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Annuities are often used to generate lifetime income streams for retirees.   SPIA’s and Income Riders are the two main ways to accomplish a lifetime income stream for a single person or for a couple.  Here I will explain how both work and the positives and negatives of each.

SPIA- (Single Premium Immediate Annuity)   A SPIA is one of the oldest types of annuities and are used exclusively as a tool to generate a lifetime income stream.  The concept is simple: The annuitant gives an amount of money to the insurance company and in return, the insurance company provides the annuitant with a lifetime income stream that they can not outlive. Read more

There are more people than ever looking to use a lump sum of money to create a guaranteed future income stream.  Fixed Indexed annuities are usually the most predictable way to do this and they also offer the highest future guaranteed life payouts.

As a result, there are a number of companies offering these types of products and there are even more people selling them.  This includes brokers, insurance agents, CPA’s and CFP’s.  The fact that they put their clients in anything other than the Security Benefit Secure Income Annuity is disturbing.  Why do I say that?  The reason is that the Security Benefit product has the highest guaranteed payout.   Simply put, they pay a higher income payment than any other company. There is not a trick to the comparison. Its very simple, if you give a company an amount of money, how much will they pay you as an income stream at a future date?  Security Benefit always wins. Read more

Life Income annuities have been around for a long time.  The concept is straight forward.   You hand over a lump sum of money to the insurance company and they show you how much they will pay as income for the rest of your life.  There are a number of payout options such as a “Straight life payout” (They pay the money until you die), “Life pay with return of premium” (They pay for life and will pay any unused portion to a beneficiary if you die too soon) and a number of other options as well.

Life pay annuities are valuable when used in the right situation.  They can provide guaranteed income and are not subject to market fluctuation.  In other words, you can rely on the payout no matter what. Wikipedia has a very good article on life pay annuities that is worth reading (click her for Wikipedia article)  The only real drawback to the life income annuity is that you are giving up control of the lump sum asset.  Other lump sums should be maintained in the event it is needed.

In many cases, clients can obtain a better payout by using an indexed annuity with an income rider.  This approach always works better when someone is willing to wait a few years before starting income.  Using an income rider will allow you to know exactly how much income you can have at a future date such as 2, 5, 10 even 20 years down the road.   We always use the company that has the highest payout at the time and currently Security Benefit is the one paying the most.  They win in almost all payout scenarios.  Click Here for Security Benefit Info   This option also allows the client to maintain access to the lump sum investment which can have advantages over the traditional life annuity.

If a client is looking for immediate income, the traditional life annuity will often have the highest payout.  Given that insurance companies are constantly competing with each other to have the highest payout, it is prudent to check the market to make sure you are getting the highest payout possible.

Call (203-796-5403) or email Edward@Croweandassociates.com if you have additional questions or would like to obtain  information or quotes.