Are You Surfing Beside a Stock Market Cruise Ship?: Fun With Annuities

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Welcome to Fun with Annuities. I'm your

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host, Stan, the Annuity Man, America's

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annuity agent, licensed in all 50 states

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in Puerto Rico, the founder of

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Contractual Guarantees Only, which means

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you own an annuity for what it will do,

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not what it might do. Today's topic is a

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fun one. I came up with it, of course.

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It's are you surfing beside a stock

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market cruise ship? Envision the cruise

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ship. You've been on the cruise ship

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creates the waves to the side. you know,

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look at the timing of this um this this

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wonderful Fund with Annuities podcast

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and we're at all-time stock market highs

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and regardless if you're watching this

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years down the road, markets go up and

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down and people have creative memories.

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They're like, well, you know, it's still

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going up. We're in a market currently

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where you just throw a dart at it. This

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is going up. Artificial intelligence is

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is blowing the market up and it's it

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seems to be working and I'm crossing my

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fingers that it does work. I have been

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through actual market declines

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um 87 2008 and hopefully there's not

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another one but it kind of feels eerily

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similar

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um to that whole dot error and that the

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whole bubble that we went through just

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this artificial intelligence eventually

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my opinion um and having worked for you

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know Dean Witter Morgan Stanley Payne

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Weber UBS I've been on that side of the

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table and it just feels a little shaky

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right now. Um, not to mention the

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geopolitics at the time of this taping.

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Surfing beside a a cruise ship is what

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it feels like if you're in the markets.

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Um, and always say, well, you know, you

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can you can certainly catch a wave if

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you're surfing beside a cruise ship, but

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eventually you're going to get sucked

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under the boat. And I feel like a lot of

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people have creative memory from the,

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you know, the last kind of downturn

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market. And I I remember I was here um

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and people, oh, I'm never going to do

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that again, Stan. I mean, I'm This one

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left a mark. This one left a scar. I'm

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never going to let that happen again.

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Now, I mean, everybody's all in and

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rolling the dice overhand with a running

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start.

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But I want you to think about

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annuitities

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um and sequence of return risk. Not to

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go down that rabbit hole, but in

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essence, what annuities can do is smooth

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out that volatility by putting in place

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guarantees. Whether those guarantees are

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for principal protection or those

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guarantees are for lifetime income.

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I'm the best friend that Wall Street

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ever. They don't know I'm their best

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friend. They think I'm the evil Stan the

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annuity man because I take money out of

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their all their uh you know brokerage

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accounts and and and things like that,

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mutual funds and put them in annuities.

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But if Wall Street was smart, they would

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hire me as their key consultant to put

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in the income floors and put in

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principal protection products so that

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people would invest their money

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properly. And when I mean properly,

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meaning that when markets are volatile,

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they don't panic and sell. They ride it

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out because they have the guarantees in

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place. Annuitities are the best thing

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that could ever happen for you ever,

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ever, ever if you use them the right

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way. Now, if you buy them for growth,

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you're a fool. Okay? Annuitities, never

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buy them for market growth. Go buy the

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market.

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If if someone shows you something and

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says, "This is a great annuity. You can

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get market upside. You protect the

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principle. You get market upside, and

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you buffer some of the downside." The

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only question you ask them is, "Does it

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have surrender charges

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or are you charging me this ongoing fee

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or both?" And if the answer is yes to

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any of that, move on.

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Stock market growth has no surrender

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charges.

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We clear.

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Annuitities

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Annuities

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solve for four things. Principal

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protection, income for life, legacy, and

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long-term care. That acronym acronym is

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pill. To determine if you even need an

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annuity and what annuity would provide

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the highest contractual guarantee, ask

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two questions. What do you want the

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money to contractually do? And when do

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you want those contractual guarantees to

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start?

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It's that simple. You do not buy

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hypothetical. You do not buy

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theoretical. You do not buy projected.

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You do not buy back tested. You do not

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buy for upfront bonuses.

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If it sounds too good to be true, it is

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every single time without exception. Are

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we clear?

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For whatever reason,

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this industry has a For whatever reason,

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this industry, the annuity industry,

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ignores the monopoly that they have. And

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that monopoly is lifetime income.

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And you're saying, "Yeah, there's no

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there's no other product that does

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that." You're right. But what does the

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annuity industry do? They they really

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just kind of ignore that part. Oh, we're

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all about growth. We're all about

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potential. We have all these packaged

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products, these high commission products

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for potential and maybe some upside.

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The dumbest marketing decisions of all

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time,

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business schools, Harvard business,

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Stanford business, Michigan business

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schools, they're going to study the

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complete and absolute stupidity of that

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decision. that greed only decision.

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Well, we're, you know, middle America

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wants guarantees, but let's just kind of

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show them some potential as well. Now,

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they want guarantees.

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How can you have a monopoly on lifetime

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income? Nobody. No other product can do

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it. Don't say 30-year bond. I'll blow

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you up. What if you live 35 years?

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Lifetime income. As long as you're

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breathing andor on a respirator, you're

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going to get paid.

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Annuitities, there's four types of

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annuities that provide that lifetime

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income guarantee. Annuities is the only

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product that can do that. And with life

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expectancy tables getting ready to

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change, meaning that artificial

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intelligence is going to shorten the

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medical breakthrough time periods, which

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means we're going to live longer.

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I'm the only one talking about lifetime

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income.

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I don't get it. You already own the best

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social security is the best pension

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annuity on the planet. I don't own an

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annuity. It's social security.

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It's a pension.

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So the stock market's fine. Go get

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growth. Go do it. Knock yourself out.

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You know, be Johnny Trader or Joanna

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Trader. Go for it.

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Market growth. Great. But put the

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guarantees in place. You're surfing

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beside a cruise ship. Put the guarantees

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in place. You're surfing beside a cruise

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ship. Don't get sucked under the boat.

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Don't allow some advisor to say, "Well,

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you don't need an annuity guarantee.

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We'll just take the profits off the top

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and that'll be your income stream and

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we'll just keep everything in the

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markets."

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Bull market much. Do not confuse a bull

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market with genius.

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Anybody a trout fish could if a if trout

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had arms, they could throw darts at this

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market and make money. Even Jim Kramer

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is making money. No offense, Jim, but

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you know what I'm saying.

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This is easy.

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Be proactive. Put the guarantees in

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place. At a minimum, put your income

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floor in place. Stan, what's an income

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floor? Good question. An income floor is

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the guarantee amount of money that hits

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your bank account every single month

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that's not correlated. What's

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non-correlated, Stan? It has nothing to

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do with the stock market.

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What's your income floor? What is that?

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put your income floor in place with a

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little fluff for for your for your

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spouse that's put up with you. Put that

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income floor in place and then go mark

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go to the markets and invest

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and never buy annuities for growth.

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Market growth.

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Growth can be MA type growth, CD type

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growth, but market growth, no no.

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I tell the story all the time. I when I

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left um my last stop in Wall Street was

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UBS and um and I came out to the annuity

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industry. Long story on why, but I did

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my research. Here I am, top agent in the

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country, dominant. I still to this day

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cannot believe the crap growth stories

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that are out there at the seminar on the

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seminar series or now on the internet

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where guys well this is this index of

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duty this this RER this variable. I'm

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like what what are you talking about?

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good friend of mine and I'll close with

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this story. Good friend of mine's been

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in the business for 40 years. One of the

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top brains in the annuity industry in my

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opinion and that's saying a lot. And um

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I finally said, you know, please show me

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some index annuities that actually

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worked. And he gave me one and it was

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attached to NASDAQ or somewhere. I said,

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but what was the NASDAQ return? And um

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he said, "Well, it was you know 30 40%

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that year." I said, "What was the index

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annuity return?" It was single digits. I

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said, "That's not success."

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Come on, man.

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Be careful in these markets. Be careful

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in markets in general. The older you

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get, the less time you have to make up

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for market downturns. Can I get an

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annuity? Amen. On that one.

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Put the guarantees in place. Put them in

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place. Whether it's principal protection

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or whether it's lifetime income to cover

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that income floor. But do that and go

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surf beside the cruise ship. Doesn't

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matter. It'll all work out. My name is

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Stan the annuity man. That's fun with

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annuities. We had some fun. See you next

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time.