Why You Should Only Buy Contractual Guarantees

March 18, 2026
15 min
Why You Should Only Buy Contractual Guarantees
The Annuity Man®
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Too many annuity agents sell products by highlighting market returns or bonuses, but these aren't what buyers should be looking for. In this video, I break down why you should only buy annuities for the contractual guarantees. I walk you through the history of annuities, explain the risks of chasing projections, and show you how focusing on contractual guarantees helps you establish financial security for the most important chapter of your life.

▶️ WATCH NEXT: https://youtu.be/a1vZ8bl6Zv0

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Stan The Annuity Man

Key Moments in this Episode
========================
00:00 Introduction to the video
00:32 Importance of buying only contractual guarantees
01:19 Common practice in the annuity industry
01:44 Our approach to selling annuities
03:00 History of single premium immediate annuities
03:43 When variable annuities were introduced
04:51 Why fixed index annuities were developed
05:57 How registered index linked annuities were created
06:29 What to buy for market returns
07:21 Four things that annuities solve for
08:08 Choosing the right carrier for lifetime income
09:08 What to expect when working with us
11:11 How to avoid big mistakes with annuities
11:56 How commissions are built into annuities
12:31 Key questions to answer when buying annuities
13:03 How lifetime income depends on life expectancy
14:00 Closing remarks on annuities
14:47 Next steps & helpful resources

What To Watch Next:
========================
https://youtu.be/a1vZ8bl6Zv0

Resources
========================
📞 Book a Free 30-minute Call with The Annuity Man Team:
https://www.stantheannuityman.com/book-a-call

📘 Get Your FREE Annuity Owner’s Manual:
https://www.stantheannuityman.com/get-smarter/annuity-books

🔢 Use Our FREE Annuity Calculators + Live Rate Feeds:
https://www.stantheannuityman.com/annuity-calculators

🎧 Listen to the Fun With Annuities Podcast:
https://youtube.com/@funwithannuities

Learn More About Stan The Annuity Man
========================
Stan The Annuity Man® is known as “America’s Annuity Agent®” and the top independent annuity agent in the United States, licensed in all 50 states. He is a firm believer that annuities should NOT be purchased for market growth and is focused on educating the consumer so that they can make an informed decision on their terms and on their time frame. Stan has published 7 books on the annuity topic and prides himself on being a consumer advocate for all things annuity.

========================
Video by Nate Woodbury
BeTheHeroStudios.com
http://YouTube.com/c/NateWoodbury

#StanTheAnnuityMan
#Annuity
#TheAnnuityMan
#Retirement

  • 0:00 Introduction to the video
  • 0:32 Importance of buying only contractual guarantees
  • 1:19 Common practice in the annuity industry
  • 1:44 Our approach to selling annuities
  • 3:00 History of single premium immediate annuities
  • 3:43 When variable annuities were introduced
  • 4:51 Why fixed index annuities were developed
  • 5:57 How registered index linked annuities were created
  • 6:29 What to buy for market returns
  • 7:21 Four things that annuities solve for
  • 8:08 Choosing the right carrier for lifetime income
  • 9:08 What to expect when working with us
  • 11:11 How to avoid big mistakes with annuities
  • 11:56 How commissions are built into annuities
  • 12:31 Key questions to answer when buying annuities
  • 13:03 How lifetime income depends on life expectancy
  • 14:00 Closing remarks on annuities
  • 14:47 Next steps & helpful resources

0:00
Hey, why should you only buy contractually guaranteed annuities?

0:04
Hi there, I'm Stan the Annuity Man, America's annuity agent, licensed in all 50 states,

0:10
top agent in the country, and actually the pioneer of contractual guarantees only. I'm

0:14
going to answer this very important question that if you only remember one question and one

0:20
answer that I've ever said, it's this one right here. And I'm going to tell you that after this.

0:32
Why should you only purchase an annuity for the contractual guarantees? And I know what

0:38
you're saying Stan. I mean, you didn't have to wear the shirt that says that,

0:42
but I really do. I really want to drive this home because I'm kind of a pioneer

0:48
out here with just this strategy. When you buy an annuity, there are many annuities. Life insurance

0:56
companies issue the annuity. Okay? It's a contract between you and the life insurance company. So,

1:04
if it's a contract between you and the life insurance company, you know,

1:08
I'm an old southerner. I mean, you know, it's just like, well, well, shoot. If that's the case,

1:12
we'll just, you know, lock in the guarantees. Exactly. You only buy the contractual guarantees.

1:18
However, in the annuity industry, it's very sexy and cool and great seminar fodder to say,

1:27
"I can get you market returns. I can get it all for you. I can get you an upfront

1:31
bonus. I can get you market returns, market participation. I can protect

1:35
the downside." Again, if it sounds too good to be true, it is every single time.

1:42
Now, I'm not playing around when I wear the shirt that says I heart contractual guarantees. When

1:49
you go to my site at the Annuity Man and you run quotes using our proprietary calculators, you're

1:55
only going to see contractual guarantees. We never show hypotheticals, theoreticals, projections,

2:04
backtested numbers, what I call unicorns chasing the butterflies, because they never work.

2:11
In fact, I have a standing offer for any agent advisor or what I

2:15
called Johnny Appleseed agent out there that can show me a backtested number,

2:21
a projected number of the annuity that they've sold in the past where those projected numbers

2:27
hit it or hit it, either hit it right on the nugget or were higher for the complete projection that

2:34
you sold the client on. Okay? I'm not sure if I can put the dollar amount up here,

2:41
but it's a big one. I'm not sure legally I can do that. But if you, Johnny Appleseed agent,

2:47
have done that and can prove that to me, you're going to get a big check from moi. That's French

2:51
for me. I've been offering that for I don't know 20 years. It's never ever ever happened.

2:58
Now, let's go backwards a little bit about annuities in general because this is important.

3:04
Annuities were invented in the Roman times. That's where single premium immediate annuities

3:10
started. The word annua is Latin for payment is what my smart friends tell me. Okay? But

3:18
that's where it started where the dutiful Roman soldiers who were laned on the line

3:22
for the empire were them and their families were given lifetime payments for that dutiful service.

3:29
That's the original single premium immediate annuity. And that was sold in this country,

3:36
United States of America, up until 1954. That was all you could get.

3:42
So you're saying, "Wait a minute, Stan. What happened in 1954, Stan?" TIAA-CREF, now known TIAA,

3:51
came out with the first variable annuity. And variable annuity is nothing more than

3:56
mutual funds with a life insurance wrapper. Now, in the annuity business, of course,

4:00
we don't call them mutual funds. We call them separate accounts, separate accounts,

4:03
mutual funds, apples, apples, whatever. It's the same thing. But that's what happened in

4:08
1954. And and back then, the variable annuity sales pitch was you can manage

4:14
your money or have someone manage your money and get tax deferred growth. Great.

4:18
Now, from a great idea, from all great ideas, it gets messed up and mixed up and you know,

4:25
it's the sales pitch gets ugly. Now currently the variable annuity side the average annual fee

4:31
for a variable annuity, okay, is around 3%. That's average. So when you start every

4:38
year with those mutual funds i.e. separate accounts, you're minus three. I don't know

4:43
how good of a money manager you are but that's a tough chain ball and chain to take.

4:48
So that was 1954, alright? In 1995, the fixed index annuity was introduced. Now,

4:57
I was there cuz I'm an old dude. I remember those early versions, but in essence,

5:03
they were developed, and I want you to listen to me closely because this coincides with the

5:07
contractual guarantees only. They were put on the planet to compete with CD returns,

5:14
not market returns. In fact, I'm going to say illegal's tough.

5:20
Not it's frowned upon in the industry to say the word market with fixed index annuities because

5:29
they're fixed. Okay? They're a fixed annuity. And the average return since 1995 has been a little

5:36
bit less or more depending on who's running those numbers. A little bit less than a CD,

5:41
a little bit more than a CD, but like a CD. But no, that's not how they're pitched. Market upside

5:45
with no downside. Market participation with principal protection upfront bonus blah da da da that.

5:52
Okay? So 1954 variable annuities, 1995 index annuities, and then just recently,

5:58
I don't know the specific date, recently, the brokerage firms went you know what,

6:04
man, there's a lot of index annuities been improperly sold for market returns. Why

6:09
don't we create our own product? And they did. It's called a registered index link

6:14
annuity, which is nothing more than a fancy index annuity, what I call a co-pay annuity,

6:20
which you get to pay for the right of whatever downside you want to participate in.

6:25
Get what? Excuse me. Okay. So, bottom line, if you want market returns, real stock market

6:34
returns, I want you to listen. I'm going to pause for a second. Never buy an annuity

6:41
of any type. Okay? I've been doing this for a long time. I'm the top agent in the country.

6:46
Licensed in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Okay? But I'm just telling you,

6:51
if you're going into any annuity purchase with the hope and dream of you're going

6:56
to get market returns, you are what they call in Vegas, the sucker at the table.

7:01
You know, you're sitting in Vegas, you're playing cards. Yeah, I'm a poker player. You know, I won

7:05
the local, you know, Lions Club event, so I just thought I'd fly out here to Vegas and take these

7:10
boys on, too. And you're looking around trying to figure out who the sucker is at the

7:14
Sands. It's you, player. It's you. If it sounds too good to be true, it is every single time.

7:21
Now, there's really four things that annuities contractually solve for. Acronym is PILL. P

7:28
stands for principal protection. I stands for income for life. L stands for legacy. The other

7:34
L stands for long-term care. P I L L. There's no S for stock market. Okay? There's no M for market.

7:40
There's no B for Bitcoin. There's no G for growth. There's no H for hope. There's none of that. It's

7:48
contractual. And most people are either looking at principal protection or lifetime income. For

7:54
lifetime income, it's contractual. It's a transfer of risk for all four of those things in the PILL.

7:59
You're contractually transferring the risk to the life insurance company that issues

8:04
the annuity to back up that claim. Now, we represent all carriers. You can shop all

8:10
carriers. If you're doing lifetime income, the carrier has to be A+ or better. A+ or better,

8:14
you don't need a sweater. Okay? That's the only thing really I figured out that line

8:20
would rhyme with better. So A+ or better, you don't need a sweater. You don't need to worry

8:25
about it. Okay? Because people say, you know, let me tell you something. So what happens if

8:30
one of them A+ companies go out of business? Grab your loved one and hug them. It's over.

8:35
It's a wrap. We're screwed. As the song goes, love the one you're with. Because it's over.

8:40
Okay? It's not gonna happen. Well, it could happen. No, it's not gonna happen. Okay?

8:45
And when you're buying lifetime income from us, SPIAs, DIAs, QLACs,

8:49
Income Riders — those are the four products that contractually guarantee lifetime income.

8:54
Okay? When you're doing that, forget state guarantee funds. Forget all that because A+

9:00
or better are their own state guarantee funds. Anybody wants to argue with me,

9:04
like bring it on, and I'm going to fillet you like a flounder.

9:07
So the bottom line, when you're working with the Annuity Man, contractual guarantees only — the

9:12
numbers that we show, the numbers that we lock in — those are going to happen,

9:18
period. End of story. There's no flow of, well, could it increase with it like a

9:22
index growth or something like that? No, we don't do that. Okay? We don't do that. Johnny

9:27
Appleseed agent does that because he's selling the dream. I'm selling contractual realities.

9:32
And the key here is if you buy the dream, I bought, I don't believe you,

9:37
Stan. You kind of, I don't know, man. This other guy convinced me. Great.

9:41
You bought the dream, but a couple years from now, you're going to know and find

9:45
out that you own the contractual reality. Why not just own the contractual reality from the

9:50
start and then shop all carriers for the highest contractual guaranteed reality?

9:56
People say, "Stan, how are you guys that big? How can you service all

10:01
those clients?" First of all, AI for us means actual individuals. But yes,

10:05
we do have some AI running. I do have some smart little youngsters running around that

10:10
know how to do that. But when every single client has bought the contractual guarantee,

10:16
there are no calls that go, "Hey, how's that thing doing?" It's doing like we

10:21
told you it was going to do. Just like the contractual guarantees we locked in.

10:25
And we never ever ever ever look at the index annuity. Let's say we buy an income

10:30
rider and we have to attach it to the index annuity. We never ever ever are going to have

10:34
a conversation with you going, "Well, you know what? Should we change up that

10:39
point to point or cap or spread?" No, because that's a joke. Joke. Okay?

10:46
All of those index options, by the way, on index annuities — and the reason we don't

10:50
play over there — because it's a waste of time. I'd rather you look at your hand and go,

10:53
"You know what? I think there's like 17 lines there." That's more fruitful than you looking at

10:59
the 800 plus indexed annuity options and trying to figure out which one's best. Spoiler alert:

11:05
they're all designed to create the same return, which is a CD-like return.

11:10
So, tying this thing up in a really, really nice, beautiful Annuity Man bow:

11:15
I heart contractual guarantees is because that's how you should buy

11:19
annuities. If you don't buy annuities like that, you're going to make a mistake. And

11:25
if you already made that mistake, get out. It's not going to work.

11:29
And if someone says, "You know what? I got this annuity here and it's got a little market

11:33
attachment here to it and this and that and for that I'm going to charge you a fee." Get

11:37
up and run out of the building. Okay? I have yet to see an annuity that warrants

11:44
an ongoing fee for management. I know all you brokerage firm heads of the annuity

11:49
division — bring it on. Come on, player. You know I'm right. You know I'm right. Now,

11:56
commissions are built into annuities. They're built into them, and they're hidden from the

12:02
consumer. So, it's a net transaction to you. Just remember, the more simple the product,

12:07
the lower the built-in commission, the better it is for the consumer. Okay?

12:11
Someone asked the other day, what kind of commission? I don't know. I really don't

12:16
know. We sell such volume, you know, we're McDonald's. Billions sold. Okay? Such

12:22
volume. I don't know or care. All I want to know is it the best contractual

12:27
guarantee for you with the best company that we can find. Because you've only answered two

12:32
questions because we've only asked two questions: What do you want the money to

12:36
contractually do? And when do you want those contractual guarantees to start?

12:40
Let me repeat it again: What do you want the money to contractually do? And when

12:46
do you want those contractual guarantees to start?

12:49
From those two simple answers, we can A, tell you if you don't need an annuity, and B,

12:55
if you do, we can quote the ones or show you where to quote on our site,

13:00
okay, to get the highest contractual guarantee.

13:03
Now, remember, these are transfer risk products, lifetime income products. There's

13:07
no ROI until you die. And death is not a good strategy. So, don't sit there. I got an email

13:11
the other day — guy goes, "You know what? I think all this stuff and the chaos and all this stuff,

13:14
I'm going to wait on the Fed and the Fed and this and that and the race." I'm like,

13:17
"Oh my gosh, distracted much, Fred?" It's not about the Fed. It's not about rates. Lifetime

13:23
income is about life expectancy or life expectancies if it's joint.

13:29
And at the time of this taping — check the taping — lifetime income is a bargain because

13:34
AI is shrinking medical breakthroughs, which is going to lengthen your life expectancy,

13:40
which is going to lengthen the payments, which is going to make those payments lower.

13:45
So, if you want to look at lifetime income, you should right now.

13:48
But remember, you only buy annuities for the

13:52
contractual guarantees of the policy. Period. End of story.

13:59
You know, I hope one day — I'll close with this — I hope one day that there is

14:04
an annuity that I actually look at and go, you know what, that's fair to the client,

14:10
that's fair to the consumer, and that actually could provide ongoing consistent market growth.

14:16
I'm waiting. I've been presented all kinds of annuities from annuity companies going,

14:21
"Well, we can call it the Stan the Annuity Man annuity." And I'm like, "Yeah,

14:25
but only if it works." Okay? I don't care about anything.

14:29
So, I'm waiting, and I will make the video that announces that

14:34
Stan the Annuity Man is going to make an exception for the contractual guarantees.

14:39
And until that black swan event arrives, contractual guarantees only.

14:46
Do me a favor. Do me a favor. Go to my site. Go to my site, theannuityman.com, run quotes,

14:55
schedule a call, download my owner's manuals for free. You can go to the YouTube page. You

15:01
can type in whatever product you want to look at. I've done a few thousand videos,

15:06
and they're not product-driven, they're edutainment.

15:09
They're educational and hopefully entertaining, you know, as they say.

15:13
My name is Stan the Annuity Man. See you next time.

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