Why You Should Buy an Annuity From Me

I keep telling everyone that I get all my ideas from your feedback so I encourage everyone to share thoughts and questions because a variety of perspectives is the best way to find the best answers. It’s not often that I get stumped but this one certainly had the chance.  It’s a good question but before the lump formed in my throat the obvious answer and explanation came to me.

I had worked through the process with Rick for a few weeks.  It was a throwback to episode 102, Annuity Solutions are Easy, which means I didn’t have a hard time figuring it out but he needed to understand it.  We took time and went through all the options.  He had met with a couple other people and found a benchmark before we ever talked.  His goals were predictable retirement income and he wanted to find the most efficient way to do it.  Mathematics aside, it’s different for everyone because personal preference has a lot to do with it.

When we first spoke I quickly learned that he had already seen a number of proposals.  In some cases it would be easy for me to confirm that he already had the best option in front of him.  It wasn’t the case this time because I was able to quickly find him a better option elsewhere.  When I say solutions are easy it was certainly the case this time.  I was able to find  Rick a savings of more than 20% on the annuity or he could choose to take more income with the same amount of money.

As is standard with me, rather than just jumping to recommend the income deal, I ran numbers on deferred annuities that would give him more control over the money.  All these options were plugged into the spreadsheet to see which produced the best results.  He was having a hard time deciding which path to take so I asked, “should we prove it?”  That’s what the spreadsheet works best for.  The results leaned toward favoring an income annuity so he decided on that mostly because it would be easier for his wife if he wasn’t around later in life.

While we were doing the paperwork and before he signed anything he asked, “why should I buy an annuity from you? He also mentioned that he didn’t mean any offense but was just wondering what difference it makes between me and anyone else.  I was not at all offended because it gave me an opportunity to remind everyone how this service is different.  Giving every other advisor the benefit of the doubt, I’ll assume that most haven’t done as much work to understand all the options as I have.

All the other people he talked to about his retirement plans had recommended one single solution.  Variable and indexed annuities with income riders were all mentioned but by different people.  I was the first person to compare both of those to an immediate annuity and nobody came up with the idea to use a multi year guaranteed fixed annuity.  Furthermore, no one could take all these options, test them over historic scenarios to see which works best.  I gave him all the options so he could make the choice that he felt was best.  There’s not a financial guru in the whole country who could argue with the results.  My reward for the work was to write the business and make a little money.

I take the same process with everyone else but we don’t always talk about it.  Some people come in knowing exactly what they want.  Then it’s my job to make sure that they are focused on the right thing.  If so, we don’t need to go into all the details.  I had one of those last week with a couple who had done a pile of research and knew exactly what they wanted.  We set up a second meeting to do the paperwork.  During the second call I realized quickly that the husband and wife were not on the same page.  I had to pull the plug and tell them not to buy the annuity.  Not many agents would walk away from that but it’s better for them and my business in the long run.

As agents and advisors, we are actually required to offer multiple options.  Almost everyone I talk to has only seen multiple options because they’ve talked to multiple people.  Then they get stuck trying to figure out whose opinion makes the most sense.  I do it the right way so you can see it all in one place and use your own judgment to find the deal that works best for you.  Too many people are focused on selling rather than educating first.  You don’t always get different annuities from me but you will move forward with more confidence.  If that sounds like what you’d rather do then you’re in the right place.

Bryan

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE: WHY BUY AN ANNUITY FROM ME

Last Updated on October 13, 2023 by Bryan Anderson