Midland National Annuity Review

It’s no secret that Midland National is my favorite company to work with. Incredible customer service, professional processing, and wide variety of products make it competitive in just about every planning situation I encounter. Before anyone accuses me of steering business that way for personal gain, Midland has only received about a third of my business this year and that’s about average for all the years I have sold for the company. For those of you who used me and got a product from another company, it’s because the contract you got had a distinct advantage in your situation. Everyone has always had a choice and that’s very important in financial services.

Processing isn’t necessarily a selling point for many consumers but it makes a big difference to me. Last week Midland issued a new contract 12 minutes after I submitted the application and I’ve been waiting for a couple contracts with other companies for nearly two months. There are lots of reasons for this but regardless it is hard to deny the added benefit of efficiency. Who would you rather do business with? Many of you have met my new assistant Leandra. She has more than 20 years of experience with processing contracts for all sorts of companies. Just ask her why dealing with Midland is like nothing she has ever experienced. It is a first class organization from top to bottom.

Lots of people ask me to share more about the products I recommend. I shy away from that because some will take it as a recommendation when something else will work better for them. So I don’t want any of you to take it that way. When it’s close I’ll explain why I’d prefer to work with Midland but the choice is up to you. Rather than give you something specific I’ll explain all the products the company has and give you an idea of how best to use it.

Midland National Guarantee Pro 3, 5, or 7

These multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGA), are available with the surrender periods above and typically come with competitive rates. The financially stronger institutions don’t often need to compete with rate-shopping companies that are rated just plain old A or lower. At times, however, Midland will jump into the mix and it’s well worth a few basis points less to go with these products.

Midland National Income Planning Annuity

Guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits are most often the highest paying guarantee if income is deferred for more than a year. The Income Planning annuity has been at the top of the list for the past five years and along with everything else even more profitable in the past two years. There is a clear distinction that makes this the best in many cases. In most annuities, income increases happen on each contract anniversary but this one happens on a person’s date of birth. I just had one issued three days before the annuitant’s birthday so they got an automatic income increase just a couple days after issue.

Even when some annuities may seem to pay more, this monthly retirement payment will pay earlier which often comes as the deciding factor. I quoted one the other day when the Income Planning Annuity offered $22,800 annually while the other contract paid $23,800 annually.

The annuitant had planned to take income in five years at age 72. With the higher paying contract requiring a full five year waiting period, the Income Planning Annuity needed only five birthdays to pass before paying only $1000 per year less. With his first birthday being only three months away, the Income Planning Annuity would make nine monthly payments of $1900 ($17,100 total) before the higher paying income stream started. This man would be 89 years old before he received any material benefit from the higher paying contract. And he would also get the A+ company making the payments. It takes someone who knows the market to figure this out.

In many situations this gave the Income Planning Annuity a distinct advantage. I wonder how many people bought a lesser contract without being given a decision over the two? It all comes down to the individual situation and this one has come out on top many times recently.

Midland National IncomeVantage Pro

This is my favorite annuity contract on the market because it does so much. It’s an income product with no fees for the guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit. It may look similar to the Allianz Benefit Control (ABC) because it works the same way but it has several distinct advantages. Both are performance-based income contracts, meaning there is a lower guaranteed payout and any future increases are based on performance of the underlying indexed allocations. The IncomeVantage Pro (IV Pro) has much higher potential growth and there are no fees for the income rider. The ABC is similar but with lower growth potential and Allianz has the contractual ability to add fees to the index allocations without the contract owner’s permission.

The IV Pro has growth that nearly matches many of the indexed annuity contracts that are meant for accumulation alone. So for no fees you get market protection, solid potential, and a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit if you ever want some extra cash flow. There is also an enhanced death benefit if the income option is never exercised. Anyone with the slightest amount of skepticism and average brain power would choose this product over others in its class. I don’t mean to denigrate anyone who chooses something else when they have truly seen alternative options with all the detailed information.

Midland National Index Builder

Bonus products are all the rage because it makes an easy sale for agents who don’t do a lot of homework. As with anything there are a lot of details but this comes with a healthy bonus and the fewest strings attached. If surrender charges need to be offset on another contract or you just want to kickstart the cash value, the Index Builder gives you an option to do it without a fee. Of course you can add a fee to get an even larger bonus where it beats all the competition but that’s up to you. Again, you have more options with each contract at Midland.

Midland National RetireVantage

I consider this to be the best all around fixed indexed annuity available for asset accumulation. It’s a ten year contract with the Endeavour 8 being very similar and a bit shorter in surrender term. There are 16 different index options that let you choose from several different variations of both S&P 500 and NASDAQ. At best any other contract will have similar rates and you may not get the same quality of company, service, and renewal strength as I’ve seen with Midland.

Midland National Accelerate 5

Go back to the podcast released about a month ago to find all the details about this quality alternative to MYGAs or CDs. With a comparable fixed rate and all options having guaranteed rates for the entire five year term, this fits well for hesitant buyers who want safety but can’t commit to a longer term. It works really well when laddered with the above contract or a MYGA for different time periods and a great variety of index options.

Details are limited to simple commentary above so this doesn’t become longer than it needs to be. Depending on who you are, one of the products above will work for your situation as well as just about anything else on the market. So many people want to shop around and look at everything they can find and that’s fine but everything above represents a snapshot of what you’ll find anywhere else. Do you want safety and accumulation? Midland has it. Do you want guaranteed retirement with or without fees? Midland has it.

You might find a better salesperson but you won’t find a better solution unless I verify it for you. There’s a reason why very few advisors have heard of Midland National. Distribution of products means that most advisors are taking someone else’s advice on what type of annuities to offer. Agents who really do the research to find the best options have found Midland National and there’s a night and day difference between that and the average guy trying to get your business. I’ll talk more about that next week and hopefully it makes sense. In the meantime get a hold of me if you’d like to run some numbers on any of the options above.

Have a great weekend…

Bryan