Avoiding Common Pitfalls With Annuity Purchases: Shootin’ It Straight With Stan (TAM Classic)

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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, America's annuity agent, licensed

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in all 50 states. Today's topic is

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avoiding common

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pitfalls with annuity purchases. And

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this topic kind of comes from my team

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and the calls that they get and um they

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provided examples of which they kind of

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didn't need to do because I've been

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doing this for decades. But I listened

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and it was kind of the same things I

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always ran across as well with

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annuities.

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Now, just to make this very simple, if

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you if you bought annuitities, I don't

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care what type, just for the contractual

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guarantees, you're going to be in good

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shape. You own it for what it will do,

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not what it might do, not the

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hypotheticals, the theoreticals, the

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projections, the backtested numbers, the

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agent hopeful return scenarios that they

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pitch. um all of the unicorns chasing

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the butterfly nonsense. If you just

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stripped it down to I'm only looking for

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contractual

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guarantees, then that's that's you win.

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You're going to win because you're going

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to commoditize the product, shop all

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carriers, and you're going to see the

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highest number. So, never ever buy

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hypotheticals and non-G guaranteed. If

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if they the person keeps showing you

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non-G guaranteed numbers, say, "No, no,

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no. I want to just see the guarantees,

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period." I mean, that's that's what you

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need to do. You also need to have a goal

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in mind. We always ask two questions.

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What do you want the money to

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contractually do? And when do you want

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those contractual guarantees to start?

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Understanding that annuities only solve

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for four things. And the acronym is PIL.

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Principal protection, income for life,

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legacy, and long-term care. If you're

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the one of the biggest pitfalls we see

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is people buying annuities, specifically

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index annuities for market

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return. Huge mistake. You should never

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ever do that. These are annuity pro.

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These are life insurance products. Index

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annuities are issue are issued at the

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state level. They're not securities.

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They're not regulated by FINRA, the

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NASD. You can't even use the word market

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because they're not market products. CD

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products put on the planet in 1995 to

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hopefully and potentially give you a

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little bit better return than a CD.

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Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

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But that's a big thing that I see. One

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of the pitfalls is people buying the

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dream and they're going to eventually

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own the contractual reality because it's

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a contract between you and the life

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insurance company issuing the annuity.

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One of the other pitfalls we see a lot

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is again attached to the index side is

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people being snookered by the upfront

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bonus. I always call upfront bonuses or

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candy for the stupid. If you think

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there's a CEO at a life insurance

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company that issues annuities that wakes

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up in the morning goes, you know what? I

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want to give money away. Yeah, that's

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what I want to do. No. No. They're

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forprofit. Only politicians do that.

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Life insurance companies are for-profit

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entities. there's a hundred pennies in

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the dollar. Period. So, don't fall for

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the upfront bonus nonsense. Don't

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transfer your older annuity to another

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annuity uh for the upfront bonus unless

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it's the

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1.1% that we can that you can

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mathematically prove that it makes

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sense. Most of the time, the only

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beneficiary is the agent that's doing

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that for you is is they're just creating

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another commission. Um, that's a big

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one. I think another pitfall that I see

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a lot is people don't dig in. They want

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to believe that it sounds too good to be

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true and they want to believe it. With

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annuities, no exceptions. And I want you

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to listen to me. No exceptions. If it

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sounds too good to be true, it is every

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single time. There's never been an

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exception to that. It if it sounds too

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good to be true, it is. You're smarter

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than that. Put your thinking cap on. Dig

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for information. And the other one what

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dovetailing into that another pitfall we

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see a lot is the urgency pitch where

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they say well you got to sign now

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because you upfront bonus like listen

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there's never an an urgency to buy a

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contract. The urgency is for you to read

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and understand the contract before you

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buy it. Okay, before you sign anything.

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Don't fall for the urgency pitch. We

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pride ourselves at the annuity man. If

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you go to theanuityman.com and schedule

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a call, you're going to be surprised.

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We're going to let you make your your

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decision on your terms and on your time

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frame. We're not going to high pressure

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you at all. I mean, this is a contract.

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This is your money. What we want to make

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sure of is that you fully understand

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what you're making a decision on. That's

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the reason I do thousands of videos.

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I've written seven books of you can get

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for free. There's treasure trove of

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information. It's an annuity one-stop

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information shop. And if you decide to

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move forward with us, we'll take care of

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everything. But it's that's going to be

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on your terms. There is no urgency to

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buy an annuity. Another pitfall we see a

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lot is people will attend the expensive

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steak dinner seminar from the postcard

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you got in the mail and you know it

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sounds too good to be true and you fall

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forward etc. No, don't do that. Go

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swallow the food and don't swallow the

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pitch. Um the other thing is your

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financial advisor should not be your

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friend. If you want a friend, get a dog.

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Your financial adviser should be like a

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cancer doctor. Your annuity advisor

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should be like a cancer doctor. And

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what's a cancer doctor? They walk up to

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you and go, "You got cancer. We got to

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fix it." This is what we They don't

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sugarcoat it. You know, um that's what

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if they're trying to be chummy with you.

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We see this pitfall all the time.

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They're sending you, you know, they want

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you to come to their kids te-ball game.

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Just stay away from that. And if you if

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it's at all

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possible, stay away from doing business

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with friends and family and frat

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brothers and all that. I understand that

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might might run far into what you

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believe in, but when you do that, you

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tend to not do as much due diligence.

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You tend to trust more. And the only

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thing you have to tr that you should

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trust in the annuity world is the

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contract, is the policy, is what it's

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going to contractually do. That's the

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trust. You know, our job is to filter

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that. Our job is to tell you the good,

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the bad, the limitations, and the

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benefits. So, those are a lot of the

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pitfalls that we see. They're common

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sense pitfalls. If you put your thinking

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cap on and and wouldn't fall for the

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sales pitch and the snooker and the good

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snookered stuff and the too good to be

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true and you know, someone says the word

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hybrid for no reason. I mean, there's no

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hybrid annuity. I mean, I if if it

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sounds too slick, then it is. You know,

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you're buying a contractual guarantee.

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You're solving for either principal

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protection, income for life, legacy, and

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long-term care. That's it. What do you

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want the money to contractually do? When

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do you want those contractual guarantees

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to start? If you want and need and yearn

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for market growth, do not buy an annuity

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of any type. Period. Do not fall for

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market upside with no downside. Do not

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fall for market participation with

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principal protection. All those yummy

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sales pitches that looks like they

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should go on a t-shirt. Do not fall for

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that. Do not fall for the upfront bonus.

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Do not fall. This is one I kills me.

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Well, the adviser showed me his mom's

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account and advisor showed me his uncle

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Buck's account. Oh my gosh. Really?

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That's about as low rent as you can get.

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That's garbage. That's ridiculous. And

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oh, by the way, that back tested number

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they say, "Well, Mr. Jones, Mrs. Jones,

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if you'd done it 10 years ago, you'd

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have made seven eight n%." That's

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illegal in a lot of states. They're not

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allowing that. I wish it was across the

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board, but you shouldn't fall for that

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anyway. Remember, annuities are

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contracts. They're transfer of risk

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contracts. Don't believe it? Buy one,

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you're going to get a policy mail and it

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looks eerily similar to a contract. So,

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that's the reason that we are so unique

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out here that we only focus on the

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contractual guarantees of the policy.

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Even with index annuities that are the

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dream product that everybody seems to

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pitch regardless of whether you have a

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sore throat, a sprained ankle, or if you

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actually need one.

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Um, we use it as a delivery system, a

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cost-effective and efficient delivery

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system for the income writer contractual

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guarantee for lifetime income in the

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future. That's how we use it. We don't

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look at the the hypothetical and the

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whatifs, you know, we use it for the

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will do, not the might do. So it break

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it down by the contractual guarantees.

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You own annuitities. I don't care what

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type of what it will do, not what it

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might do. And so those are some of the

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pitfalls. If you have a new one, run it

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past us. But I think I covered the

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gamut. I've been doing this for decades,

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so I've seen and heard it all. So

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hopefully we are, you know, interrupting

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some of those really bad sales pitches

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so you can make a good decision on your

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terms and your time frame. That's

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shooting it straight with Stan. My name

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is Stan the annuity man.