The Retirement Income Rule You Can’t Ignore

0:00
Welcome to Shooting It Straight with

0:01
Stan. I am your host, Stan the Annuity

0:04
Man, America's annuity agent, licensed

0:06
in all 50 states, logoed up of

0:09
everything I'm wearing today has a logo,

0:12
the Stan the Annuity Man logo, just in

0:14
case, you know, as your mother said,

0:16
well, you need to put a a fresh pair of

0:18
underwear on because if you get in a car

0:22
wreck, I'm like, I never understood

0:24
that. It's like a southern thing, but I

0:25
guess the only thing that is not logoed

0:28
is my underwear. I'm just being

0:30
transparent. You know, I tell the truth

0:31
because my grandfather said, "If you

0:32
tell the truth, you don't have to remove

0:34
anything." Stan, he was so right. And

0:37
that's the business model. Today's topic

0:39
is four words.

0:43
Never touch the principal.

0:48
Those are the four words I want you to

0:49
focus on. Never touch

0:52
the principal. What does that mean? That

0:56
means that we are currently in an

0:58
interest rate environment.

1:00
I think I said interest rate, but I said

1:02
it, you know, kind of like our president

1:04
saying it right now. Love him. By the

1:07
way, let's just be forget politics. I'm

1:10
not political. Okay, but let me just go

1:12
on record that when I'm 80,

1:15
there will be no [ __ ] in the straight

1:17
stands. I'm not sure I'll get to 80.

1:19
Holy crap.

1:22
You know, as I say, I burn the candle at

1:24
both ends. And boy, what a flame it was.

1:27
So maximizing the day. But four words

1:30
never touch the principal. What am I

1:32
talking about? I am talking about the

1:34
interest rate environment that we're in

1:36
right now at the time of this taping.

1:38
Look at the date

1:41
between CDs that I don't sell,

1:44
treasuries that I don't sell, and

1:46
multi-year guarantee annuities that I

1:49
sell more than anybody.

1:52
Migas are the annuity industry version

1:55
of a CD. Okay.

1:59
The difference between a a MA and a CD

2:01
is that in a nonIRRA account, the MA

2:04
interest grows and compounds tax

2:05
deferred. Does it make it better than a

2:07
CD at all? That's just the difference.

2:09
That's the primary difference. The other

2:11
difference is CDs are obviously issued

2:14
by banks and brokerage firms and and MAS

2:16
are issued by life insurance companies

2:17
who issue annuities.

2:20
But you literally can live off the

2:24
interest. A lot of you out there, not

2:26
all, but a lot.

2:28
And the calls that I'm getting now, I

2:31
always ask two questions. What do you

2:32
want the money to contractually do? And

2:33
when do you want those contractual

2:34
guarantees to start? And if the answer

2:36
is principal, protection, and income, we

2:40
are now at a point where that's can be

2:43
feasible.

2:47
Now, how do you choose between CDs and

2:49
migas and treasuries? If your duration

2:52
is less than if you want to lock in a

2:54
duration less than three years, do not

2:55
buy MAS. Buy CDs and treasuries. If you

2:58
want to lock in a a guarantee more than

3:00
three years, buy MAS. That's not a sales

3:03
pitch. That's just getting you the

3:04
highest contractual guarantee. You can

3:05
go to theanuityman.com

3:07
and pull up the best MIGA rates in the

3:11
country. Filter by state and duration

3:13
24/7 365.

3:16
If you want to buy one, we take care of

3:17
all the paperwork from start to finish.

3:19
But I love Never Touch the Principal. I

3:21
grew up in the South in Gaston County,

3:24
North Carolina,

3:27
and we lived beside my grandfather,

3:30
Hunter Garrison, and his wife, Margie,

3:32
who made the best I mean, literally, she

3:36
made she was one of the best cooks of

3:37
all time. Seriously, she had one of

3:39
those pie safes. Like, remember those

3:41
old pie safes? And yes, there were pies

3:43
in there. And yes, there were cookies in

3:45
there. And the one thing that I wanted

3:47
when they passed, I got it was that pie

3:49
safe. And here's the real kicker of it

3:51
all. It has a shotgun blast across kind

3:55
of the front of it because my

3:57
grandfather Hunter dropped a shotgun one

3:59
day and it went off and it and it shot

4:02
into the pyate.

4:04
Let me tell you something. That thing is

4:06
so important to me. But getting back to

4:09
that the story, I remember Hunter

4:12
Garrison and his brother TWW. Can't make

4:15
that up. They called him HO and his

4:17
brother TWW.

4:19
And they would sit around talking about

4:20
the Jimmy Carter CDs. They were getting

4:22
12 and 14 and 16. And for all you

4:25
old-timers out there, you remember that.

4:27
You nod your head. Okay. Are we going

4:29
back there? I don't think so. Maybe, but

4:31
I doubt it. But we're at a place now

4:34
where we haven't seen these type of

4:36
guaranteed interest rates. And when I

4:37
say guaranteed, I mean contractually.

4:39
This isn't some pie in the sky nonsense.

4:42
Unicorns chasing the butterflies. This

4:44
is contractual for the duration that you

4:47
can get 5% or more at the time of this

4:49
taping. Please look at the date.

4:52
A lot of people can just peel off that

4:54
interest. Never touch the principle.

4:57
Those are the four words. And just live

5:00
off that interest.

5:02
I mean that to fly over America, the the

5:05
parts of America that the politicians

5:08
make fun of and then when they go visit

5:10
they they act like goobers because

5:12
they've never even been there before.

5:14
Fly over America, which is America. I'm

5:18
not putting people down from New York

5:19
City because my daughter lives in New

5:20
York City. But the point is, fly over

5:23
America, middle class America,

5:25
hardworking America,

5:27
they know what I'm talking about.

5:29
They've worked hard. They don't want to

5:30
put their money at risk. They would love

5:32
to just peel off the interest and live

5:34
and and just live off that and never

5:36
touch the principal. Not only just

5:38
because they worked hard, but from a

5:40
legacy standpoint to leave for their for

5:42
their children.

5:47
Never lose your principle. Never lose a

5:49
penny. That's another four words, right?

5:52
It's important. understand that with

5:56
lifetime income products and those are

5:58
fantastic with annuities. You know, you

6:00
have single premium immediate annuities,

6:02
deferred income annuities, qualified

6:03
longevity annuity contracts, and income

6:05
writers attached to either or indexed or

6:08
variable annuities. When you take income

6:11
from a from from a from a income annuity

6:14
like those four and you turn on the

6:16
lifetime income stream, the income

6:18
stream is a combination of return of

6:20
principal plus interest. Nothing wrong

6:22
with that because you're going to get

6:23
paid as long as you're breathing.

6:27
But when people say, "Stan, I need

6:29
income." The first place I'm going right

6:31
now is tell me your asset base.

6:34
Obviously, you can't use, you know, the

6:36
industry kind of frowns on anything more

6:38
than 50% in annuities total. But if you

6:41
have an asset base where you can combine

6:43
annuities, Migas, CDs, and treasuries

6:46
and live off the interest, why wouldn't

6:48
you? Why wouldn't you do that?

6:52
fear of missing out.

6:54
Really? I mean, aren't you tired of the

6:57
the ups and downs of the markets? I'm

6:59
not putting it down. Sure, that's great.

7:01
Historically, that's great. But I'm

7:03
growing weary of that. Well, you just

7:05
need to write it out. You know, you just

7:07
need if you're just there for seven of

7:09
the days of the last 10 years. I mean,

7:12
that's where all the returns are. That's

7:13
the reason you got to hang in there. And

7:16
the professional dartthrowers tell you

7:18
that as they're charging you a fee.

7:19
Nothing wrong with that. I came from

7:21
Dean Whitter, Payne Weber, UBS, and

7:23
Morgan Stanley, as they say in the

7:26
South. But we're at a place now with you

7:29
retirees and pre-retirees and people

7:31
that are thinking about retirement that

7:33
we maybe can pull a lot of this off and

7:36
never touch the principal. Sound good to

7:38
you? Sounds good to me. Being from

7:40
Gaston County, North Carolina, rural

7:42
America, farming America, mill America,

7:46
textile mill America. That's where I

7:49
grew up. Okay. People work hard for

7:52
their money. And when the Jimmy Carter

7:53
CDs hit, they took advantage of it. Yes,

7:56
it wasn't perfect because of it affected

7:59
other things. But we're at a point now

8:02
that you can live off the interest. So,

8:04
you know, I this is what kills me. Every

8:07
single person that I say, "All right,

8:09
let's try to live off the interest. Tell

8:10
me your total assets. Let's try to

8:12
figure it out between CDs, Migas, and

8:15
treasuries." The first question from

8:17
most people are, "Well, uh, Stan,

8:21
what happens when they go down? I mean,

8:23
yeah, this is great. Right now, we could

8:25
lock it in for five and seven and 10

8:27
years,

8:29
but what happens when it goes down?

8:33
Did we figure it out?" Right? Or, well,

8:38
St. can you I mean, where do you think

8:40
interest rate interest rates are going?

8:41
Well, if I knew that, I wouldn't be

8:43
talking to you. I'd be on my lej jet

8:45
trading interest rate futures.

8:48
The point is

8:52
sees the day with these interest rates.

8:54
I mean, who knows where they're headed?

8:57
Does the bell ring at the top of the

8:58
bottom? No, it doesn't. Does Does this

9:01
country have 31 trillion in debt in

9:04
counting? Yes, it does. And when the Fed

9:07
raises rates, it's like me and you. If

9:09
we had a mortgage, just voluntarily

9:12
raising that interest rate on the

9:13
mortgage makes no sense. We'd want to

9:15
lower it soon. Right. Right.

9:19
So, let's cover that question. What

9:21
happens if rates go down? What happens

9:25
if rates go back down to one or two%.

9:29
Then, you know what we do at that point

9:31
in time? We look back at your asset

9:34
base, see what you can live on by not

9:36
touching the principal and then maybe at

9:39
that time we look at say a single

9:42
premium immediate annuity for lifetime

9:44
income.

9:46
In other words, we let the interest

9:49
rates force our hand to what we're going

9:52
to do to the strategy that what we're

9:55
that's going to happen at that time. We

9:58
don't try to predict the future. We

10:00
don't try to buy now for the future.

10:03
What we do is we live for today and the

10:06
contractual guaranteed rates that are

10:08
available and if they go down in the

10:11
future, then we might have to pivot and

10:14
and buy an immediate annuity to make up

10:17
for some of that interest rate loss if

10:19
interest rates go down. But let's look

10:22
at the flip side. What if interest rates

10:24
go up? Good question. Then we continue

10:28
the party. We continue the contractual

10:31
train. We continue to peel off interest

10:35
and never touch the principal. I will

10:38
guarantee you, male or female, doesn't

10:41
matter that your spouse or significant

10:43
other. One of you loves that strategy.

10:47
One of you might be a market maven and

10:49
trading managed futures and options and

10:52
butterfly spreads and all that condor

10:54
stuff. Okay?

10:58
But one of you loves what I'm talking

11:00
about. One of you loves never touching

11:03
the principal. One of you loves never

11:05
paying a fee. One of you loves peeling

11:09
off that interest.

11:12
One of you loves getting to that

11:14
duration at the end like whether it's a

11:16
three or five or seven or even a 10 year

11:19
and having the exact amount of money

11:23
that you started with. You haven't been

11:25
eaten up by fees. You haven't been eaten

11:27
up by volatility. You've taken off the

11:30
interest off the top and you've never

11:32
touched the principal. Can I hear an

11:35
annuity amen out there, please? Virtual

11:38
high five.

11:40
Annuities are very, very simple if you

11:43
make it that way. Most agents want to

11:46
sell you the most complex products on

11:48
the planet that they can't even

11:50
understand. And that's coming from the

11:52
person that's written seven books on the

11:54
subject. And I get it. I understand it.

11:57
But to me, it's all about simplicity. To

11:59
me, it's all about four words. Never

12:03
lose the principle.

12:08
I know it sounds too good to be true. I

12:11
know what you're saying. What's the

12:12
catch? There is no catch. You're buying

12:14
CDs, you're buying treasuries, you're

12:16
buying MAS. And let's throw one more in

12:18
there. At at the time of this taping,

12:20
you can get phenomenal

12:23
money market rates. How long are they

12:25
going to last? I don't know. You don't

12:27
know. Enjoy them while they're here.

12:29
Lock them in.

12:32
Don't make this so difficult. Stop

12:35
trying to be a spin goali of market

12:38
timing. Stop it.

12:43
This all started a long time ago with

12:45
me. Long time ago.

12:48
Year plus ago when this this whole thing

12:50
hit me. And I was on the phone with very

12:53
good clients from Alabama and I and and

12:55
they

12:57
made me come up with and I came up with

12:59
you've won the game. Why are you still

13:00
playing? In other words, they had enough

13:03
money they could just peel off the

13:04
interest, live off the interest, never

13:06
touch the principle, and never worry

13:07
about markets again. And they did it.

13:11
And and the and the video that I did,

13:13
you can if you want to go to my YouTube

13:15
channel and find it, it's there. It's

13:16
called You've won the game. Why are you

13:18
still playing? Ask yourself that. And

13:21
then and then think of those four words

13:23
again. Never touch

13:26
the principle. Sound appealing

13:30
to me? It does. From redneck, North

13:32
Carolina where I grew up from. I'm proud

13:35
of that. I grew up I mean, you can hear

13:37
the southern in me.

13:42
There's nothing wrong with that. There's

13:43
nothing wrong with missing out on the

13:44
markets and missing out on the next

13:46
crypto and missing out on the next Tesla

13:47
and missing out on the next Meta and

13:49
missing out on Jim Kramer's calls,

13:51
whatever those are. It's okay to miss

13:53
all that. Do you really care that much?

13:58
Or would it be cool to look up five

13:59
years from now having peeled off all the

14:01
princ all the interest from from the

14:04
from your MA CD or treasury and still

14:06
have all the principle left? Think about

14:09
that.

14:11
Run that in your head.

14:16
Four words. Repeat them. Never touch the

14:23
principal.

14:25
My name is Stan the Annuity Man. See you

14:27
next time.