Do Not Fund Your Agent’s Incentive Trip: Shootin’ It Straight With Stan

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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 in

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all 50 states in Puerto Rico. Founder of

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CGO contractual guarantees only. You own

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an annuity for what it will do, not what

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it might do. You never buy an annuity

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for non-g guaranteed numbers.

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Today's topic is a very good one. Pretty

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good stories behind this. Do not fund

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your agents incentive trips.

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Hang in there with me. So I worked at

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Morgan Stanley Dean Woodpe whoever UBS

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and back in the day when you know it's

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long time ago 80s you know they send us

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on these incentive trips and all this

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stuff and they were nice and everything

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but the the securities industry actually

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got rid of that they got rid of those

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what we call add a boy at a boy a boy

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son you selling a bunch son boy all

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those attab boy trips were pretty much

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gotten rid I think that was 2013 I'd

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have to go back and look but not the

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annuity industry My friendm you know

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Johnny Apples Seed agent down the road

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if he sells enough of XYZ annuity he

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gets to go to Bora Bora or Italy or Rome

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or Greece or Hawaii with his girlfriend

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boyfriend

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whatever applies.

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Didn't know that did you? So Stan you

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sell more than anybody. You're number

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one agent country son. I bet you got

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incentive trips out the yingyang.

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We get invited, but we don't go.

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Why would I ever in my life want to

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spend time with annuity agents or life

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insurance agents? I'd rather stab myself

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in the eye with a fork or a pencil.

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I think four or five years ago, we sent

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I think I sent my daughter on one. I

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sent my other daughter on one.

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[laughter]

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And finally, there's like Stan, we would

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really like you to be there. One of the

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reasons that that I would never go is

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number one is agents, but number two,

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most agents don't like my message of

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contractual guarantees grow contractual

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guarantees only because they're out

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there selling the growth story,

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hypotheticals and theoreticals and back

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testes, upfront bonuses, stuff like

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that. I'm like anti that. I'm the ant

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I'm the I'm the antivenenom for that

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crap sales pitch. But you have to

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understand this. If you are sitting with

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your golfing buddy who just happens to

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sell annuities or your pastor that I

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found out they're starting to sell

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annuities, too. I'm not kidding. I'll

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tell you that story one of these days.

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Um, and they're showing you one product

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and they say the following. You know

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what? I've done all of the research and

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this one right here is we have found I

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have found doing my research

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extensively. It's the best one out here.

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Bull crap. Translation. If I sell enough

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of it, I get to go on the trip.

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I wrote a article about this a long time

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ago. I think it was in Market Watch or

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one of those platforms.

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And Elizabeth Warren, the Senator

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Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, stop.

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I'm not political. I'm contractual.

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Don't care about either party. She

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contacts me and wants me to tell her

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more about these trips. So, I go to DC.

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You know, I'm in the I'm in the

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sweatuit. I'm blending in, man. and

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high-fiving everybody. And she ended up

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writing a um you know doing really good

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research on these incentive trips and

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how agents take advantage of the

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consumer and selling one product and

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actually steering people to that product

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so that they go on these trips and it

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was well done. She presented it to the

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Senate and they took a big dump all over

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it. It did not go through. And so for

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about two years, I've got a bunch of

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hate mail for help for

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help helping Elizabeth. I could care

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less about her politics. You know, I

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don't care.

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She was trying to help clean up the

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industry. I don't care if it was Beub

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the the senator. I don't care. I would

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have gone to be elabub senator and said,

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"Yeah, let's work on it." I don't care.

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If we could have gotten those incentive

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trips out of the way, great. I got one

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the other day you because we qualify for

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everything. We probably qualified month

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one because we do such volume. We are

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the number one um sellers of fixed

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annuities on the planet. It's not even

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close. And I'm proud of that because we

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do it the right way. We only sell

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contractual guarantees. We don't look at

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hypotheticals or theoreticals. But I get

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this email from a company. Um you get to

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you've qualified for the trip to Athens,

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Greece for two and a half weeks staying

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at the five-star. Give me a darn break.

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There's no chance. There's no chance

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at all. I just want you to be aware that

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there might be an agenda in the

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recommendation. The only agenda in the

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recommendation should be this is the

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highest contractual guarantee that we

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can find. If it's lifetime income, it's

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A+ or better. No exceptions. or this is

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the highest migraate that you can lock

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in. Not this is the product that if I

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sell enough of I get to go on a trip.

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Every one of us in the financial

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business should be acting as a

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fiduciary. You don't need a plaque on

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the wall. You don't need some fancy

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plaque saying I'm a fiduciary. Fiduciary

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means putting your interest ahead of my

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interest. Duh. And you're saying the

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right thing. understand. Shouldn't

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everybody in the annuity business or the

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financial business be work under that

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umbrella of putting the consumers or the

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customer's best interest ahead of

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theirs? You think it should,

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but if if Johnny Apples Seed or Joanna

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Apples Seed agent is pushing one

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product, they're going on a trip player

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and you're funding it. Do not fund the

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trip.

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And the bar is pretty low because,

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you know, first of all, most annuity

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agents only last about four or five

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years in the business. And they don't

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raise any money. They don't know how to

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I mean, it didn't The problem in the

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annuity industry, we're solving this,

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okay, because we're licensed in all 50

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states of Puerto Rico, but the vast

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majority of of annuities sold are within

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a 30 mile radius of where that agent

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lives, which is garbage.

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We're solving that because you can go to

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my site and you can run quotes SPA DQ

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like income writer quotes MAS

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and you don't have to put in your your

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name. You don't have to put in your your

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u phone number. You don't have to put in

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your email address. For lifetime income

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quotes, you put in your date of birth,

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your gender, and your state of

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residence. And you quote, and we're

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quoting all carriers, and you're going

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to see names of the carriers, you're

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going to see ratings, and you're going

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to see the highest contractual

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guarantees. We're the only one that do

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that. Nobody else does that. Everyone

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else has to makes you jump through hoops

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and give the information and create an

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account. Crap. They don't have enough

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fortitude. They don't have enough

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confidence in you so that you can make a

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decision. I don't need to email you 50

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times for you to make a decision. I

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don't need to have someone call you,

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hey, hey. I don't need that. You're

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grownup. You have money. You want to

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make decisions on your terms and on your

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time frame. So, we're going to give you

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that. We're going to give you the tools

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to do that. You'll be able to download

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books.

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Read the books, watch the videos, done a

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couple thousand, doing one a day, one a

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day, seven days per week. That's the

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goal until I die and I'm 62. There's

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there's some runway there. We are going

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to suffocate the industry with annuity

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truth. I am the walking middle finger of

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annuity truth. Do not fund your agents

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incentive trip. If some agent or advisor

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says, "Well, this is the one. This one

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right here."

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How can that annuities are commodity

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products? The quotes change and spoil

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like a gallon of milk every 7 to 10

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days. we can lock them in for you. But

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to say this is the best one is

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fraudulent and misleading and steering

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you to their product of choice so that

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they can go on that incentive trip on

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your back on a crap product.

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By the way,

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the simple products, the simple, you

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know, just basic annuity products that

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are proconsumer, SPSDs, QAX, MAS, there

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are no incentive trips for most of those

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companies. And if there are, we don't go

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on them anyway. I can buy my own trip. I

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don't need some luau with a bunch of

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agents dancing drunk. I mean, that's

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that's a nightmare.

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I know what you're say. You're saying,

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Stan, there's just so much to try to

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protect myself from out here in the

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annuity hinterlands.

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You know, what am I supposed to believe?

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What you're supposed to believe are

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annuities or contracts and they transfer

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risk and they solve for four things.

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Principal protection, income for life,

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legacy, and long-term care. The acronym

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is pill. You only ask two questions when

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considering annuity. What do you want

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the money to contractually do? When do

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you want those contractual guarantees to

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start? That's it. That's how simple it

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is.

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There's no caps and spreads,

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participation rates, and this upside

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down. None. There's no buffers and

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sharing.

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I'm shooting it straight on this topic

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because

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I think all incentive trips should be

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done away with.

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just eliminated.

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I think all annuity commissions should

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be the same regardless of the product

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and they should be low.

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I think that I should be annuities are

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period over the industry and clean this

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crap up. I think that the testing should

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require more IQ to pass it. I think the

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bar should be raised. But what I do not

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want you to do is fund your agent or

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advisor's incentive trip because they

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only showed you one product. Okay?

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My name is Stan the Annuity Man and that

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was shooting it pretty darn straight

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with Stan.

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See you next time.