My wife and I don’t agree on politics, so we don’t talk about it.  I’ve always been up for a good argument or debate but she doesn’t like confrontation.  Whenever the topic comes up it’s unintentional.  She asked me how I became such a conspiracy theorist.  Well that makes me sound like a bit of […]

More than a dozen people have asked me about this in the past month which tells me that many multiples of that have also seen it.  Allianz has always had the largest distribution system for index annuities and that’s why so many people see the products, not because there is an incredible value for consumers. […]

This started last year as an exercise for one person who wanted to see all growth options in one place.  It can be hard to decide which annuity to use when so many people will tell you that one product is better than the others.  Not a whole lot has changed but a few things […]

Two years ago the S&P 500 hit an all-time high, just shy of 3000 points in the fall of 2018.  It was a level that seemed almost unthinkable.  Bulls were arrogant and bears were skeptical or maybe just jealous because they missed out on the rally.  By the end of the year sentiments had switched […]

Not everyone gets to choose when to retire.  Quite often I meet people who have been forced out of the workplace for any number of reasons.  When this happens, retirement decisions have to be made when people are not mentally prepared.  This year it has been a much more common occurrence because of Covid layoffs […]

SPOILER: I really don’t think so. Regardless, dozens of people have commented that they either need to do something before or after the election.  There is a fear from both sides that things in this country will go south if the preferred candidate doesn’t win.  Will taxes go up?  How will health care change?  Will […]

Two years ago I walked onto a car lot to take a look at new trucks just to see what was available.  My truck is old but in good shape so I have no expectation of needing a new model for several years.  That didn’t keep the salesman from telling me how much better a […]

This one takes me back to the very beginning of this website.  In the early years of my career, variable annuities came out with guaranteed income riders.  Since VAs have mutual fund sub-accounts the cash value of the contract goes up and down with the market.  But the guaranteed income rider assured the owner that […]

Yes, it is possible but you have to think about it differently than most everyone else.  The annuity itself may or may not beat the market but how you use it can definitely give you an advantage.  Too many people get stuck on evaluating a single assets rather than finding ways to build a portfolio […]

Steady, reliable, strong, intelligent and tough is a good start.  Anyone who uses the first word ‘stubborn’ to describe a mule needs to look in the mirror.  Between mules and annuities, the only people that don’t like them are the ones who don’t understand them. A few years ago I took Kerry Pechter of the […]