The Bell Doesn’t Ring at the Top or the Bottom: 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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in Puerto Rico. The founder of CGO

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contractual guarantees only, which means

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that we only look at annuities for what

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they will do, not what they might do.

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Never buy an annuity for potential or

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hypothetical or backtested growth

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hopeful stuff because it never works

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out. If you're going to do growth, stay

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in the market, but you buy them for the

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contractual guarantees.

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Which leads us to the topic of today,

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which is the bell doesn't ring at the

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top or the bottom. And you probably have

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heard that in kind of a stock people

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talking about stocks, you know, you

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can't time it, you can't build it and

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ring at the top or the bottom. You know,

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you can't ever sell at the top and you

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can't ever buy at the bottom. And people

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that say that they do are lying and you

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know that.

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So, we kind of understand what that

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means in the stock market world. But the

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bell doesn't ring at the top or the

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bottom does apply in the annuity world

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as well. Give an example, a couple

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examples. First of all, like migas,

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which are the annuity industry version

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of a CD. I get calls all the time that,

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well, you think this is a do you think

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these rates are going up or down? Dude,

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if I knew that, I'd be on a lejet

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trading interest rate futures. I don't

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know. Build it ring at the top of the

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bottom. If you think the guarantee is

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fair, the contractual guarantee is a

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fair rate, then lock it in.

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Talking to a guy the other day and he's

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um helping his mom, you know, buy Migas,

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not only for just her, but for legacy as

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well. And I said, "Why don't you go long

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on the yield curve because, you know,

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she's going to get to an age where she

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can't buy it because, you know, she ages

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out." And he goes, "Well, what are the

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rates?" And I told him, I'm not telling

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you the rates because I don't want to

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date myself because these these videos

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get watched thousands of times over the

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years, but it was a it was a fair what I

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thought was a very fair rate.

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I said, "You can get you can split it up

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between five or six of them and it's at

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this rate." And he goes, "Well, do you

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think we could get more like if we wait

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it?" I'm like, "Dude, you know, you

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can't think like that. Got to lock in

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guarantees that that fit your situation

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that are fair and that are contractual

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and move on.

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[snorts]

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Same thing applies with lifetime income

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products. You know, SPDS, QLEX, income

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writers, where you're buying a a

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pension, and those are the four annuity

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types that that create that pension type

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income that you can never outlive.

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I get this all the time. Well, you know,

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what's the sweet spot to buy it? There

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is no sweet spot. There is no arbitrage

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moment. There is no timing. Lifetime

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income is primarily based on your life

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expectancy or if it's joint life

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expecties.

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At the time you take the payment, the

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older you are, the higher the payment.

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Well, really, is that it? Let's talk

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about social security, the annuity that

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you already own. The older you are when

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you turn it on, the higher the payment.

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Payment's higher when you're 70 as

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compared to 65, right? Same thing with

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annuity lifetime income streams.

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Now, what I tell people, if you think

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that's that's a fair guarantee based

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upon your life expectancy, because we

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shop all carriers for the highest

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contractual guarantee, and for lifetime

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income, it's A+ or better, and we we

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choose the highest number. It's really

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that simple.

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If you think that's fair, then lock it

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in.

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And well, you know, this is the common

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question. Well, what if I waited a

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couple years? It's going to be higher.

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How do you know that you're going to be

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older? What if I turn it on sooner? It's

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going to be lower. How do you know that

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you're younger?

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It's really that simple.

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Bell doesn't ring either way. The bell

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didn't ring at the top. Bell didn't ring

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at the bottom. And I say this a lot to

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my clients on the phone. You're not

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going to beat the life insurance

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company. You're just not. From the

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standpoint of timing it, the way that

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you want to beat them is that you turn

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on the income stream and you live

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forever and the account's at zero and

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they're still paying. I bet you I have

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75,000 clients that are at zero on the

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account, but they're still getting paid.

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I bet it's more than that. I'm just

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taking a stab at it.

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That's why I say there's no ROI until

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you die. Up until then, it's a pure

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transfer of risk for lifetime income.

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Even if you're on a respirator, it's

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going to pay. And a coma, it's going to

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pay.

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And I always tell people this, if you

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look at it from the standpoint there's

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the bell didn't ring at the top of the

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bottom. Well, see, if I I was talking to

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a gentleman today and his wife, this was

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great. He was a pilot. She was an

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accountant, you know, that's that's

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tough because he's kind of like me. He's

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the creative kind of out there guy and

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she's like Miss Detail. I'm the same

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way. I'm horrible guitar player, write

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books, you under pin names and all kinds

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of stuff. Yes, I do write books outside

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the annuity industry, but you know, I'm

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just a creative person, you know, and my

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wife is the person that has to fix the

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flapper and and and grill the stakes on

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the on the grill because I I don't know

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how to do that. But I was talking to

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them

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and he said, "Hey, um, we want the

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income to start 18 months from now." I'm

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like, "Okay, we can run those quotes. No

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problem." She steps in and goes, "Stan,

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give me a reason why we wouldn't turn it

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on right now." I said, "There is no good

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reason not to because you can enjoy the

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money." [snorts] So, we're going to run

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both quotes and I got a call with them

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next week and we're going to go over

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them. But she had a good question. Why

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wouldn't we turn it on now? I tell

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people that all the time. You know, the

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Social Security thing drives me crazy.

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Go, well, I'm going to wait to 70. Why?

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Why? Well, I get a higher payment. Of

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course, you're older and you might not

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live long. Of course. Why not enjoy the

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money now? As I say, fly first class or

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your kids will.

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You also, if you if you turn on the

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income now and you compare it to when

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you turn it on later, of course later is

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going to be higher because you're going

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to be older, but you got to factor in if

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you wait, you got to factor in the

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payments that you missed and how long

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it's going to take for you to make that

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up. Tell people that all the time. I,

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you know, I have to ask from a from just

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a being a good adviser standpoint. Hey,

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um, have you turned your social security

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on? No, I'm going wait till 70, but I'd

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like to turn it on now at 65 or

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whatever. I'm like, wait, have you run

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the number? How long is it? If you took

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the income now, which is 5 years, which

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is 60 months of payments, how many years

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would it take if you waited to 70 to

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make up for those 60 months of payments

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that you missed? Bell doesn't ring at

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the top or the bottom.

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Don't try to time it

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with annuitities. And there's many

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types, especially for lifetime income.

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Enjoy the money now.

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Remember, there's there's three phases

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of retirement. Go- go, slowgo, and no

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go. If you're in go- go, turn it on now.

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Well, it's it's not going to be as high

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as it was if it was old. Of course,

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because you're older.

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This isn't rocket science. This is about

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lifestyle.

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This is about finally taking care of

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yourself and not everybody else. This is

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about you turning on the income for you

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to buy things, for you, for you to

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travel, for you to buy clothes, for you

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to eat out, for you to live well.

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Been taking care of people your whole

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life. A lot of you. Well, maybe it's

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time to take care of you. Maybe it's

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time to turn on the income stream now.

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Maybe it's time to figure out the income

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that you need. Now, I always tell

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people, let's try to use the least

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amount of money to solve for the

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contractual goals that you're trying to

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solve for. And I ask two questions. What

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do you want the money to contractually

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do? And when do you want those

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contractual guarantees to start? But if

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you said income and let's start now, I'm

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going to say, well, how much income do

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you need? Well, right now, we need an

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additional 2,000. Okay, let's reverse

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engineer the quote to solve for that

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$2,000 amount contractually using the

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least amount of money with an A+

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carrier.

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Well, Stan, wouldn't it be higher if I

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waited? Yes. you're older.

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My goal in life is to make this simple.

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Annuities are simple. They're math.

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They're contractual.

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But the bell doesn't ring at the top or

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the bottom in the stock market. The bell

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doesn't ring at the top or the bottom in

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the annuity world as well

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when you're buying contractual

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guarantees, especially if you're doing

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principal protection or if you're doing

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lifetime income. But especially with

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lifetime income, you can't time it. You

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can't beat the annuity companies.

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There's no sweet spot. There's no

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arbitrage. You can't run a quote and go,

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"Well, I got them." No, no, no, no, no.

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It's life expectancy based. That's what

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it is.

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I would encourage you go to my site, run

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the quotes yourself 247 365. It's free.

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Download my owner's manuals, six of them

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free.

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Watch these videos. cuz I've done I

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think 2,000. I'm doing one every day

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until I drop dead. I'm not kidding. I'm

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I've done for this year. I've done one a

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day and I'm going to continue to do one

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a day

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to try to educate you, to try to hit a

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nerve, to try to get through to you, to

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try to inform you on how to use these

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products properly. And hopefully you

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choose us. We'd love to have you as a

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client. Got the biggest company out

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here, direct to consumer, all under one

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roof. no remote people working for us.

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Everybody's under the same roof.

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Just remember that the bell don't ring

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at the top of the bottom of the markets.

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It doesn't it does not ring at the top

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of the bottom with annuities. You just

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have to find the contractual guarantee

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that fits your situation and is fair.

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Lock it in and go live your life. All

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right. My name is Stan the Annuity Man.

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That's fun with annuities.

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See you next