Annuity Horror Stories Debunked

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Welcome to Shooting It Straight with

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Stan. I'm your host, Stan the Annuity

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Man. And I'm so glad you joined me today

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because this is one of those times I get

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to kind of rant. You've seen me do that

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in the past where you're like, "Stan,

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you're drinking way too much coffee. I

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don't know what the heck's going on, but

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you're you're you're intense and you're

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too old to be intense because people

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that get you intense like that, you

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might have a stroke or heart attack or

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things like that." Hey, don't worry

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about me. I'm worried about you. And

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today's topic is don't buy annuity

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stories. That's a big one to unpack, but

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let's start unpacking it in the world of

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sales. And I've been in the financial

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services industry, sales industry since

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I got out of college cuz that's the only

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people that offered me a job. And I was

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a finance major. And I'm thinking, yeah,

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I want to go into finance. And I had a

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math background, etc. Everybody that

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ever talked to me, like a manager,

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salesperson, they're like, stories sell.

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You need to tell stories to the people

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because they can relate to it. Now on my

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videos and podcast and on these shooting

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straight with Stan videos, I'll tell you

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stories about, you know, when clients

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call me, like real life stories. This is

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what actually happened when they call.

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And it might apply to you, it might not.

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But the stories I'm talking about when I

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say don't buy annuity stories applies to

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a lot of things that are happening

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that's wrong in the annuity industry and

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why the annuity industry has earned its

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bad reputation. Cuz people like

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annuities, that's a curse word. It's a

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curse word because the people, the

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majority of people that's selling them,

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they're selling stories that most of the

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time aren't true and they're pushing the

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envelope to get the sale. And that's

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unfortunate. That's the reason that I

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say all the time, buy an annuity for

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what it will do, not what it might do.

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What's the will do? The will do is the

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contractual guarantee of the policy. And

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the reason I say that is with annuities

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of any type, they're contracts. Don't

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believe it? Buy one, you're going to get

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something in the mail called a policy.

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In the South, we'll call that a

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contract. I mean, it is what it is. And

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guess what's going to happen with your

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money when you get an annuity of any

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type? What's in the contract? So, make

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your decision on what's in the contract,

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not the story that's being told. And the

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stories are horrific out there. That's

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the reason I always say to people that

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if you have to buy an annuity not from

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stand the annuity man, which I can't

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understand why you would do that, but

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let's just say your brother-in-law or

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sister or whatever selling annuities,

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you just have to buy it anyway. So,

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let's just say you have to buy from them

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and they give you this great pitch. And

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this story sounds too good to be true.

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And oh, by the way, if it sounds too

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good to be true, it is every single time

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without exception. What I would tell you

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to do is write down that sales pitch

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exactly how you hear it, exactly how you

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understand it, exactly how they

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presented it to you. Write it down in

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detail and then sign and date it at the

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bottom and flip it over to them and say,

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"Hey, by the way, that sounded really

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good, but can you sign and date it, too?

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Because if it's not what you say it is,

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I'm going to take you out." not take you

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out like literally like like muffy take

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you out. Yeah, I'm going to take you to

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court and get my money back because you

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lied to me. That's the only protection

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you truly have is what I call statement

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of understanding from the client

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standpoint. In other words, this is the

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sales pitch I heard. I'm going to write

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it down and I'm going to have them sign

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off on it. Typically, when you do that,

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the pen weighs a,000 pounds. They're not

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going to sign it or they'll go, "Oh, no,

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no, that's not what I was talking

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about." But the stories that are out

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there now are crazy. And let's go

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through some. There's numerous indexed

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annuity type products. So, we're not

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going to get into details of them. Yes,

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I sell them. I have no problem with

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them, but their CD products like index

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annuities. Fixed index nuities were

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designed in 1995 to compete with normal

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CD returns. And spoiler alert, that's

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what they did. But that's not the

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stories you're going to hear. The

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stories you're going to hear is market

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upside with no downside. Market

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participation with no market loss. Well,

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if that's the case, then I'm calling

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chairman pal the time of this taping.

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He's head of the Fed and I'm say, "Hey,

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brother man, got it fixed. You just buy

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index annuities for the country and

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everything's going to be perfect." If it

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sounds too good to be true, it is. If

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you believe it's true, then you're the

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rub at the table and the sucker at the

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table. Don't believe the story. If

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they're saying something, say, "Listen,

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what if it gets zero?" And, "Well, it

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never has gone zero." Cuz historically,

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if you look at these returns that I'm

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showing, if you owned it 10 years ago,

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that's a story. That's garbage. Never

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base your decision on a backtested

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number. And what drives me crazy right

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now in the index annuity world are

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indices, indexes. They're being created

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out of thin air based on an algorithm

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that's looking for an actual return. So

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they create this XYZ index and then they

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go, "If you'd have owned this XYZ index

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10 years ago, this would have been your

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return." Well, how's that possible,

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Chester the agent? Because it's only

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been around for 2 months. How could have

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I earned it 10 years ago? And oh, by the

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way, you might want to check that

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specimen policy and say, can they change

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those allocations internally? There's

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some games being played here. Now, I

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understand why the annuity carriers are

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doing that. They can get better option

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pricing on an annuity made up out of

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thin air as opposed to the S&P 500. But

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understand that all of these index

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annuities are designed to create a CD

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type return two to four percent. Anyone

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that tells you otherwise, it's like

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George Costanza said on Seinfeld, if you

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believe it's the truth, then it's not a

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lie. That's what a lot of these agents

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have convinced themselves. It's like

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walking past a mirror and you're 50 lbs

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overweight and you glance and you go,

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you know what? I look pretty good. No,

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you don't. You're 50 lbs overweight.

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It's the same premise. So, the stories

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that they're going to tell, just don't

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believe them. Another story that anyone

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who says this, get up and walk out. If

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they say to you, "Well, my mom owns this

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or my uncle owns this or I own this and

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here's my statement. I want you to look

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at it." That's a story. That's crap. Do

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not allow them to do that because you

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don't know if it's true or not. You

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don't know if they've doctor that PDF or

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that hard copy. You have no idea. What

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are you going to ask? Hey, what are the

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contractual guarantees? They they need

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to ask you two questions. What do you

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want the money to contractually do? And

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when do you want those contractual

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guarantees to start? From those two

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answers, we can determine whether you

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even need an annuity or if you do need

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an annuity, which type will provide the

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highest contractual guarantees. There

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are no stories with contractual

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guarantees. There are no stories when

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you run quotes like you can run on our

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site at theanuityman.com and you're

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running contractually guaranteed quotes.

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That's the reason that we allow you to

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do that on your terms. You can pull up

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MGA fixed rate guarantees live feed on

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my site for your specific state. There's

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no stories to that. That's a contractual

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guaranteed yield with an immediate

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annuity, a deferred income annuity, a

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qualified longevity annuity contract, or

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an income writer attached to an index

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annuity. There's no stories of that.

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That's a contractual guarantee. Period.

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That's what it will do. Everything on

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our site, and in my opinion, everything

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in the annuity industry should be about

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what the policy will do, not what the

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policy might do. But the vast majority

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of policies being sold out there, which

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are index annuities, variable annuities,

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buffer annuities, whatever, those are

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all storydriven sales. They're not

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contractual driven sales. They're

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storydriven sales. Well, Mr. Jones, if

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you'd owned here, you'd have made 7%

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every year and you had principal

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protection. Mr. Jones, you get the

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upfront bonus. That's another story

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that's crazy. Hey, if you sign here,

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you're going to get an upfront bonus.

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That's your money to keep for free. It's

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It's just fantastic. You get a 20% bonus

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or 30% bonus or 35% bonus, whatever it

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is. You can't be that stupid. Come on.

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You're listening to Stan the Annuity

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Man. If someone's presented a bonus, you

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probably found me because you went,

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"Wait a minute, that doesn't sound

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right." bonuses or stories. To me,

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they're contractual guarantees. So, let

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me give you an example. If you said,

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Stan, I need income to start, lifetime

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income to start later. Remember the two

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questions? What do you want the money to

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contractually do? Lifetime income. When

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do you want it to start? Down the road.

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Then that can be an income writer. Also

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can be a deferred income annuity. But

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let's just say we're focusing on the

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income writer. We're only going to look

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at the contractual guaranteed income

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writer. And we are going to shop every

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single company out there with an income

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writer to find the highest contractual

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guarantee for your specific situation.

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And that includes companies that have

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bonuses. That's part of the offering of

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the income writer. And spoiler alert,

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most of the time the companies that are

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offering these huge chunky upfront

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bonuses do not provide the highest

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contractual guarantee. It's a story.

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There's a hundred pennies in the dollar.

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So someone's offering you an upfront

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bonus, they're taking something away in

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the policy. Typically, it's on the

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payout on the back end, which is the

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most important part. So if you're

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sitting at the Bad Chicken Dinner

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seminar and they say, "We're going to

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give you a 20% upfront bonus. So your

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200,000, you know, worth, you know, you

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get $40,000 bonus." That's not free

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money, player. you know that you got to

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be smarter than that. You've got to

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filter out these sociopaths out there

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that say these things cavalerely hoping

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that some part of your brain believes

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it's true and you're going to trust

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them. Don't trust anybody, including me.

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And trust the contract. Which leads me

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to my next point. With any policy that

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you're trying to make a decision on,

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first of all, there's never an urgency

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to buy an annuity ever, ever, ever,

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ever. The urgency is for you to fully

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understand it. And if that takes you

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reading the specimen policy, then ask us

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for the specimen policy and we'll send

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it to you and you can read it. Because

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why? Once again, story sell, but you're

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going to buy contractual guarantees. I

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always say don't buy the dream because

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you're going to own the contractual

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reality. Don't buy the story cuz you're

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buying a contract. So buy the contract.

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So, be very careful out there in the

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hinterlands of unregulated internet

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promotions, unregulated bad chicken

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dinner and expensive steak dinner

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seminars, unregulated people coming to

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your workplace as you retire and talking

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about one product. I mean, I just went

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did a rant on that recently just that

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drives me crazy. First of all, remember

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this annuities, there's not one product

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that's better than the other. There's

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the two questions that you have to

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answer, period. What do you want the

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money to contractually do? When do you

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want those contractual guarantees to

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start? From that we shop all carriers

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for the highest contractual guarantee

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for your specific situation. And then we

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talk about who that company is, their

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ratings, the claims payability, etc. But

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annuities are commodity products. There

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are no stories on commodity products.

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There's only contractual guarantees. And

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with that, I think I covered that pretty

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well. Don't you agree? Hey, see you next