If you’re planning early retirement, one of the biggest questions you might have is: Can an annuity provide income before age 59½ without penalties? This is a question I get all the time from people who want to retire in their 50s or early 60s. The challenge is that the IRS has rules about withdrawing
How to Choose an Annuity if You Plan to Retire Early Read More »
If you’re approaching retirement, one of the most common questions I hear is this: “Should I buy an annuity inside my IRA or 401(k)?” It’s a great question. Many people want lifetime income, but they also want to keep the tax advantages of their retirement accounts. The good news is that you can buy an
Should You Buy an Annuity Inside Your IRA or 401(k)? Read More »
Most Retirees Fear a Tax Surprise, But Few Have Done Anything About It Americans spend decades saving for retirement, tracking their 401(k)s, monitoring the market, and calculating how much they’ll need to stop working. What most do not calculate, however, is how much of that money will get taxed by the IRS once it’s pulled
Retirement Tax Surprise Index: One-Third of Retirees Have No Plan Read More »
If you’ve been invested for a while, you already know one thing about the stock market: it goes up… and it crashes. Over the last few decades we’ve seen major downturns caused by wars, inflation spikes, interest rate changes, and economic turmoil. And if history tells us anything, market volatility isn’t going away. So many
How Do I Protect My Retirement From Market Crashes Without Sitting in Cash? Read More »
One of the most common retirement questions I hear is this: “Should I just take 4% from my investment portfolio… or are annuities a better option?” For decades, advisors have recommended the 4% rule as a “safe withdrawal rate” in retirement. But today’s market conditions are very different than when that rule was created. And
Are Annuities Better Than Just Taking 4% From My Portfolio? Read More »
If there’s one thing most retirees and pre-retirees agree on, it’s this: nobody likes paying more taxes than they have to. I certainly don’t. The good news is that there are legal ways to reduce taxes in retirement, and annuities can sometimes play a role in that strategy. But it depends on how the annuity
Can Annuities Reduce My Taxes (Legally)? Read More »
One of the most common questions I get from people approaching retirement is this: “How much of my portfolio should actually go into annuities?” And it’s a great question. If you’re researching retirement income, you’ve probably heard everything from “never buy an annuity” to “put everything into one.” The reality is somewhere in the middle
How Much of My Portfolio Should Go Into Annuities? Read More »
If you’re thinking about buying an income annuity, there are a few things you need to know before you sign anything. In my experience, this is where a lot of people get blindsided. They’re shown one or two annuities, told it’s a great fit, and never really shown what else is available. That’s a problem.
What Most Brokers Don’t Tell You Before You Buy an Income Annuity Read More »
If you are researching annuities right now, one of the biggest questions you should be asking is this: what is the true cost of an income rider? I get asked that all the time, and for good reason. Income riders can create powerful lifetime income, but they are not free, and if you do not
What Is the True Cost of an Income Rider? Read More »
If you are searching for the highest paying annuities, the first thing I want you to know is this: there is no single “best” annuity for everyone. The highest paying annuity depends on what you want the contract to do. Some people want the highest lifetime income. Others want the highest fixed rate. Others want
The Highest Paying Annuities Read More »
