My Agent Guaranteed Me a 7% Rate of Return

Let me start by saying, Eee Gads...! In 2009 the Insurance Industry began to actively market the concept of "income rider attachments" to equity indexed annuity contracts. These attachments to contracts, paid for on annual basis by the annuity holder, would guarantee to the policy owner a lifetime income payment at a time and point of the owners choosing.

My Annuity Will Go to the Insurance Company When I Die

I must confess, it is hard for me, after so many years in this business, that this myth prevails, but prevail it certainly does — because I could not sell annuities to you if this were the case.

Like any industry with a history of practice in this country, however, there have been some malfeasances.

My Annuity Will Give Me 100% of the Market's Growth, and None of the Downside

Q. Who said in that classic movie of yesteryear, "There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home...?"

A. Why, Dorothy, of course! In "The Wizard of Oz", as she clicked her heels together and dreamed happy thoughts she repeated, "There's no place like home..."

Annuities: An Efficient Use of My Money

Often from the popular financial press one will hear that the annuity cannot be relied on for the exemplary returns needed to sustain oneself in retirement. This is a purely subjective statement, usually propagated by financial pundits who can afford to...

My Annuity is a Substitute for Long Term Care Insurance

This half truth does not come so much from industry personnel; rather it derives from a pseudo-comfort that many consumers feel about their annuity that it should be utilized as the "last resort" for long term care needs.

My Annuity Cannot be Taken by

Creditors if I am Sued

This compelling proposition has been promulgated by a contingent of insurance agents for a long while, often using the anecdotes of O.J. Simpson moving to Florida to protect his annuities from judgements.

My Annuity Will Qualify Me for Medicaid

This particularly antiquated suggestion was used in the past by agents as an inducement to purchase an annuity and primarily presented as a "gold card" for complimentary access to a Medicaid funded long term care facility — IF you ever needed one, that is, or even wanted one! This old sales idea that an annuity could potentially qualify an individual to obtain...

My Annuity Can Never Go Down in Value

I have met a lot of investors who were under the impression their annuity will automatically earn 5% annually and never go down — when they discover something different than this, they may be subject to H.D.N.S.T. Most readers of this website are unaware of a non-contagious biological virus that afflicts a certain segment of the annuity owner population.

Annuities: More Expensive than Mutual Funds

This simplistic assertion should always be re-examined on a case-by-case basis methodically — the 2 financial instruments are apples and oranges apart in terms of their purpose, structure, tax status, liquidity and average investor type. Any decision to choose between either a mutual fund or annuity based solely on cost may ultimately be a red herring.