Part II: Sleep At Night Annuities
As 2025 comes to a close, I look back at it and realize that everything seems to be ok right now. Sure, there are questions with the economy but tell me when that wasn’t the case. The stock market is in good shape and interest rates are holding in a solid place. Those who stayed exposed to risk are doing just fine and anyone who took risk off the table is also in good shape. We had volatility like most other years but when it rallies back real fast then we don’t have to second guess decisions or fear long term damage. The stock market dropped nearly 20% in March and April but steadily climbed back to be up more than 10% so far this year. Yes, things usually work out but you really have to decide what type of ride you want to take.
In the past I’ve seen a lot of agents try to convince people that the stock market is going to crash so people should take all their money out of it. Anyone who listened to people like that may regret missing out on big gains over the past ten years. You may notice that I never said anything like that and always encouraged people to leave room for market growth in a portfolio. Instead of pitting the stock market against annuities, I worked to find ways that the two can work together in a portfolio. The goal is more safety and just as much growth potential. It’s not about what the annuity does, it’s what the annuity helps you avoid.
When the market was a wreck earlier this year I heard from a client who bought an income annuity from me a couple of years ago. It was a big commitment for him and we got him the best deal on the market. No one can argue that. He told me that this was the first time in his life that he felt no stress when his market assets lost value because his lifestyle wouldn’t change at all. The annuity made sure it didn’t affect him. He didn’t have to make any major decisions to change allocations which increases the likelihood of making a mistake. He could just ride it out and wait so that’s what he did. It’s little stories like this that confirm what I’m doing.
He doubled down and sent me another message about how satisfied he is. It’s the best I can do to let you know how it feels to own a good annuity and it comes directly from him… “So I want to thank you again for working with us 18 months ago. We have been receiving the $4600 income from our SPIA since June 2024. That’s 18 months for a total of $82k. And our all in was $750k. Nice
It makes me and my wife feel secure and confident and now that I’ve been retired since Aug 1 there has been a “serenity” I didn’t think I would experience not working and missing those fat payroll checks and commissions each month.”
Going back to these cases reminds me of how different this process is and I’ve talked about this case a few times. Everyone was trying to sell him a GLWB for whatever reason but they didn’t check the entire market. If that was the best thing for him then I would have said he could go ahead and do business with the guys who made the recommendation first. I just checked SPIAs to know for sure. What a surprise when we found out that a SPIA would pay him more. Sometimes it goes the other way but we check both sides in every case, and not just because this was a large sale.
He got the best deal available and is more and more satisfied as time goes by. He did everything but say that it helps him sleep better at night. We ran a podcast with that title nearly two years ago and it got a good response. That idea came from a couple who was evaluating annuities and the wife said, “I just want to be able to sleep at night.” In that episode I talked about all the different ways that annuities provide safety. Throughout this year I took a different approach using the same information and talked about the point of it all, which is making more money. If you can add protection to your portfolio without limiting growth or even growing more because of it, would that help you sleep at night?
As we move forward I will continue to do things the same way because I truly want you to get the best deal. I don’t want the stock market to collapse and I’m not ever going to try to scare into buying something. It’s true that business is good for me when the economy is terrible but I greatly prefer the last three years over the previous 20. If the stock market stays strong we’ll have strong interest rates. You’ll always be able to get a good deal if you buy an annuity. It’s much better to play offense in retirement than defense so that’s what I’ll always show you how to do.
Market volatility will always come and go with some down periods lasting longer than others. Annuities help you sleep at night so you can ride the volatility and get more profitability because of it. If you have a safe pool of money to use so you’re not forced to adjust investment to protect your lifestyle it will give you more benefits in the long run. Sometimes the guaranteed income is the best way so spending isn’t dependent on market returns. When you are ready to stop worrying about it then get on my calendar. I’ll show you how annuities make things better and I’m not going to tell you to get out of the market entirely. There’s no reason to not at least check it out.
Have a great weekend!
Bryan
Watch Episode 207: Part II: Sleep At Night Annuities
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Last Updated on December 10, 2025 by Bryan Anderson
