Fixed Annuity Rates Comparison

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Hi there, Stan The Annuity Man, America's annuity agent,

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licensed in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, founder of CGO, Contractual Guarantees Only,

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which means that we only look at the contractual guarantees of the

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policy, what it will do, not what it might do; not hypotheticals and theoreticals and, "Sir,

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if you'd owned it 10 years ago, it'd have done this," that kind of crap. So, that's what we do.

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Today's topic is a good one: fixed annuity comparisons. Like fixed-rate annuities,

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how do you compare those side by side? I'm going to give you that answer after this.

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So, first of all, let's talk about fixed annuities as a general rule. Fixed annuity rate comparisons

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are going to break down into a few products. Fixed annuities fall into a couple of product lines.

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First, you have MYGAs, Multi-Year Guarantee Annuities, the annuity industry's version of a CD.

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And then you have the lifetime income products: QLACs, Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts;

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DIAs, Deferred Income Annuities; and SPIAs, Single Premium Immediate Annuities. And then

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you have the income riders that we attach to indexed annuities

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for lifetime income guarantees. And then, you know, indexed annuities are part of that as well.

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Now, all of these are easy to compare except for one,

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and that's the indexed annuity side. We'll get to that one last.

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MYGAs are easy. You go to my site at theannuityman.com. We have a live MYGA feed

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of the best rates in the country. You put in your state. You put in

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the duration you're interested in, and it all pops up. Not all of them we recommend,

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but we want to show them. The recommendation comes from me,

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and you have to schedule a call with me and find out which one, at this time, I'm recommending.

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I'm looking under their hood from the standpoint of claims-paying ability. With MYGAs, we're dating

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the carrier, not marrying them. For lifetime income, it's A+ or better. With MYGAs, we can

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go a little bit lower because we're just looking at that duration to lock in that interest rate.

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But the comparison is very, very simple. You can look at, you know, a five-year duration,

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or a 10-year duration, or a seven-year duration, or a two-year duration, or a three-year duration

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for your state because fixed annuities are regulated at the state level.

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The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, NAIC, oversees everything,

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and each state has an insurance commissioner or department of financial regulation,

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whatever they call them, that oversees fixed annuities.

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So, MYGA comparisons are very easy. We

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have a MYGA feed on my site. You can just see that. And each state is different. Each

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carrier has to go to each state and get their MYGA approved for distribution in that state.

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Now, the annuitization products—which means payment; annuitization means payment—SPIAs,

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DIAs, and QLACs are quoted on my site 24/7/365.

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Now, the comparison there is we're quoting all carriers for the highest contractual guarantee.

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I have two rules for lifetime income: A+ or better, and the highest number. I'll do it again.

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It's real simple: A+ or better rated, and the highest number. That's it. That's how you do it.

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So, the comparison, when you run the quote, is going to pop up all the carriers.

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Some of them will not be A+. That means we're not recommending them, but we're showing them.

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I'm the number one agent in the country, licensed in all 50 states and Puerto

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Rico. We're going to show everything. That doesn't mean we're going to recommend them.

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But for lifetime income, we're going to show all of the companies,

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and you can choose the highest one. Hopefully, that's A+ or better.

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Same thing with income riders that are attached to indexed annuities.

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Income riders are a lifetime income guarantee

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that you cannot buy as a standalone. You have to attach it right on top of a policy.

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Historically, indexed annuities and their income riders provide the highest contractual guaranteed

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lifetime income. We ask, and have you answer, two questions: What do you want the money to

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contractually do? And when do you want those contractual guarantees to start? That's it.

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So, if you say, "I need income to start in four years," we're going to quote DIAs,

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Deferred Income Annuities, and income riders, and you're going to choose the highest number.

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We're going to help you choose that, and then we're going to explain the product.

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I mean, this comparison action that you'll take is simple. We made it simple.

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So, MYGAs are very simple. They're CD products. Put in your state. Put in your duration.

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For all the lifetime income products, you go to my site at theannuityman.com,

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and you can run quotes to your heart's content: SPIAs, DIAs, QLACs, and income riders.

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So, those are the easy ones to compare.

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The hard one to compare—and you just cannot,

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regardless of what anyone tells you—is indexed annuities.

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Indexed annuities are complicated. They have index options with limiting

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levers: caps, spreads, participation rates, and combinations of all of those. Currently,

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there are over 800 index option choices for indexed annuities. Eight hundred.

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Spoiler alert: they're all designed to give you CD-type returns. The goal of indexed annuities

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in 1995, when they were introduced, was CD-or-better returns. CD or better.

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What they've returned is CD rates

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in the biggest raging bull market of all time. That's okay. That's just not how they're pitched.

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They're pitched as market upside with no downside, principal protection with market participation,

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unicorns chasing butterflies, the dream, the dream, the dream.

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All of these other ones are contractual realities. The contractual reality of an indexed annuity

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is that it's principal protected.

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The guarantees are not there. There's no guaranteed return over here. There's hope,

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there's potential, there's back-tested performance, but that doesn't pay the bills.

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Okay? If you're looking for pure principal protection,

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then buy a MYGA and get a guaranteed interest rate.

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Okay? But if you're looking for income in the future,

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we might have to buy an indexed annuity with an income rider for you

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to get the highest contractual guarantee when comparing it to deferred income annuities.

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Remember, annuities solve four things. The acronym is PILL.

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P stands for principal protection.

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I stands for income for life.

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L stands for legacy.

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The other L stands for long-term care.

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That's it.

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There's no M for market. There's no G for growth. There's no B for Bitcoin. None of that.

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So, there's no way to do a comparison over there.

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And I know there are going to be emails to me at stantheannuityman.com,

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if you're so brave, from companies out there that actually try to do comparisons.

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How's that?

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Because the vast majority of indexed annuities,

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the annuity company can change the rules after year one. How do you compare that?

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Well, you know how they do it? "Well, their historical renewal rates..." Crap.

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Crapola. Come on now.

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You own an annuity for what it will do, not what it might do.

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So, when you're doing comparisons, we do it for you. We've set up a site—the best

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consumer site on the planet—that quotes all carriers, shows you all carriers,

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shows you the best rates, and shows you the best guarantees. That's an easy comparison.

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Just understand, quotes change like a gallon of milk every seven

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to 10 days. We can lock it in for you if you want, but they change.

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For lifetime income, these carriers are looking for specific age ranges at specific times. So,

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you might like XYZ Company—I made that up. I don't promote anybody because they're all commodities.

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XYZ Company this month might not have the highest contractual guarantee next month.

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Why?

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Because they filled in your age range.

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So, comparisons are fluid because quotes change like a gallon of milk every seven to 10 days.

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So, you can compare MYGAs, SPIAs, DIAs, QLACs, and income riders all day.

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All day. Twenty-four, seven, on my site.

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Indexed annuities, if you want to go down that rabbit hole—and I don't know why you would—but

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if you're going to go down the rabbit hole, go with the number one guy in the country because,

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as I told someone the other day, there are five people in the world that understand indexed

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annuities. I think I know the other four. I really do, because I'm one of them. I wrote a book on it.

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If you want to go down that rabbit hole, go to my site and get the

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Annuity Owner's Manual on indexed annuities.

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And by the way, I've written owner's manuals on MYGAs, SPIAs, DIAs, QLACs,

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and income riders as well. Those are all free. You can download them. They're easy reads.

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Or you can go to my YouTube channel, where you're at now, I hope, and you can just type

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in whatever product you're interested in. I've probably done 100 or 200 videos on each

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that can really get you up to speed.

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At the end of the day, though, schedule a call with me. Email me at stantheannuityman.com.

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And one last thing: above my head is a spinning clock.

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Kind of a fun video. I need you to watch it. It's called, "Why Do People Still Hate Annuities?"

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I get asked that a lot, especially when I do my media tours and things.

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Why do people still hate annuities?

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I finally did a video on it because I'm not afraid to say it's very simple, and it's very easily

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fixable if the industry wants to fix it. I doubt they will, but the fix is simple. It really is.

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It's called telling the truth.

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Just tell the truth about these products. You know, people, that's all you need to do.

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So, my grandfather, Hunter Garrison, God bless him, I hope he's resting well, told

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me, "Hey, if you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."

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Alright? That's pretty much it.

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I really appreciate you joining me on this video. I hope you join me on the

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next one because I'm putting one out every single day until I drop dead.

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And if I drop dead, I hope it's on a video and we catch it on screen. That would be pretty cool.

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See you next time.