Is A Fixed Index Annuity A Security?

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Hi there, Stan the Annuity Man, America's annuity agent, licensed in all 50 states of Puerto Rico,

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the founder of and the pioneer of contractual guarantees only, which is the way that you should

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look at annuities. I know what you're saying, doc, big C behind the camera and Dr. V. Nothing

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in moderation. What does that mean? That's my life in a nutshell. Yes, this is a Stan the Annuity Man

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shirt. If you go to the back, that's the logo and that's yeah, that's like the power to the

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annuity people. You know what I'm saying? nothing in moderation, which also explains the reason I'm

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19 years sober and drugs and alcohol and all that stuff because I didn't do that in moderation

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either. The other thing I don't do in moderation is videos. We release at the annuity man at the

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time of this taping one video per day, seven days a week. You're saying, "Do you have a life?" No,

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I've been married 37 years. So, all you out there, you're like, "Yeah, he doesn't have a life." So,

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I get it. Today's topic is about fixed index annuities and if there are securities.

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That's kind of a a question. I'm going to easily smash that like a bug on a

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windshield and then I'm going to pivot as only I can to the facts of index annuities after this.

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Okie dokie. So is is a fixed index annuity a security? Let me let me see if I can summarize

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this. No, it's not. That means SEC, FINRA, and all those smart people, they have nothing to do with

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fixed index annuities. And you're saying, well, that's a good thing. Man, that's good. No, I'm

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not sure it is a good thing because now the FINRA SEC people have come up with the sister product of

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the index annuity called a RILA registered index linked annuity (RILA). If it looks like a duck,

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quacks like a duck, walk like a duck, it's a duck. I mean, they are where they are. The bottom line

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with all of this index stuff, especially fixed index annuities, it's not a security. These aren't

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market return products. These aren't participation products in the market. They're

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CD products. Okay? Now, fixed index annuities were originally called equity index annuities,

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but they had the industry had to change the name from equity index annuities to fixed index

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annuities because pe the agents were crossing the line and and kind of blending it into market type

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products. It's not a market type product. Fixed index annuities are regulated at the

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state level. They're life insurance products. Say, wait a minute. It says fixed index annuity.

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life insurance companies issue annuities. Fixed index annuities are fixed annuities.

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All fixed annuities are regulated at the state level. It's that simple. Not a security. So,

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if an agent says the word market or the word security or any of those combinations or tries

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to weave and thread the needle to make you believe it's a market product, it's illegal to do that.

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It's illegal to do that. You can't an annuity agent can't say, "Well, you're going to get market

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upside with no downside and market participation with principal protection." Lie lie, lie, lie.

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Half of that's just flatout fraudulent. The other half, which is going to protect your principal,

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that's true. It's a fixed annuity. Okay? But it's not a security. It's not a market

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product. It's not a security for a reason because it doesn't give those types of potential returns.

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Even though if you go to the expensive steak dinner seminar at Ruth Chris and get the Flet

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men medium rare, as my mom said, I got the Flet Men. Great, Mom. It's a good that's a

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good way to put it. In other words, when you go to these places, when you go to these food,

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I I encourage you to go to food seminars. Okay? Swallow food, not the pitch. You can eat. My

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mom in St. Augustine, Florida, eats for free to four times a week for mostly it's annuities,

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okay? Annuity sales pitches, but the best one I heard the other day is she got a thing in the

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mail for a crematory crematory crematory service to talk about cremation and my joke was what are

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they serving? Burnt ends. Get it? Or black and grouper. No, that's not good. Big C behind

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the camera's like that's not good. That's politically incorrect, son right there.

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That's anti-woke what that is maybe. But index annuities when they introduced in 1995, the return

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is attached typically to an index, but that index does not include dividends. You go, why would you

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even bring that up? Why would you even end the sentence like that, son? Because take for instance

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the S&P 500 you're all familiar with. Over 50% of the returns historically are from dividends. So,

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if you're buying an indexed annuity with the hope of S&P returns, not going to happen. Also, too,

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indexed annuities have levers. I'm going to tell you what those are that limit the return spreads,

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caps, participation rates. If you want to go down that rabbit hole, you can go to my YouTube channel

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and look at my I've done videos on these and you know, I had to take one of those like KO pectate

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so I wouldn't throw up, but I did videos on it. I've actually written a book on index annuities.

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go to my site, you can download it for free. And I talk about caps, braids, and participation rates,

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which is nonsense because there's o right now there's over 800 index options being offered in

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the indexed annuity space. And guess what? Every single one of them designed to create the same

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CD like return. I'm not putting down CD like returns. I'm putting down the sales pitch that

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sounds too good to be true because it is of market upside with no downside. I mean, that's just lazy

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stupidity on the agent's part. And if they're saying, "Well, you also get an upfront bonus." So,

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let's just say you got $200,000. 20% times 200 is 40,000. That means you start with 240. Nobody's

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giving away money. Okay? Nobody's giving away money. Typically, that's attached to the income

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side. We when you go to my site and quote income riders that are attached to index annuities,

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we're quoting those upfront bonus things, too. But also remember when you're doing lifetime income,

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A+ or better. No exceptions. There's a lot of index annuity companies that are not strong enough

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financially to do lifetime income. I'll just leave it at that. A plus or better. You do

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not need an income sweater. I love the rhyme of that. So is the bottom line is not a security.

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Index annuities are being pitched like a security. They're being pitched as a market product. They're

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being promised as a market product. You're being shown back tested numbers, hypothetical numbers,

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theoretical numbers, unicorn chasing the butterfly numbers. Doesn't matter. None of those numbers are

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contractually guaranteed. If the number they're showing you is not contractually guaranteed,

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just just throw it away. Rip it up in front of them like Nancy Pelosi did in front of Trump.

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Just rip it up. Do that. I'm not, by the way, I'm not political. I'm contractual because I only do

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contractual guarantees. So, do do I hate index annuities? No. I hate how they're sold. We use

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them as a efficient and cost-effective delivery system for income writer guarantees when the goal

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is lifetime income starting at a future date. But if you said, I just want a CD like return,

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then we're going to do multi-year guarantee annuities, what's called MYGAs, you can see

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those live live quotes on my site as well for free because they outperform indexed annuities

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historically. Period. They do. The reason that everyone's showing you index annuities,

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it's the highest commission paying product on the planet currently at the time of this taping in the

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annuity world. Indexed annuities. Now, commissions are built into the product. You never see it. But

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there's a reason that every single person that you run into, even your banker trying to sell you an

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index annuity. Hey, you know, I've got this this scratchy thing in my throat and I've got a sore

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throat. Well, you know what? I've got the right product for you. It's an indexed annuity. I mean,

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I don't care what you come up with. You know, I was in a car wreck this morning and yeah,

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I got a flat tire as well. You know what? You should get an index annuity with an upfront

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bonus. There's a reason that everyone's trying to jam this crap down your throat. In addition,

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the index annuity side is the last place where if you sell enough of it, you get to go to Bora Bora,

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Italy, wherever, Spain, wherever as an incentive trip. The securities business business got rid

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of that a long long time ago, but not the index annuity side. Boy, if you sell a bunch of that

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crap, you get to go on the trip with your wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, or whatever applies to see

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the whales jumping in Hawaii. And if someone says, "You know what? I've looked at all these index

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annuities out here, son, and this one right here is the best one." That means they're going on a

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trip. If you buy it, you're you are funding their trip. I'd rather you just give them $500 and say,

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"Go to Orlando for the day to Disney." I'm not sure that'll get you in, but you know what I'm

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saying. So, are fixed index annuities a security? The answer is heck to the no. And don't let anyone

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blur the line. They are a life insurance product that are that's issued and regulated at the state

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level. Got it? Good. Do me a favor. Up above me, clocks spinning. You're saying, "Why is that,

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Stan?" I did a great video. I mean, it's foundational. It's what the industry and everyone

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who's thinking about annuities for lifetime income should watch because I broke it down as only I can

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in plain easy to understand stanglish as they say, so you can understand it. Spoiler alert,

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it's not about rates, it's about life expectancy. But I'm going to get into

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the details up there. Do me a favor, one last favor. Go to my site, theannuityman.com. You can

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email me at stantheannuityman.com. I do respond to all emails. Takes me a while, but I will.