How To Spot A Scam When Shopping For Annuities

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Hi there, Stan the annuity man.

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America's annuity agent licensed in all

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50 states in Puerto Rico.

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Today's topic is a is a good one and

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it's something you need to really listen

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to and be aware of as you're shopping

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for annuities because it's how to spot a

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scam with annuities. And there's a lot

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of things happening out there in the

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annuity world because there's over

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15,000 people turning 65 every single

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day, which is a demographic title wave

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of people looking for lifetime income or

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guarantees.

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And with that um demographic title wave,

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you know, every industry has bad apples

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and the bad apples are showing up. So

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let's talk about that after this.

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So, [clears throat] I think the word

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scam is pretty tough. Um, let's let's

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let's talk about the scam part. That

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would be the criminal part that you need

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to be aware of. And it's just common

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sense stuff. Um, if if an agent sells

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you something and they want the check

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made out to them and then they're going

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to give the money to the annuity

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company, that's a scam. Um, that's a

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felony. You know, it doesn't work like

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that. money always goes directly to the

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annuity company. Should never ever touch

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the agents hands. Actually, should never

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even go to their office. I mean, and if

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you're in their office, hopefully you

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use us, you know, uh, and you're a

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client of ours, but um, just be careful

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of that. Never write a check for, you

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know, for an annuity made out to the

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agent or made out to the agent or the

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advisor's company. It's always made out

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to the annuity company. That is one of

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the biggest scams going on out there.

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Um, also too, if someone's offering you

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an annuity, but it's not approved by the

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state, the state insurance to each state

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regulates annuities at the uh at the

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state level. It's not a federal product.

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So, the National Association of

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Insurance Commissioners is overseeing

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each state insurance commissioner. Each

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state insurance commissioner approves

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for sale annuities in that state. So,

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one of the things you need to be aware

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of is if you are getting pitched an

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annuity that you've never heard of or um

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seems a little fishy, you might want to

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call the state and find out. Um there's

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an 800 number for every just put state

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insurance department of if you're in

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Ohio, put Ohio or Nevada, put Nevada,

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and then there's an 800 number will pop

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up. You can call and check and see if

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that company has been approved for sale

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by the state insurance commissioner. So,

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be be careful of that. Okay, that's

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that's those are kind of the the felony

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type scams that are out there that you

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got to be aware of. Um, but let's talk

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about the scams that

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blur the line between illegal and legal,

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but they're still scams nonetheless.

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Okay. One of the scams that's going on

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right now uh in the industry that I just

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completely hate and despise and and I'm

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trying to get proof that the the annuity

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companies are colluding with each other

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to to allow it to happen. Um there's a

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lot of index annuities sold out there

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and index annuities were [clears throat]

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put on the planet in 1995 to compete

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with CD products, but they're overhyped

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as market products. They're not market

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products. They're not securities.

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They're life insurance products. But

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typically they come with very long

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surrender charges and also with these

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upfront bonuses. Upfront bonuses is

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candy for the stupid. There's 100

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pennies in the dollar. Anyone that's

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hyping an upfront bonus, it's kind of a

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scam because it's just part of the

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overall contractual guarantee and should

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not be taken as a standalone for the

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reason you buy the annuity. I always say

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if you're buying an annuity for the

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bonus, it's like going to the car

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dealership and buying the car for the

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stereo system in the car. It makes

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absolutely no sense. So, what's

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happening right now, and I see we hear

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about it every week because, you know,

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we're we're the top agents out here, and

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I hear these horror stories. Can you

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help? Blah, blah, blah. A lot of times

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we can't. But, um, an agent will sell an

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index annuity and two years later, we'll

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come back to the person and or three

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years later, come back to the person and

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say, "I found a better one and we're

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going to take the upfront bonus to make

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up for the surrender charges." That is a

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scam. That's an absolute scam. Okay? I

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don't care. I don't care what anybody

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says. I don't want I don't care what any

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industry person tells me. That is a scam

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because most um index annuity surrender

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charge time periods are 7 10 years 5 7

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10 years. Most of them long 10 years. If

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someone sold you an index annuity and

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then two years later says I found a

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better one. Let's move it. They're

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churning your account. In the industry

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they call it twisting. In the securities

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industry they call it churning. What

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they're doing is is they're they're

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creating a transaction. so that they can

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make another commission. It's not in

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your best interest. It's in theirs. That

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is a scam. Another scam that's going on

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I in my opinion is annuity agents saying

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that you have to use

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um annuities to convert to Roths. Like

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you have you have IRA money, you buy an

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indexed annuity from them, and then they

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say, "Let's convert it to Roths. Let's

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sell that and buy another index

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annuity." There's all kinds of flipping

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and churning and twisting to create

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commissions. To me, my opinion, my

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opinion, that is a scam. If someone says

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to you, you can get market upside with

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no downside. You can get principal

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protection and market participation. In

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my opinion, that is a scam. That's

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harsh. But so many people out there that

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are watching this have bought that

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product and they know what I'm talking

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about. They were promised these glorious

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returns. They were shown back tested

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numbers. And boy, if you'd owned it 10

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years ago, it' have done this. And it

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never does that because the product

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wasn't designed for that. Index

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annuities were designed for CD returns.

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And we don't hate index annuities. Let

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me get something straight here. We sell

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more than anybody, but we sell them with

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income writers. So if you if you needed

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lifetime income starting in the future,

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we're going to quote all income writers.

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They're attached to index annuities. We

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ignore the index annuity. It's just a

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delivery system for the guarantee. We

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don't care about bonuses. We don't care

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about any of that. Upfront bonus is part

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of the overall contractual guarantee.

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But if someone's pitching, hey, you get

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an upfront bonus. You get market upside

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with no downside and you get free

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long-term care. That's a scam. Doesn't

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work like that. First of all, the

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long-term care part, long-term care is a

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health insurance product, not a life

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insurance product. And annuities are a

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life insurance product. Now, the simple

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products like mas annuity CDs, single

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premium immediate annuities, deferred

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income annuities, qualified longevity

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annuity contracts, those are not scams.

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There's no moving parts. There's no

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nothing. There's there's nothing to scam

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off of. They're transfer of risk

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products with no fees. They do what they

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say they're going to do. It's when the

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complicated products and the non-g

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guaranteed return proposals,

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non-g guaranteed return proposals are

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pitched is when the scams start to

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happen. See, we I started an

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organization called contractual

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guarantees only. And what that means is

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you buy an annuity for what it will do,

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not what it might do. Not the

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hypotheticals and the theoreticals and

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the non-g guaranteed side. Anyone that's

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pushing the non-g guaranteed side,

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they're coming right up to that line of

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scam. I'm not saying it's a scam. My

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opinion though, if you're pushing a

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product for market returns that were

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never designed to create market returns,

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that's a push to be in a scam. My

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opinion, and the annuity industry knows

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I'm correct. They know I'm right. They

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know I'm right. They've told me behind

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closed doors that I'm right. They told

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me that they watched my videos and they

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nod their head. They told me that. They

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continue to tell me that. Yet the

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industry continues to push it to push

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these non-G guaranteed products instead

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of the monopoly that the annuity

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industry owns, which is lifetime income.

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Now, how do you spot a scam? Gut feel.

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All of you have that that discernment,

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that gut feel that that doesn't sound

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right. Also, too, if it sounds too good

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to be true, it is. It is. every single

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time without exception with annuities.

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If you're sitting at a at a really

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expensive steak dinner seminar and they

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pitch a product, you know, after you've

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eaten or before you've eaten and you

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nudge your spouse and go, "Boy, that

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sounds great." It's not. Annuities are

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contracts.

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There's no magic formula. There's no

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magic there's no there's no magic thing.

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You haven't found a product that your

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neighbor had didn't know about. And

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we're not against these products. We're

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against how they're pitched. We're

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against how they're sold. And I'm now

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really against every two years flipping

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the product. Ran across a lady the other

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day. She had bought an index annuity and

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and I think it was eight years ago. It

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it had been flipped four time. Three

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times, not four, three times. I said,

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"Guess what they're going to do in two

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years? Call you again and flip it." That

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is a scam. The other scam, and I'm going

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to close with this, that you need to be

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aware of.

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When you fill out the application or the

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agent fills out the application, always

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ask for a copy. Now, with us, if you if

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you use us, I would hope you do, we're

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going to send you a copy, okay? But

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always ask for the copy because one of

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the scams that is going on that you got

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to be aware of is the is the agent

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filling out the application

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and fictitiously fraudulently and

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putting numbers in there that are higher

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than what you have, maybe a higher net

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worth so you can buy more annuities.

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That's a scam. It's also a felony.

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happens a lot because the annuity

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industry doesn't want you to put more

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than 50% of your investable assets, not

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your house, car, guitar, investable

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assets in annuities. Hey, do me a favor.

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Go to my site at theanuityman.com. Get

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educated. Download my six books. You can

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schedule a call with me or you can talk

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to Virtual Stanley, bottom righth hand

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corner. Ask questions either way. You

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can get us, you can do an application if

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you find a a guarantee that you you

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like. You can do the application online

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or you can use us. Either or. You can

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run a quote anonymously, real quote, not

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an estimate, a real quote, or you can

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have us do it for you. Bottom line is

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your choice. You can use the technology

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that we provide, or you can use us

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humans to do it as well. So, your

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choice, but be careful out there. Be

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careful. If something sounds really,

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really good, run it past me. If it is,

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I'll tell you. If it's not, I'll tell

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you the truth. Always going to tell the

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truth. As my grandfather said, if you

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tell the truth, you don't have to

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remember anything. That is our business

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model. We're not perfect, but we are

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professional. Okay, my name is Stan the

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Annuity Man.