Are Fixed Annuities Safe In A Recession?

April 18, 2026
10 min
Are Fixed Annuities Safe In A Recession?
The Annuity Man®
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Are fixed annuities safe in a recession? In this video, I explain why fixed annuities can act as a powerful shield during recessions, inflation, and economic chaos. I also talk about how lifetime income streams and annuities provide stability when everything else feels uncertain and why focusing on contractual guarantees is the key to building a recession-proof financial strategy.

▶️ WATCH NEXT: https://youtu.be/kzfwvP1rh-g

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Stan The Annuity Man

Key Moments in this Episode
========================
00:00 Introduction to the video
00:38 Reality of preparing for unexpected events
01:01 How annuities can protect you from recessions
01:48 How to prepare for a recession
02:44 Multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs)
03:27 Importance of locking in contractual guarantees
04:58 How AI can potentially change everything
05:57 Example of how AI can affect lifetime income sources
07:03 Are annuities safe?
08:28 Important reminder for consumers
09:02 How high-quality carriers are safe in a recession
10:00 Next steps & helpful resources

What To Watch Next:
========================
https://youtu.be/kzfwvP1rh-g

Resources
========================
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🎧 Listen to the Fun With Annuities Podcast:
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Learn More About Stan The Annuity Man
========================
Stan The Annuity Man® is known as “America’s Annuity Agent®” and the top independent annuity agent in the United States, licensed in all 50 states. He is a firm believer that annuities should NOT be purchased for market growth and is focused on educating the consumer so that they can make an informed decision on their terms and on their time frame. Stan has published 7 books on the annuity topic and prides himself on being a consumer advocate for all things annuity.

========================
Video by Nate Woodbury
BeTheHeroStudios.com
http://YouTube.com/c/NateWoodbury

#StanTheAnnuityMan
#Annuity
#TheAnnuityMan
#Retirement

  • 0:00 Introduction to the video
  • 0:38 Reality of preparing for unexpected events
  • 1:01 How annuities can protect you from recessions
  • 1:48 How to prepare for a recession
  • 2:44 Multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs)
  • 3:27 Importance of locking in contractual guarantees
  • 4:58 How AI can potentially change everything
  • 5:57 Example of how AI can affect lifetime income sources
  • 7:03 Are annuities safe?
  • 8:28 Important reminder for consumers
  • 9:02 How high-quality carriers are safe in a recession
  • 10:00 Next steps & helpful resources

0:00
Hi there, Stan the Annuity Man, America's annuity agent, licensed in all 50 states and Puerto Rico,

0:07
the founder of CGO, which is contractual guarantees only, which is the only way

0:12
that we even look at annuities. So, the question of the day: are annuities safe in a recession?

0:19
Stan the Annuity Man. Well, that's an interesting question because there's many types of annuities,

0:25
but only I can put it into Stanglish, which is easy-to-understand English, after this.

0:38
So, annuities, recession problems, black swan events, hyperinflation, inflation, all of that

0:48
stuff that it's kind of sport to try to plan for, but there's no perfect plan. But let's talk

0:57
about recession and when we're in a recession. In my opinion, annuities are perfect, a perfect

1:05
antidote for recessionary trends. And the reason is you're locking in contractual guarantees. You

1:12
own an annuity for what it will do, not what it might do. There's many types of annuities.

1:17
My shirt, I Heart Lifetime Income. Annuities were put on the planet in the Roman times for

1:24
lifetime income. That's where they first started. And that's been the primary reason for annuities

1:30
ever since. They've been sold in this country over 200 years for lifetime income. And in a world

1:36
where 9, not 90, 9% of the public, working public has a pension, the other 91% have to figure

1:45
out how to create lifetime income. The number one most popular federal government agency of

1:53
all time is Social Security. It's not the Department of War. It's Social Security.

1:59
It was not put on the planet for people to get their primary lifetime income stream from,

2:04
but that's where most of it comes from. I'd say 60 to 70% of all people receiving Social

2:09
Security. It's also the best inflation annuity on the planet. In a recession,

2:15
I'm not going to find many people that say Social Security is a bad thing. It's a good thing.

2:20
It's lifetime income coming in. So, if you just extrapolate that annuities for lifetime

2:26
income, in addition to Social Security, in addition to a pension if you're so fortunate, in

2:31
addition to the RMDs you take from your IRA, and that's eerily similar to an annuity-type

2:36
payment because it's coming every year whether you want it to or not. That's recession-proof.

2:42
The more income, the better. If you just want to protect the principle and get an interest rate,

2:46
that's where MYGAs come in. Multi-year guarantee annuities, the annuity industry version of a CD. In

2:51
a recession, that works. Protect your principle, get a very good interest rate, and typically

2:56
MYGA interest rates are higher than CD rates if you're past that three-year time point.

3:02
I typically tell people one to two years, okay, CDs. We don't sell CDs, but I love CDs.

3:08
Go to bankrate.com, and look for CD rates. Anything past three years,

3:15
MYGAs are going to give you a higher guarantee because life insurance companies issue those,

3:19
and they're pricing off of different things, not just the Fed. The Fed's about 20% of the pricing.

3:25
So, the country is going to go through inflation and recession, all kinds of things. Someone

3:31
asked me the other day, what are we doing hyperinflation? I don't know. I mean,

3:35
anyone that says they know and have a plan, they're full of crap. Alright? Been doing this

3:39
a long time, was at Dean Witter, Paine Webber, UBS, Morgan Stanley, been on that side of the ledger,

3:44
worked on Wall Street, worked at World Trade 2 Center before it fell. I've been there.

3:48
Envision this t-shirt, three-piece suit, Brooks Brothers. I was bringing it. Okay?

3:54
But then I burned all that and then did this. But the point is, I know about that. And I know

3:59
that recessionary times, to me, equate into contractual guarantees. Do you wait till the

4:07
recession hits? You can. You can keep your powder dry and then buy lifetime income when you need it.

4:12
But I actually think the time is now to look at lifetime income because artificial intelligence

4:17
is going to change the life expectancy tables against you. Meaning you're going to live longer,

4:21
meaning the payments will be lower. So you might want to look at locking it in right now.

4:25
Someone called me the other day, said, "Well, I keep hearing you talking about

4:28
AI and how it's going to change life. When's that going to happen?" Son, if I knew that,

4:32
I wouldn't be on the video. Okay? I'd be trading futures on when all this is going to happen.

4:40
But on a side note, didn't know I thought about it. I mean, life insurance companies

4:44
will become more profitable. There's no doubt because they're going to pay out lower payments

4:50
for a longer time, which means they get to hold on to your money for a longer time, which

4:54
means they're going to make more money, which means they're going to have bigger buildings.

4:57
There's a lot happening right now. You know, a lot of the people watching this tape, I was

5:02
talking to someone the other day that, you know, I was around when cable television started,

5:07
that MTV thing, and then I was around when laptop computers started, internet. I was around during

5:12
the dot-com bubble. I was around when iPhones were first introduced, and now I'm around with GOP-1,

5:18
the stab yourself and get skinny and announce a pill. And now I'm around for AI. Seen a lot. Okay.

5:26
But I think of all the things that I've seen, I think artificial intelligence has the potential

5:31
to really change things. Some people say for the better, some people say for the worse. I don't

5:36
know. It's probably somewhere in between, right? I don't know what's going to happen. But all I know

5:41
is we can't sit around and say, "Well, that's kind of crazy. I don't really understand

5:46
it." Well, if you are if you have money, you need to start thinking about how is it going to affect

5:51
my money, how's it going to affect my lifetime income, how is it going to affect things. It's

5:55
going to— I'll give you an example. I think that if artificial intelligence can shorten the

6:03
medical breakthroughs, which lengthens life expectancy tables, what's the government

6:06
going to do? They're going to push when you can turn on Social Security.

6:12
Duh. It's going to happen. Or they're going to means-test it at a minimum.

6:18
You know what I want you to do is use your noggin. Don't get mad. Stop watching political

6:25
television. By the way, on a side note, I just have to say this. I'm so tired of, like,

6:31
cable television and they got a guy, that guy or lady or whatever, and they'll say something and

6:36
they'll say what they believe and then they'll say, "Well, I'm going to bring in Bill

6:40
over here and see what he thinks." I don't give a crap what Bill says. Who thought that was good

6:44
television to give your opinion and then bring in opinions or, like, do like the Hollywood Squares

6:50
version at one network? They'll bring in, like, six people and they'll all give their opinion.

6:55
You've got to have something better to do than that. No, seriously.

7:02
So, are they safe in a recession? Are annuities safe in a recession? Throw out recession. Throw

7:08
out inflation. Throw out high. Are annuities safe? That's really the question. And the answer is yes.

7:16
They're contractual guarantees. And if you buy quality companies, they are 100% safe.

7:23
For us, lifetime income is A+ or better. Period. End of story. No discussion. That's safe.

7:29
So, are annuities safe? Yes. Does your portfolio need to go more towards safe money? Yes. Do you

7:36
need to take some risk off the table, whether temporary or permanently? Yes. You know that. Stop

7:43
being greedy. I mean, do you have a stock market addiction? And I saw something the other day,

7:49
big C behind the camera, about sports gambling and how that's taken over and all that stuff. And I'm

7:54
thinking to myself, what's the difference between that and the stock market? Nothing. Nothing.

8:01
The only difference now is with sports gambling, you can start at 400 and 300 and 200, whatever.

8:07
The stock market's a little bit higher, but it's the same thing.

8:13
How about getting addicted to lifestyle? How about getting addicted to safety of your money?

8:19
How about getting addicted to the predictability of contractual guaranteed returns on your money,

8:25
with your money? That's better. So, are annuities safe in a recession?

8:30
Are annuities safe in an inflation? The answer is yes. But the real shorter version,

8:34
are annuities safe? Yes. They're contracts. Contracts between you and the life insurance

8:42
company that issues the annuities. So what do we do? We only look at the contractual guarantees.

8:47
You own an annuity for what it will do, not what it might do. So think annuities, think safe.

8:51
Think annuities, think lifetime income. Think lifetime income, think safety of lifetime income.

8:58
As long as you're breathing. Chapter 2 is about you. Remember that.

9:02
One last thing. So I'm getting ready to walk away, and you know I got

9:06
handlers and lawyers. They're all back here, and they're doing their thing, right?

9:10
And Big C behind the camera said, "Can you answer one last question?" And his question was,

9:15
in a recession, is the company safe? And the answer is yes. Okay? The answer is yes.

9:23
A+ or better company, safe. I don't care what's happening in the country. And if you say, what

9:28
happens if they go out of business? It's a wrap. It's over. Okay? Now, with MYGAs, we might do a

9:33
little bit less rating, but we're dating that company for that specific period of time. And

9:38
I personally sign off on that, and I'm batting a thousand in a 30-year time period. It's a very

9:44
good question that was probably on the minds of a lot of people, and I probably take it for granted

9:49
because I've been doing this so long and I've seen such stability that yes, your company is safe,

9:56
which means your contractual guarantees are safe, which means that your money is safe.

10:00
Do me a favor. I talk about lifetime income, and this you're gonna see kind of a spinning clock,

10:04
and I talk about lifetime income, how it's priced, some of the fallacies out there, like, well,

10:09
the Fed it dictates lifetime income— no, it does not. Okay? Watch this video, I'm going to break it down

10:15
as only I can in easy-to-understand Stanglish, so you'll understand it. Okay? Lifetime

10:24
income is good. I love lifetime income. My wife and I, we have so much lifetime income set up.

10:29
It's going to be fun. It's fun now. So, think about it. Are annuities safe? You bet they are.

10:35
Go to my site at the annuity man, run quotes until

10:37
your heart's content, schedule a free consultation at your heart's content.

10:41
And you can even email me, [email protected], and I will respond. See you next time.

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