Guaranteed Annuity Quotes

The Memoirs became the most celebrated unfinished, unpublished, unread book in history. But Chateaubriand was still broke. So Madame Récamier came up with a new scheme, and this one worked - or sort of worked. A stock company was formed, and people bought shares in the manuscript. Word futures, I guess you could call them, in the same way that people from Wall Street gamble on the price of soybeans and corn. In effect, Chateaubriand mortgaged his autobiography to finance his old age. They gave him a nice chunk of money up front, which allowed him to pay off his creditors, and a guaranteed annuity for the rest of his life. It was a brilliant arrangement. The only problem was that Chateaubriand kept on living.

The insurance companies that create annuities often make them seem like investments,” he wrote in a recent explainer about annuities. “But really they’re more like insurance.” Lieber went on: “Like insurance to stave off financial disaster, an annuity is something you purchase to guarantee that you won’t run out of money if you live a long time.” In fact, thinking of annuities as insurance makes them a lot more sensible than thinking of them as investments—because as investments they are not good at all. But that’s not their goal—their goal is to insure you against the risk of outliving your money.

Well, buying an annuity means you give the insurance company a lump sum—say, $500,000 at age 60—and in return you get a guaranteed monthly payout (for example, $2,400 each month) for the rest of your life, however long that happens to be. Like all insurance, annuities aren’t free—insurance companies have to make money to stay in business!—but if your goal is to maximize the life experiences you can buy with the money you’ve earned, they’re a very sensible solution. That’s partly because, even after the insurance company’s fees, your monthly payouts amount to more than you would probably be willing to pay yourself if you wanted to make sure you didn’t outlive your money. For example, one popular rule of thumb for retirement spending is the “4 percent rule,” whereby you withdraw 4 percent from your savings each year of retirement. Well, with annuities, your annual payouts will probably amount to more than 4 percent of what you put into the annuity—and, unlike the 4 percent withdrawals, those payouts are guaranteed to continue for the rest of your life.

Exhibit 6.2 Cost of $1,000 in Monthly Lifetime Annuity Income, Starting at Age 65 Year Male Female 2004 $157,432 $167,818 2005 $157,255 $167,817 2006 $151,700 $161,363 2007 $151,524 $160,966 2008 $147,953 $155,843 2009 $156,500 $165,502 2010 $170,116 $178,410 2011 $174,828 $182,952 2012 $187,008 $195,216 2013 $183,728 $191,571 Average $163,804 $172,746 Source: CANNEX Financial Exchanges for non-COLA-adjusted qualified annuity income with a 10-year guarantee for California.

These objections mainly being that, by purchasing an annuity, you have to give your money to an insurance company in exchange for any guarantees.

One of the simplest ways to strengthen a headline is attachment of a Flag. The Flag is brief, as brief as a single word, stuck on the front of the headline, to reach out and grab the attention of certain specific prospects, by telegraphing that the message is specifically for them. This puts the “who is this for?” ahead of what is being advertised and sold. Here are examples of successful generic headlines with different kinds of flags attached. Headlines Before Attaching Flags Corns Gone in 5 Days or Money Back Guaranteed Weight Loss Up to 15 Pounds First 15 Days — With No Exercise How to Have Eager Prospects Calling and Begging for Next-Day Appointments 28 Days to Healthier Gums Headlines After Adding a Who-Is-This-For? Flag Waiters and Waitresses on Your Feet for Hours: Corns Gone In 5 Days or Money Back Disappointed Dieters: Guaranteed Weight Loss Up to 15 Pounds First 15 Days — with No Exercise Annuity Agents: How to Have Eager Prospects Calling and Begging for Next-Day Appointments Seniors: 28 Days to Healthier Gums Another form of flagging is to focus on the “ill to be cured” or “problem to be solved.” This is usually best done by posing a question, as in these examples: Same Headlines After Adding a Problem Flag Foot Pain? Corns Gone in 5 Days or Money Back Embarrassing Belly Bulge? Guaranteed Weight Loss Up to 15 Pounds First 15 Days — with No Exercise No One to Sell to? How to Have Eager Prospects Calling and Begging for Next-Day Appointments Blood on Your Toothbrush? 28 Days to Healthier Gums

However, the biggest factor is the product you select. Every annuity contract is different in the amount of contractually guaranteed income it will provide, so it’s important you understand this before you pull the trigger.

Another hidden danger with ‘switch and get rich’ is that older pensions might have guaranteed bonuses or annuity rate guarantees hidden away in the small print. Many of these will date from the 1980s and 1990s when interest rates were higher and stock-market performance was much better than it is today and will be for at least the next five to ten years. Most savers probably don’t know about these guarantees and may be lured into switching from older, better funds and thus losing valuable benefits.

Your annuity can be guaranteed (it pays out for an agreed number of years even if you pop your clogs) or not guaranteed (if you go to a better place, the annuity provider keeps all your money).