Roth IRA Annuity Industry Insanity

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Welcome to Shooting Straight with Stan.

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I'm your host, Stan the Annuity Man,

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America's annuity agent, licensed in all

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50 states. I'm wearing red for a reason

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because this is going to be a hot one,

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player. This topic right here is the

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newest one that just sets me off. And if

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you've seen some of my old shooting

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straight with Stan, when I just lose my

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mind, I start drilling and spitting and

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all that stuff. This is going to happen.

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The topic is uh Roth IRA annuity

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industry insanity.

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insanity.

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And let me tell you why. My email box,

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of course, every single company in the

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annuity world wants Stan the Annuity Man

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to be a part of their organization and

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do and promote what they're doing. But

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typically, what I found in my decadesl

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long experience in this industry is

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whatever the industry is pushing, I'm

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running the other way, screaming at the

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top of my lungs because I know

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something's off. And it is off. the

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current things that I'm getting in my

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inbox and direct mail and calls from

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Johnny Johnny Wholesaler and all those

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people. Roth conversions using index

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annuities with bonuses.

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What? First of all, let's talk about

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Roth IAS. I've been around long enough

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when Roth IAS were first introduced.

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Okay?

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And as a whole, I really like the

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concept of tax-free income. Can we get

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an amen on that one? Yes, of course.

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That makes sense.

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But I'm a little

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not trusting of DC because in the past I

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vaguely remember when they said, "You

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know what? Social Security is never

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going to be taxed. It's never ever it's

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not it's it's just not ever going to be

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touched or taxed."

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What's happening now? Yeah, it's taxed.

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Same thing worries me about Roth IAS.

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Now, if you already have one, you're

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probably going to be grandfathered in.

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It's fine. Do I have one myself? No, I

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don't. But thousands of my clients have

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Roth IRA is fine. Okay. But do I trust

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the DC throngs up there to maybe change

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the rule or means test it? [snorts]

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Maybe. I mean, I can see the political

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speech. Hi there. I'm Johnny Johnny

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Rotten. Not this not not the lead

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singer. I'm Johnny Roden. I'm a I'm a

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independent running for president. And

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you know what makes me mad? What makes

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me mad is all these rich people with

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Roth IAS like Peter Theo that has a $5

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billion Roth IRA. Look it up. He does.

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Which is really making the politicians

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mad because they want to tax it. And

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they and and so the politicians, we

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should tax Roth IAS. That's not fair to

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the rest of the working public. I can

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hear that. I can see Roth IAS becoming a

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political football. So because of that,

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because I don't trust the the

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politicians in DC to change the rules

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because last time I checked, last time I

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was in New York, last time I looked at

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the debt clock, it was at 37 trillion

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and counting. So they're going to have

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to get the gonna going to have to get

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the money from somewhere. Hello.

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Now, let's get to the annuity industry.

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The annuity industry is going, "How can

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we create more revenue? How can we

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create more revenue?" So the consultant

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walks in, how always is a consultant,

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right? Consultant walks in and goes,

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"You know what? Uh, I've got a really

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good idea. What we can do is, you know,

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we can choose the highest commission

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product we have, which is in essence

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fixed index annuities. I have nothing

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against them. We sell them with income

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writers, but we only look at the income

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writers, so there's no hate there, but

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hang in there with. We're going to sell

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fixed index annuities, do Roth

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conversions with fixed index annuities,

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and then use the upfront bonus to pay

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for the taxes or you do the three card

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money. And I'm going, "Oh my gosh, what

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in the world, let me be very frank, and

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I don't even know who Frank is, but let

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me be very frank. You do not need a

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fixed index annuity to do a Roth

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conversion.

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If you've run the numbers and they make

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sense to you, meaning that you're t

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you're you're factoring in the upfront

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taxes that you're paying to your friends

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at the IRS and then how long it's going

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to take for you to make up for those

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upfront taxes that you paid to the IRS.

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If those numbers make sense to you,

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knock yourself out. Get a Roth. Okay?

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And and a lot of people, they show me

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those numbers, it makes sense. But you

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do not need an annuity to do a Roth

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conversion.

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Let me tell you why this is happening.

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I'm the only one that's going to tell

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you this and the annuity industry is

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going to be like when they watch this

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video they'll be like

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here's the reason they're doing that.

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Johnny Apples Seed agent might have a

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hundred clients. Okay, most you know

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they're not the annuity man licensed in

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all 50 states gorilla in the room. You

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know what I'm saying? They got a handful

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of clients. Okay, they can go to those

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clients that bought say whatever an

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index annuity or something inside of an

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IRA and then approached them to flip it

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to churn it to use the upfront bonus to

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do the Roth conversion. So, I'm assuming

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there's some consultant somewhere in the

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annuity industry that's run that number

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and run that lowest percentage number.

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If they well, if the lowest percentage

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does this of the agents, it's going to

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create this type of revenue. I got an

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email the other day from a carrier, not

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going to mention them, that says this is

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a $3 trillion opportunity for annuity

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agents to use Roth conversions with

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index annuities. What?

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Why? Why are we doing square peg in a

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round hole? I mean, why are we doing

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that? I have nothing against index

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annuities. I have nothing against index

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annuities with writers. But all they're

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saying is, "Hey, annuity agent army out

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there across the country that doesn't

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have a really good business model, that

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doesn't that that has a limited amount

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of clients, flip everybody into this."

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I'm hoping that's not true, but that's

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what my instincts are telling me as Stan

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the annuity man. So, warning shot out

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there for all of you. If you already

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have an annuity that you own that Johnny

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Apples Seed agent sold you and they

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eagerly approach you for a Roth

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conversion, you've been warned.

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You've been warned. And remember,

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upfront bonuses. And I know I get a lot

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of flack for this. I call them candy for

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the stupid because there's no

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philanthropist at annuity companies

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going, you know what? [snorts and sighs]

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I woke up this morning um took a walk

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and you know what? I think I'm going to

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give money away. I think I'm going to do

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upfront bonuses on all the products. I'm

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going to give money away. There's no

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such animal. These are for-profit

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businesses. There's a hundred pennies in

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the dollar. So, if they're doing the

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upfront bonus dance, they're taking

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something away from from the policy. If

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you don't think that's true, buy an

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annuity with an upfront bonus and then

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say a month later call them and say,

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"Hey, ma'am, can you send me that

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upfront bonus just as a check?" You'll

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be like crickets. It's monopoly money

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that in some cases work, in some cases

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it doesn't for lifetime income. But when

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we shop for lifetime income using income

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writers with index annuities, we shop

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all carriers. bonus, no bonus, doesn't

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matter to us. We're looking at the

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contractual guarantee of the income

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writer. Period. End of story. Here's the

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other thing that drives me a little

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crazy. You're saying, Stan, how much

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coffee did you have this morning? It was

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a lot. It was a lot. But I'm wired

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anyway. I'm on it. And this makes me mad

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because I'm trying to protect the

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consumer out there. Are we perfect? No.

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But this is a no-brainer.

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Okay. Tax advice. Let's talk about tax

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advice right now. Roth IRA, they're I

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mean that's a structure. That's a tax

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structure. Okay? You should never do a

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Roth conversion without talking to a a a

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certified financial planner, a CPA, or a

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tax lawyer.

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Period. Johnny Apples Seed agent, Stan

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the Annuity Man, we should not be given

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tax advice because we can't. We haven't

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got the certifications for that. And

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when you're talking about a Roth

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conversion and paying a lump sum upfront

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taxes, that should be a discussion with

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your CPA, you know, your your uh your

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tax lawyer,

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that that's the discussion. It's not

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with Johnny Apple Seed agent that you

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saw at the the expensive state dinner

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seminar that showed you this and it

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sounded too too good to be true because

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it is.

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So, a few years back, the shiny thing

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was index annuities. Then the shiny

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thing was upfront bonuses. Now, the

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shiny thing is Roth IAS.

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It's a shiny thing. I'm not against Roth

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IAS, but you do not need annuities to

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convert to a Roth IRA. Run the math

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numbers. It's all math. It's all math.

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Don't buy the dream. Own the reality.

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And the reality is if you're being

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pitched this and especially if someone

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comes to you and you already have an

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annuity and they say, "I know you have

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surrender charges, sir, but this upfront

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bonus is going to offset those surrender

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charges, sir." They should lose their

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license in my opinion. That's called

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churning.

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That's what that is. Or twisting, what

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they say in the It's turnurning in the

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securities industry. I think it's called

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twisting in the annuity industry. Either

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way, it's bad. Either way, it's wrong.

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Either way, they should lose their

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license in my opinion.

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Okay,

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I'm ranting a little bit. I'm calm down.

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I'm take a breath.

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It's all good. But Roth IAS are the

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shiny things. Roth IAS are where the

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annuity industry is headed right now.

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They've already thought it up. You are

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going to get inundated in 2026 with Roth

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IRA conversion

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hopes and dreams.

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Just be forewarned out there.

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Period. We do not do that here at the

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annuity man. We will never do that here

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at the annuity man. We do things that

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you can explain to a nine-year-old. No

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offense to nine year olds. Simple, to

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the point, and contractual. Will do, not

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might do. My name is Stan the annuity

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man. That is shooting it darn straight.

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See you next time.