The Truth About Annuity Commissions & Fees

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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, founder of

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[clears throat] CGO, contractual

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guarantees only, which means you own an

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annuity for what it will do, not what it

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might do. Today's topic is a good one

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and one that needs to be thoroughly

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explained and not tiptoed around. It's

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called the truth about annuity

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commissions and fees.

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Annuity commissions and fees. What

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you're thinking in your mind is probably

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not true. Hope that hope you are

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correct. But there's so much

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misconceptions and untruths out there

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and agents tiptoeing around it. You know

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me, I don't tiptoe around anything. I'm

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66 two and a quarter. There's no

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tiptoeing when you're 66 two and a

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quarter. We're going to talk about it

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after this.

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So, the truth about annuity commissions

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and fees. First of all, life insurance

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companies issue annuities. There's many

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different types of annuities, okay? But

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life insurance companies issue

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annuities. Let's talk about the

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commissions first. All annuity

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commissions are built in and hidden from

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the consumer. I'm not saying that's good

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and I'm not saying that's bad. I'm

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saying that's reality. Okay? So, if you

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put $100,000 in any type of annuity,

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you're going to see $100,000 or whatever

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the dollar amount is on your statement.

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It's going to go to work for you. The

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annuity commissions

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are paid by the annuity company

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generally from their from their main

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account that pays heat, light, water

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bill commissions, but it doesn't come

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out of what you put in. That's one of

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the biggest misconceptions of all time.

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And I think a lot of that comes from

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those old days. You I used to be with

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Dean Witter Morgan Stanley Pay Weber UBS

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where you had mutual funds that would

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take commissions out. No, this doesn't

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apply here. Annuity commissions

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built in. So, it's a net transaction to

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you. But let's go deeper on the

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commission side. If the world was

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perfect and run by Stan the annuity man,

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if the annuity world was, you know, I

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was annuities are forever, all annuity

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commissions that are built in would be

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the same and they would be low and they

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would be compressed from where they are

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now. The reason that you see products

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like index annuities pushed, variable

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annuities pushed, which I don't sell.

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That's a security. I don't need to sell

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that. I only do contractual guarantees

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is because the commissions are high,

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very high. There's a lot of agents out

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there that just sell high commission

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products. Doesn't I don't know how they

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do that because that's not any anywhere

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near being a fiduciary putting your best

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interest ahead of theirs, but that's

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what happens. Also, when commissions,

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you can ask the agent, hey, what's the

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commission on that? And if they say,

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well, is this building?

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No, ask them the number. They should be

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able to give you the number. A long time

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ago, about 10 years ago, there was some

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legislation that that was here for a

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little bit to where we had to actually

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put in writing the commission. Boy,

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those were great days. They went away.

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That didn't happen anymore. I don't know

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why. I don't know who got to the what

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the lobby got to somebody, but that

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doesn't happen. The other thing about

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commissions you need to understand is

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the more complex the product, the more

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moving moving parts the product has, the

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higher the commission. The longer the

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surrender charge, the higher the

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commission. Pretty basic stuff. The

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simpler the product, the lower the

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commission. If you can explain the

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product to a nine-year-old, no offense

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to nine-year-olds, the lower the

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commission. I'll give you just a

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horrific example of how I'm seeing the

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commissions drive the recommendation for

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some agents. We asked two questions.

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What do you want the money to

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contractually do? And when do you want

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those contractual guarantees to start?

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Pretty simple. And if you said, you know

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what, Stan, we just we we need me and

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the wife need lifetime income to start

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now. We need to fill that gap now.

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That's a single premium immediate

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annuity.

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Very simple product, very low commission

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product. products been sold in this

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country for over 200 years was the

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original annuity in the Roman times. But

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a lot of agents will say, "You don't

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need a immediate annuity. Let me sell

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you this index annuity and start it

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immediately." That's fitting a square

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peg into a round hole. I've only seen

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that work 1% of the time.

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One, maybe one. I'm being generous. But

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if but if the agent's not showing all

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products, then they're just a one-trick

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pony. They're just a onetrick commission

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pony.

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So again, commissions.

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The more complex the product, the higher

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the commission. The more simple the

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product, the lower the commission. The

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longer the surrender charge, the higher

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the commission. The shorter the

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surrender charge, the lower the

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commission. If you can explain it to a

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nine-year-old, the lower the commission.

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If you can't explain it to a

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nine-year-old and the math problems have

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letters in it, higher the commission.

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Okay? The more complex, the higher the

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commission. That's the reason everybody

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if you walked into most um financial

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advisors offices get you say you know

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what [snorts] I got a sore throat and my

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ankle hurts and they'll be like you need

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an indexed annuity. You're like what I

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mean highest commission product. I have

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nothing against them. We sell them when

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a writer is appropriate but we don't

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care about the index annuity side. We're

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focused on the contractual guaranteed

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income writer. So that covers

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commissions in a general sense. Let's

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talk about fees. I love it when stupid

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people, uninformed people with good

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intent, say, "Shoot, I'd never buy an

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annuity because the fees are just

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incredibly high."

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One of the dumbest things someone could

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say, and hopefully they're holding a

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drink in their hand with lots of like

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tequilia in it because that's the only

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excuse for that dumb of a statement.

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Fees, not commissions, fees. Single

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premium immediate annuities, deferred

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income annuities, qualified longevity

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annuity contracts, multi-year guarantee

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annuities don't have fees. How about

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that?

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When you attach an income writer to an

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indexed annuity, the income writer comes

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with a fee. If you just bought the index

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annuity as a standalone, I don't know

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why you would do that, but if you did,

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no fees. variable annuities fees, wrers

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fees,

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anything that's talking about

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potential hypothetical non-g guaranteed

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growth fees. Any writers attached fees,

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writer means fee in 99% of all cases.

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But if you wanted a lifetime income

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stream, no fee product, straight

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transfer of risk pension, DSP is QAX, no

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fees, low commissions.

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Simple. So get out of your head. Well,

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nudities are just it's just laden.

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They're laden stand laden with fees. No,

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they're not. Which one are you talking

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about, player? I love it when people

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say, "Well, I hate all annuities." Which

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one? Well, I hate all restaurants. Which

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one? Well, I hate all trucks. Which one?

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Well, I hate all shoes. What kind? So,

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you hate all annuities, do you? You hate

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social security?

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No. You hate your pension?

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No, don't talk in generalities. Well,

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all annuity commissions are high. Wrong.

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Well, all annuities have high fees.

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Wrong.

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Some do. Some commissions are high with

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some product types. Some com some fees

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are high with some product types, but a

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lot of product types have no fees and

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the commissions are built in and very

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low. Remember, annuities as a general

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category, the only product that solves

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for lifetime income. It's a monopoly

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that the annuity industry has.

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I would encourage you to go to my site,

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download. I got six free owners manuals

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you can download. I have a live event

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every month you can go on and and you

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can sign up for. It's fun. It's kind of

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a free-for-all. I release one video a

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day. You can go to my my YouTube channel

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and you can go down the rabbit hole and

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whatever product you're looking to uh to

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to dig into. You can schedule call with

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me. You can you can talk to Virtual

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Stanley on the site 247365.

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You can run anonymous quotes. You can do

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applications online. Or you can do

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applications with us. 24/7, 365, we're

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open for business for you. Okay? 12

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hours of those days, we're open at my

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headquarters in Las Vegas. Everybody

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under one roof. One last thing, I did a

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video on all of this technology stuff

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we're doing. It's, you know, I'm I'm

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really happy with this virtual Stanley,

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which is me 24/7 on the site. You could

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always schedule a call with me or send

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me an email and I'll send you an email

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back with the answers, but you can go

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two in the morning and ask Virtual

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Stanley a question. We have fed Virtual

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Stanley all 2,00 videos and counting.

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So, it's pretty cool. So, I'd encourage

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you to do that. Watch that video, go to

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my site, interact, and choose. Do I want

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to use humans? Do I want to use super

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intelligence? Or do I want to combine

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the two? It's your call. My name is Stan

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the Annuity Man. See you next time.