, "I've been dead for 20 years," right? And that money is still hitting the bank account and still in. And as much as eccentric and eclectic as I was, they're like, "Eh, he was goofy, man. But I'm glad he did that." I know they're going to say that. So, think about it.

‌Annuity Contractual Guarantees

‌Lovingly handcuffing your beneficiaries. You can do that with annuity contractual guarantees. You can do it now and buy something that kicks into the future, or you can set up a trust and have the trust dictate that something be purchased as lifetime income for whoever you deem appropriate at the time of your death. Meaning that it triggers at the time of your death. But remember, death is not a good strategy because you can only use it once. But wouldn't it be good to know, regardless of what happens, that they're taken care of and that a lifetime income stream is going to be in place? And if Social Security is taken away, they're going to have their own that you set up for them. And if pensions no longer exist, they're going to have that pension that you set up for them.

‌Talk about legacy. That's legacy. That's a legacy income monster, is what that is. And I'm a monster, kind of. I'm a monster in the annuity industry. I'm a monster of information. I'm a monster of entertainment and education, which is called edutainment. And I appreciate you joining me. Go to my site, run quotes, read the books, and schedule a call. Hopefully, you get me. If you do, boy, won't that be fun? I tell people all the time when they get me on the phone, I'm like, "Listen, I don't do a lot of these calls. Hang in there with me. It might be choppy," but I'm going to tell you the truth and my team's going to tell you the truth, which is a good thing. And we're going to tell you if you need an annuity or not. But we would love to work on these legacy-type products of lovingly handcuffing your beneficiaries and doing them a long-term favor.

My name is Stan The Annuity Man. That's Shootin' It Straight With Stan. 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.