Market Needles or Annuity Haystacks: Shootin' It Straight With Stan®

Great topic today. It's a head-scratcher, and it's going to make you think. The topic is Market Needle or Annuity Haystack. We'll talk about markets, ups and downs, volatility, crypto, people trying to thread the needle to get these market returns, and if you're dependent upon so much unknown. If you're dependent upon markets, world markets, geopolitical events, wars, and things you can't predict, like some of the crypto meltdowns, and earning reports, you're threading the needle. You're looking for the needle in the haystack. You're looking for that growth opportunity in a haystack, and you might find it. Investing in markets is like surfing beside a cruise ship. Think about that. Envision that. Sometimes you're going to catch a wave beside that cruise ship, but sometimes you're going to get sucked under the boat.

I recently did a video called Retire From Your Job and Retire From the Markets, and many people can do that and should consider it. Many people can't, but it should be a goal not to be a slave to volatility indexes, CNBC, and Fox Business, no offense to them. The point is, I want you to think about where you've been in the markets and that you've gone on these rollercoaster rides, the crashes, bond drops, all kinds of things. You've been through it, and you've seen it: Wars, elections, and inflation. You've been in ups and downs for decades, most of you. You're trying to find that growth needle in a haystack. Why not go to the haystack? You don't have to find the needle. You found the haystack. What's the haystack? It's Contractual Guarantees.

I know what you're saying. "That's cliché. Come on Stan." No, I'm being serious. Contractual Guarantees are the haystack—Principal Protection, very simple. You can do that. Haystack, contractual. Lifetime Income, easy. Transfer of risk based on your life expectancy or life expectancies at the time you take the payment, haystack. There's no threading the needle for Principal Protection. There's no threading the needle or finding a needle in the haystack for Lifetime Income. The same goes if you want to protect yourself for Long-Term Care if you want to leave a legacy using annuities. You don't have to find the needle. It's a haystack. It's a Contractual Guarantee. Also, part of the haystack is all the carriers that we'll shop on your behalf to find the highest Contractual Guarantee for your specific situation in your specific state of residence. That's the haystack.

We're not trying to find a needle or the best annuity. If anyone says they have the best annuity with the best carrier, that means they're going on the best trip. If they sell enough of that best product, that means they're some incentive or lazy, and that agent has yet to learn all products to talk to you about them. Remember, buying annuities is like buying a plane ticket. You shop every carrier for the highest Contractual Guarantee and how you want to get there—same thing. You're not looking for that one deal. You're not looking for the needle in the haystack. You are looking at the haystack. And the haystack is all annuity companies, all life insurance companies that offer annuities, annuity carriers, for lack of a better phrase, that's the haystack. You don't have to look for anything. You go to the haystack, shop for everything in the haystack, and choose the highest Contractual Guarantee with the best company that you and I decide can back up the claims. Whether that's a rating agency, however we want to do that, Comdex, etc. That's the haystack.

Let me ask you this. Why are you still looking for the needle? Is it an addiction to the markets? Do you have too much money in that risk pool? Do you need to shift some of that needle to the haystack? Do you need to shift all of the needles to the haystack? Do you need to stop looking for the needle in the haystack? Are you still looking for what they call on the street the 10 bagger? Are you still looking for that? Really? Where are you in your life? Is that where you're at, or is that what you want your life to be? And that's okay if it is.

I had a call with a gentleman the other day. He was a corn futures trader and a very hard worker in his seventies. I'm like, "Go for it, man. Do it. You don't need Contractual Guarantees." Do you know what he said? "I know I don't, but I'm going to buy some for my wife, and I'm going to buy Lifetime Income for her because she doesn't want to trade corn futures." And that's what we did. He was the needle.

This is food for thought for many of you, especially in the markets we're in now. They're just choppy and all over the place. Up hundreds and down hundreds, and at the time of this blog, cryptos are going through craziness, and bad things are happening. It's just wild. You don't need wild, and you don't need risk. You don't need to be looking for needles. Our main office is in Las Vegas. I don't drink or gamble, and I've been married for 35 years. That does away with everything that Vegas is known for except for the food.

If markets and your market investments keep you worrying at night, it might be time to look at the haystack and not for the needle in it. It might be time to consider whether you can live off the interest of CDs, treasuries, and MYGAs and never touch the principal. It might be time to say, "You know what, in addition to the best annuity on the planet, which is Social Security, the best inflation annuity on the planet, I might need to contractually add more Lifetime Income to that Lifetime Income floor."

The three phases of retirement are go-go, slow-go, and no-go. I'm in go-go right now, but we'll eventually get to slow-go. And if we live long enough, we'll get to the no-go stage. So, it might be time to put those guarantees in place so that you know what the money's contractually going to do, regardless of how many cylinders your brain's hitting on, while making sure that you're not a burden to others.

Do you still need to be looking for that needle in the haystack? Do you still need to be looking for what the S&P's doing? What the tech sectors are doing? What the bonds are doing? What crypto's doing? What your ETF is doing? What your options are doing? Do you still need to be looking for the needle in the haystack? It's kind of funny. You're looking for the needle in the haystack, but the solution's right in front of you. It's the haystack. It's the Contractual Guarantees that you actually need. And then, once they're implemented, you'll be surprised how good you feel not having to worry about things anymore.

For the retired people, I want you to think back to when you retired. For the people that are getting ready to retire, I want you to think of that day. I want you to think of that day when you don't have to think about that anymore, and you don't have to deal with the people you're dealing with anymore, the vendors, or whatever your job is. I want you to think about that day. I want you to visualize how that will feel. It'll be a good feeling. It'll be a celebratory feeling. Now, I want you to envision your money not being at risk. I want you to envision all of your money Contractually Guaranteed. I want you to envision your money protecting the principal or providing a Lifetime Income stream so you can live your life. I want you to envision that. Can you? It's a good feeling if you think about it.

Why aren't you looking at that? Why aren't you at least looking under the rock, as they say in the South, to see what's there? Do some research. Don't just listen to your next-door neighbor that says stupidly, "Well, all annuities are bad and expensive." Tell them to go back in the house and watch Andy Griffith for the 50th time. I want you to think about that. I know this has been a weird one, but it's a good one. Do you want market needles or annuity haystacks? Do you want risk needles or contractual haystacks?

Do you want stock, ETF, crypto needles, or Lifetime Income and Principal Protection? Haystacks. And haystacks, meaning shopping all carriers for the highest Contractual Guarantee possible. I know which one I want you to do. I certainly want you as a client, but I want you to go and live your life and stop looking for the needle in the haystack and start looking only at that contractual haystack.

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.