Faith, Fiduciaries and Annuities: 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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of Puerto Rico, the founder of CGO,

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Contractual Guarantees Only, which means

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that we only look at the contractual

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guarantees of the policy you own an

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annuity for what it will do, not what it

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might do. Today's topic is going to be

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controversial. You can send, go ahead

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and cue up your email, your hate email,

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stantheanuityman.com.

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Title of Fun with Annuities today is

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faith, fiduciaries, and annuities. Okay,

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faith, fiduciaries, and annuities.

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I'm going breathe a little bit. I'm

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going to try to get um try to chill out.

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Okay, you've probably heard me go off on

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the FF fiduciary

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um

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thing that's going on because there's a

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lot of people that are fiduciaries. And

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by the way, fiduciaries mean that you're

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if you're a fiduciary, if you call

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yourself a fiduciary, forget the plaque

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on the wall, okay? Forget that.

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Fiduciary means that you're putting the

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client's best interest ahead of yours,

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the advisor, agent. Duh. I mean, that's

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what everybody in the financial

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business, that should be a given. That

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should be an automatic. That should be

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involuntary. That should be what you do

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automatically. But no, no, no, no, no,

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no, no, no. We have to get a

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certification that we're a good person.

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We have a certification. I didn't know

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there was a certification for morals and

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ethics. I understand the need for morals

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and ethics, but a plaque on the wall

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that says you're a good guy or a good

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gal doesn't mean that you are giving

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good advice. So, I've gone off on that

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and I know there's a lot of fiduciaries

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out there that do good work. I get it. I

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understand it. But some of the worst

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recommendations for annuities that we've

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seen in the past year have come from

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fiduciaries hiding behind the plaque of

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morality and and being ethical. And

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people say, "Well, you know, I guess

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they're right. They're they're a

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fiduciary. Give me a break."

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This is a joke. But but what really

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bothers me, okay, are agents and

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advisors that are selling annuities

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either through a church or or a church

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organization or or tapping into that

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trust that you can only have through

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religion. And I'm not going to go down

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that rabbit hole, okay? I'm not gonna it

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it it's irrelevant how I feel about that

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either way.

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All I'm saying is some of the biggest

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scams in the annuity industry right now

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are in the faith side of things.

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Again, stantheanuityman.com

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if you want to come at me here. But I'm

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right. I'm right about this and I'm It's

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disturbing. If you're an agent and

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adviser and you have to use a plaque to

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hide behind and you have to use religion

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be to to sell things, you need to check

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yourself. You need to check what you're

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doing.

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That's that should not be where things

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are sold. Now, I understand, you know,

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Dave Ramsey has made a a cadrillion

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dollars with his little program that he

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runs through churches on how to manage

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money. And Dave Ramsey does one thing

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that I totally agree with 100%. Is no

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debt. Don't have debt. I mean, pay off

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everything. Don't have credit card debt.

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Don't have home debt. Don't have car

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debt. He I totally 100% agree with that.

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But for churches to preach what what I

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call prosperity gospel

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is disturbing. Okay? and you're seeing

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it more and more and more in the church

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in in and part of the church message.

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That's not a part of the church message.

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And don't quote me some Bible verse.

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Church is not for someone to sell you a

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product. Church is not for you to go to

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some Bible study and Freddy Jones, your

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friend, is going to sell you an index

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annuity because you're in the Bible

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study together.

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Don't let people take advantage of that

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trust. that trust that should not be

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disrupted or interrupted or taken

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advantage of.

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So faith fiduciaries and annuities, I'm

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starting to see too many times people

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say, "Well, I'm like, well, where did

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you buy where did you hear about this

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thing that you bought?" And they're

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like, "Well, you know, this guy at

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church is selling them. This guy at

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church is selling them. What are you

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talking about? Who's the pastor that

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signs off on that? Are they getting a

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cut? Are they getting more tithe money?

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Yes, I'm stepping on toes. But when you

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are looking at chapter two of your life,

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when you're looking at retirement, when

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you're looking at setting up guarantees,

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okay, you should not be influenced by a

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plaque on the wall fiduciary or somebody

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from your church that you trust. Well, I

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trust him. I've been to church with him

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for 10 years. Who cares? has nothing to

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do with anything.

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I mean, if you went to church with him

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for 10 years, would you let him operate

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on your leg? No. That's not a that's

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that's not a qualification.

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I'd rather have somebody that is just

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the meanest person on the planet, and

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I'm not talking about myself, but tells

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the truth and doesn't have to leverage

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off a relationship like that.

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Now, this goes back a long way. I've

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been in the business three plus decades.

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Long time. Okay. Now, fortunately, one

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of the first people I work with, that

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manager goes, everyone's going to say,

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talk to your, you know, put a list

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together of your friends and family and

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try to sell them. That's an old life

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insurance company trick. That's an old

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brokerage firm trick that they used to

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do. And unless you're Johnny Rockefeller

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Jr., It doesn't make sense because what

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you end up doing is you end up blowing

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up friends and family and you can't go

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to a family reunion ever again because

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they're going to look at you crossways.

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So, a lot of this is is old school how

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to sell within a a life insurance group

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or a annuity group. Hey, list down all

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your friends and college buddies and and

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associates and people that know you and

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trust you. And even though you're green

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and you have no no idea what you're

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doing or you're only selling one annuity

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type, approach all of those people and

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sell this one annuity type.

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The consumers that are watching this, be

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careful.

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Wouldn't you rather go with a stranger

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that tells the truth and that does it

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the right way than trusting

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the advice of somebody that you play

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golf with?

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I mean, if they have to do business with

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just friends and family and church

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people, they're going to run out of

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people.

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But this happens all the time.

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Unfortunately, and this will change

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because I'm going to change it. Right

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now, I think around 80% or more of all

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annuities are sold within a 30 mile

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radius of where that agent lives. Okay?

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That's going to change because people

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like me who are licensed in all 50

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states, who represent all carriers, who

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aren't slave to one product and we don't

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want to just sell one product and we

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don't go on incentive trips, we're going

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to show the highest contractual

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guarantee. Whereas local agents going to

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choose one or two things and try to fit

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the square peg peg into a round hole.

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Now, for the fiduciaries out there,

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I know there's a bunch of really good

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people that have bought into that and

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called themselves that with pride, and I

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I'm happy for you. But understand,

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there's a lot of people that are taking

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that plaque and taking that f-word and

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they're running behind it and selling

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crap things and doing horrific, horrific

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things under the banner that they're the

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fiduciary, under the banner that they

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have the plaque on the wall. And then

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they put down people that don't have the

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plaque on the wall.

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I've been doing this 30 years. I've been

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putting people's best interests ahead of

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mine since I've been in the business.

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It's your money. It's your decision.

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It's my job to tell you if you're doing

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it right in my opinion and the products

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that will get you there contractually

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the best way in my opinion. But at the

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end of the day, it's your money and I

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respect that.

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But the faith part that's creeping in,

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this prosperity gospel crap that's being

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sold and then annuities are kind of part

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of that. And now we have companies that

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are multi-level marketing companies that

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sell annuities.

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Now, I can look at that two ways. The

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first way is

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they're catching on and they're finding

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out that people the the 15,000 people

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that turn to age 65 every day are

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looking for contractual guarantees,

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lifetime income, principal protection,

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legacy guarantees, long-term care

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guarantees. They're not looking for go-

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go market stuff. I get that. But you

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have to be very, very careful.

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Especially if you have a friend, a

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golfing buddy, or a frat brother or

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sister that's trying to sell you things.

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You might want a second opinion. You

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might want to you might want to check

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with mwah friends

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formestantheanuityman.com

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and say hey my best friend my roommate

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from college is trying to sell me this.

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Can you give me the skinny on it? Can

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you tell me the truth about it? I will.

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And I'll say listen that's not a bad

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idea or that's that's a good

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recommendation. I have no problem doing

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that and what do you have to lose? If

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someone came to you and said you have

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cancer and you you have to get this

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operation. Are you just going to say, "I

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guess I guess I'm going have to get the

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operation." No, most of you are going to

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say, "You know what? I'm going to have

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to get a second opinion on that." And

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the doctor is going to say, "I'm I'm for

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that." If they're if they're real, okay?

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Why don't we do that with the hundreds

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of thousands of dollars that you've

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accumulated for retirement? You're going

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to trust somebody without a second

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opinion on something?

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This is a crisis. And I'm not making up

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the crisis. I've read all kinds of

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articles and I get all kinds of horrific

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news feeds on this. And worse than that,

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we get calls from people that say,

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"Well, you know, I was in this uh small

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group that was talking about finances at

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my church, and they recommended this

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index annuity with the 25% upfront

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bonus." You have got to be kidding me.

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Now, I'm fortunate enough that my wife,

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the lovely Christine of 37 years, is a

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faithful woman. The comment to that is

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is, you know, if you live with me and

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you're married to me, I'm either going

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to drive you to drink, drive you to

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drugs, or drive you to God, or drive you

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to all three. Obviously, I've driven her

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to God. So, I've discussed this with

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her. She's horrified with what's going

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on out there. She thinks it's horrific,

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and I do, too. And we're going to clean

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it up. I'm going to start talking about

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this more and more. You know, all of you

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all of you um the two f-words now, the

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two f-words are are faith that's being

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used to sell annuities and fiduciaries

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that are selling annuities improperly.

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Not all of you, not all of you, but a

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lot of that's happening out there. Be

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careful. Get a second opinion. I'm the

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second opinion. 30 plus years in the

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business, top agent in the country.

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ain't nothing I haven't seen. You You're

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not going to surprise me. Okay, just

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we'll have the conversation. I'll

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listen. 2:1 ratio, ears to mouth, and

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I'll tell you if it's a good deal or

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not. Okay? Be careful out there. My name

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is Stan the Annuity Man.

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Was that fun? Yeah, actually was fun

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with annuities.