It’s a great question that I got a few weeks ago during a meeting and it stumped me for just a second.  Dianne and Fred have saved more than enough for retirement and their income needs are modest in comparison to the total portfolio value.  They are also young, both under the age of 60, […]

During Preparation for a meeting this week I was running numbers and comparing options for a couple in California.  They had recently been to a dinner seminar to get some answers to retirement questions.  Of course the follow-up meeting included an annuity pitch so they decided to do some research online to verify whether they […]

Regardless of your expectations when you first hit the website, you should know by now that I try to get everyone to think about annuities differently.  Most of you come here with a general interest in annuities, trying to find a solution to a specific problem.  If I join the chorus and just stick with […]

For the past year or so the Federal Reserve has been steadily increasing rates at every meeting.  Response from consumer product rates was similar as we saw modest rate increases in all types of financial vehicles.  Mortgages may be a touch more expensive but options for conservative savings gave people better opportunities for safe income […]

It’s the foundation of many retirement plans.  You all paid into it so everyone is entitled to receive something in return after years of contributions.  As part of planning for retirement you need to get an estimate of benefits and compare different strategies for getting the most from the system.  It makes retirement easier by […]

Lots of people tend to overthink big financial decisions.  It happens all the time with annuities.  When you’ve heard constantly from other sources that annuities are complicated then your search is started with a negative opinion, grounded in nothing but someone else’s opinion.  You’ve probably owned mutual funds before but I doubt that many of […]

Last week a loyal reader of the weekly newsletters responded to me and asked if I’d give some advice specific to his situation.  He correctly assumed that others were in a similar position and it would help himself and other people who are trying to decide when and how to retire.  So I’m going to […]

Over the past few weeks I have come across a couple proposals from other advisors that have revealed something of a trend throughout my career.  Certain annuity illustrations can be made to produce spectacular numbers and it’s fine if someone chooses to believe those results will happen but more realistic expectations will give you a […]

This is always a tough issue to address because there is no objective definition for the best annuity.  Last week one of my readers sent me the link for Barron’s Top 50 Annuities of 2018.  The highly regarded financial publication puts a list out every year and Steve wanted to know my thoughts. Barron’s list […]

The traditional safe haven for investors is one thing I see with just about every plan and I’m not sure I agree with such widespread use of this asset class.  Bonds are a consistent source of interest payments and usually come with much less volatility than the stock market.  For those reasons bonds have been […]