ANNUITIES

Annuities are legal contracts made with insurance companies. They can provide retirement income based on savings contributions and accrued interest earnings. Also, annuities offer annuitized payments for life. Furthermore, some will even match your contributions. For example, the Allianz 222 Annuity. Contribution matching could add 20% or more! Thus, annuities can provide a very good option for retirement income.

LIFE INSURANCE

Life Insurance can provide peace of mind to your loved ones. Also, there is a type of life insurance that can indirectly provide retirement income payments to you. For example, the Allianz Life Pro+ Advantage Life. Additionally, with careful planning, income payments could last for life. Finally, you can take payments without paying taxes! So this type of life insurance can provide a very good option for retirement income.

HEALTH RIDERS

Many Annuities and Life Insurance policies allow options, called Riders. Some are financial in nature. But, some relate to health. For example, an Annuity or Life Insurance policy may provide a Rider for Long Term Care or Terminal Illness situations. Although it's true that standalone health insurance could also provide Long Term Care protection, most often an LTC Rider with an income product provides a better value.

Annuities or Life Insurance?

Fixed/Indexed Annuities and Fixed/Indexed Universal Life Insurance are very powerful tools for use in retirement financial planning. But which tool should you use? Or should you use both? Or is neither appropriate? The following is a comparison between the two tools, which highlights the important similarities and differences:

FIXED OR INDEXED ANNUITY (NOT VARIABLE)

Investment Attributes
  • Funds are Nonqualified or Qualified (Trad IRA or Roth IRA)
  • Principal is tax-deferred (Trad) or taxed (Roth, Non)
  • Principal investment is protected from market loss
  • Interest is tax-deferred (Trad, Non) or tax-free (Roth)
  • Interest rate is fixed or market-indexed (never < 0%)
Retirement Income
  • Includes Annuitization or Lifetime Income option
  • Lifetime Income has premium and interest bonus (some)
  • Lifetime Income has anti-inflation increases (some)
Death Benefit
  • Includes Death Benefit of account balance (unless annuitized)
  • Has no option for additional Term Insurance Death Benefit
  • Death Benefit is taxable (Trad) or partially taxable (Roth, Non)
  • Death Benefit has no extra cost
Health Benefit
  • Includes Long-Term Care Insurance coverage option (some)
  • Lifetime Income increases for chronic illness (some)

FIXED OR INDEXED UNIVERSAL LIFE INSURANCE (NOT VARIABLE)

Investment Attributes
  • Funds are Nonqualified
  • Principal is taxed
  • Principal investment is protected from market loss
  • Interest is tax-deferred (withdrawal) or tax-free (loan)
  • Interest rate is fixed or market-indexed (never < 0%)
Retirement Income
  • Includes Tax-free loans that do not have to be re-paid
  • Includes interest bonus (some)
  • Has no anti-inflation increases (manually increase as needed)
Death Benefit
  • Includes Death Benefit amount much larger than premiums
  • Includes option for additional Term Insurance Death Benefit
  • Death Benefit is tax-free
  • Death Benefit has an extra cost (Cost of Insurance)
Health Benefit
  • Includes Long-Term Care Insurance coverage option (some)
  • Has Living Benefit for critical, chronic or terminal illness
Example of annuity retirement income

Highlighted: Allianz 222 Annuity

Like all Fixed Index Annuities (FIAs), the Allianz 222 Annuity offers principal protection from market downturns. Also, it offers potential interest (based on chosen allocation options), tax deferral, and a death benefit.

Additionally, the Allianz 222 Annuity goes even further:

  • Firstly, you get 2 ways for a bonus. Allianz 222 Annuity credits the Protected Income Value with a 20% premium bonus in contract year one. Also, the Protected Income Value receives an interest bonus equal to 50% of any interest earned from the chosen allocations.
  • Secondly, you get 2 ways for income increases. Income withdrawals increase based on earned interest plus the interest bonus. Also, confinement to an eligible hospital, nursing facility, or assisted-living facility doubles the income withdrawals.
  • Lastly, you get 2 ways for a death benefit. Your beneficiaries get the full accumulation value as a lump sum. Alternatively, they get the full Protected Income Value as annuity payments for at least five years.
Example of life insurance retirement income

Highlighted: Allianz Life Pro+ Advantage

The Allianz Life Pro+ Advantage Indexed Universal Life Insurance provides more features than standard life insurance:

  • A death benefit provides generally tax-free funds to your beneficiaries.
  • Additional Term Insurance adapts coverage amount as needed.
  • The Life Insurance policy account accumulates a tax-deferred cash value. Also, an interest bonus (available on certain index allocation options) can help increase the accumulation.
  • Fund options help meet future financial needs with the ability to access available cash value when you want, for what you want.
  • Health provision protects against chronic or terminal illness.
  • Index lock provides ability to capture indexed interest rate. Also, this feature can help protect against a zero-interest credit.

Available Insurance Companies

The above highlighted Allianz products are examples of feature-rich annuities and life insurance. As a result, they are flexible to meet general purpose needs. However, there are other less costly products available that have less features. Consequently, these other products could be better at meeting the specific needs of a client. So at SET, we take the time to understand our client's needs. Consequently, we can recommend an income product best suited to meet those needs.

In the southwest region of the United States that SET services, the following insurance companies are available (some variances may exist between the specific states of the region):

ANNUITIES

AIG (MSG)

American Equity

American National

Athene

Annexus Athene (IA)

Baltimore Life

Delaware Life

Fidelity and Guaranty Life

Global Atlantic

Global Atlantic - Elite

Great American

Legacy Marketing Group

Life of the Southwest

Mutual of Omaha

National Western

Nationwide - Annexus

North American

Pacific Life

Security Benefit

Transamerica - Annexus

LIFE INSURANCE

AIG

Ameritas

Life of the Southwest

Lincoln National

Minnesota Life

Mutual of Omaha

National Guardian Life

Nationwide Life

New York Life

North American

One America

Protective Life

Symetra Life

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