What Is The Most Common Bonus In A Bonus Annuity?

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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. Today's topic is a disturbing

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one. Um, it's what's the most common

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bonus of a bonus annuity? If you're

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typing that in, I'm so glad you're here

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because I'm going to save you from

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yourself. I'm going to save you from the

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sales pitch. I'm going to save you from

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the utter stupidity

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of upfront bonuses after this.

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[music]

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All right. So, I just got chastised by

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my director. [sighs]

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He said to me, "When I point, Stan,

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don't point in front of your face

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because it blurs things." Maybe that's

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Dr. V. Maybe that's my strategy. Okay?

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You know, I'm way ahead of you, man. I'm

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skating where the puck's going to be.

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I'm not skating behind the puck, as they

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say in the hockey world. All right. So,

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I'm going to point like this. How about

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that?

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Is that good? That good right there?

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Okay, we're talking about bonuses, which

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I call candy for the stupid.

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Do not think that there's a person at an

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annuity company, there's a CEO. Picture

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this. CEO walks in, uh, Judy, uh, bring

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me my coffee. And then he drinks the

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coffee. I'll just do that. He drinks the

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coffee. He goes,

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you know what? I love America. I love

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the people regardless of how stupid they

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are, regardless of how many I see get on

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the plane in really weird outfits. I'm

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going to give money away. I'm going to

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create what's called a bonus annuity

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that gives free money away to the people

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because the economy is tough and they

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need free money. That doesn't happen.

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Okay.

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Question. How many pennies are in a

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dollar? Correct. 100. So there's not a

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hundred pennies plus the bonus pennies.

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There's a hundred pennies.

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Okay. So what's the question was what's

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the most common bonus on a bonus

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annuity? The answer is the highest they

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can they can raise it to to attract

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stupid people and to attract stupid

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agents.

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Agent called me the other day, any way I

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could work for you? I said not a chance

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in hell. Okay. Um because every single

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person that works for me at the annuity

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man in my headquarters in Las Vegas,

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licensed in all 50 states, not on

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commission. They're not hammers looking

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for nails. They're problem solvers.

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They're listeners.

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They quote things for contractual

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guarantees only.

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I saw a bonus the other day that was in

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like 40 or 50%. People like, is that a

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good one? A good one? What?

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I I don't know. What's the contractual

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guaranteed number when we quote by the

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way on a side note and just to just to

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get all the nonsense out of the way 99%

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of the time upfront bonuses are attached

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to index annuities doesn't make index

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annuities bad. When we use index

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annuities to deliver the guaranteed

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lifetime income stream using income

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writers. So we attach the income writer

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to the index annuity. We we totally

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ignore the index annuity.

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But people say, "Well, how about the

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bonus? I miss this boy down the road

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said get a 35% bonus. That's 35% free

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money." No, it's not, Chester. It's not.

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And a lot of times when we're quoting

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income writers, and remember, we have

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two questions. What do you want the

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money to contractually do? When do you

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want those contractual guarantees to

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start? If you're saying down the road, I

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need lifetime income. That's where

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income writers come in to play. and

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we'll quote them. We're looking for the

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highest contractual guarantee, A+ or

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better. Highest contractual guarantee,

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A+ or better. Highest contractual

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guarantee, A+ or better. Not with a not

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with the best bonus, who gives a crap.

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What we found most of the time, the ones

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with bonuses, we quote them, we just

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don't care about it. Most of them don't

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have the highest contractual guarantee.

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They're shiny things for stupid people.

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Martha, we we forget the one Stan's

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talking about. We need to go with this

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boy locally because he's gonna give us

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free money. You can't be that stupid.

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And if you are that stupid, please don't

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go to Vegas. And if you go to Vegas,

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please don't play poker. Please. You

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know what they say in Vegas? If you

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know, if you're sitting at the table and

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you're looking around going, I wonder

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who the sucker is here. I wonder who the

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rube here is the table. It's you.

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If you're sitting in a good steak dinner

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seminar and that jack wagon agent stands

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up there and says, "And you get a 32%

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upfront bonus, get up after you eat and

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walk out."

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Okay, that's crazy. That's like going to

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the car dealership and going, "Forget

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the engine. Forget the transmission.

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Forget all of that. Show me the stereo.

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That's all I want. Show me the stereo

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system." But sir, it's going to 400

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horsepower. I don't want to hear la.

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Show me the stereo. That's what you're

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doing when you say, "What? Well, what's

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the what's the most common bonus on a

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bonus nut? What's the best?" Oh my gosh.

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You talk about going down a stupid

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rabbit hole, but for whatever reason in

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our industry,

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bonuses, bonus annuity, I want a bonus.

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I had a executive say the other day in a

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meeting with me which I I if there was a

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pencil near me I would have stabbed

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myself. I'd have been dead. I was

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looking for something sharp because he

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said something like, "Well, and we got

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this bonus annuity." I said, "Stop.

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Stop. What are you talking about? What

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does a bonus annuity solve for? Nobody

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can answer that to me in the industry."

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Well, you get up for a bonus. Okay. Does

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it affect the guarantees at all? Well,

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maybe. No, there's no maybe. It either

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does or it does not. Sometimes

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upfront bonuses could have affected in a

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positive way the the guarantee. If

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that's the case, great. So many times

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I'm on the phone with people and they'll

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go, "Yeah, we really like this uh this

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income writer and we're not talking

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about the index annuity." Nope, not

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talking about that. And they they look

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at the illustration and it and it's

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bumped because there's there's a bonus

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in some of them. Well, why is this one

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got more and this one got less, but the

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one with less is is a higher payout.

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Well, that's an upfront bonus.

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It's part of the overall contractual

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guarantee. We factor it in, but to put

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any emphasis on it is utter nonsense.

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Whether it's the agent advisor talking

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about it or you looking for it

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for you to get to this video, thank

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goodness. And I hope you hang in there

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with me because you you're getting ready

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to make a mistake if you're buying it

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for the bonus. You just you just are.

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Okay. for you to get here. Someone has

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spent too much time talking about the

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bonus or spent too much time on the

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index side talking about caps and

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spreads and participation rates and all

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that non-g guaranteed nonsense.

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Just remember 100 pennies in the dollar,

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not 100 pennies plus 30 more additional

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pennies or 25 additional pennies for the

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bonus. You're smarter than that. Come

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on. You're not getting ahead of anybody.

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You're not finding the next Nvidia.

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You're not buying Bitcoin at 100. You're

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being convinced on a shiny thing that

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means nothing.

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When you quote annuitities after

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answering the two questions, what do you

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want the money to contractually do? When

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do you want those contractual guarantees

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to start? And you quoting all carriers.

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Who cares? Who cares about the moving

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parts? I don't care what's the number.

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Highest number A+ or better for lifetime

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income

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solves the problem.

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Some guy got on the phone with me the

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other day. He goes, "You're going to

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have to help me, son, because this stuff

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is complicated." I'm like, "Well, that's

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not my fault. That's the person you were

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talking to previously to me because

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they're making it complicated.

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Strip it all down. Bonuses don't matter.

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Number matters. Bonuses don't matter.

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Number matters. The income number

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matters." And then someone says, "Well,

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this bonus goes to the index side." And

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then if the index goes up, then it

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raises the income on this side over

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here. Stop. Stop.

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All the annuity company is doing is

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severely lowering the payment to make up

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for the potential increase.

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They're not giving it away. If it sounds

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too good to be true, it is every single

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time. If the bonus sounds too good to be

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true, it is. Annuity companies have the

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big buildings for a reason. And they

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have the big buildings for the reason

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because number one, life insurance

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companies issue annuities. and life

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insurance companies know when we're

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going to die. Number two, they don't

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give anything away. Number three,

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there's there's no philanthropist at

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annuity companies. I've met most of the

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CEOs. Hadn't met a philanthropist yet.

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Hadn't met the one that goes, "You know

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what?

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I want to give money away." No, they're

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like, "Hey, let's let's let's come up

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with the bonus to attract people because

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they're not going to look in depth at

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the bonus and what it really is, which

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is just part of the overall contractual

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guarantee. And when you shop all

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carriers for the highest number, bonuses

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are irrelevant."

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Have I made myself clear? As I said in a

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few good mid crystal, crystal clear. Was

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that Jack Nicholson? I just that was in

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my Jack Nicholson impersonation. That

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was pretty good. Um, do me a favor. Go

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to my site theanuityman.com. You can

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download my free owners manuals on all

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these on index annuities with bonuses.

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I've written about it. I've also done a

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lot of videos on this as well. Um, you

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can email me if you want to vent

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stantheanuityman.com.

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And one last thing, above my head, not

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in front of my face, above my head,

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right here is a video I did on why

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people hate annuities. And this topic is

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why one of the big reasons why people

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hate annuities. This Johnny Apples Seed

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agent gets up at the expensive steak

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dinner seminar. You're going, "How's he

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paying for all this?" You I don't know.

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What do you think? And he's talking

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about upfront bonuses. Oh my gosh.

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That's the reason I don't go on agent

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trips. I I qualify for every agent trip

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on the planet and we never go because

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why would I want to hang around those

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people? Good. Goodness gracious. I mean,

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they'd be like the guy passing you the

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bread goes, "Man, that's some really

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good bread. That bread right there." And

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they start making up a story. I'm like,

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"Stop. This isn't upfront bonuses."

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Watch that video. You'll get a kick out

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of that. Hey, my name is Stan the

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Annuity Man. Thank you for allowing me

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to vent on this topic. See you next

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time.