Life Insurance and Annuities: Are they Bad?

As a coach and a course instructor, I produce all the live events for The Retirement Research Foundation. 

One of my most popular courses is one about Maximizing Your Social Security. Every single course I teach, hundreds of times without fail, I have the same conversation with at least one person at the end, and most times there are three or four gatherings. As I finish up, these sweet older folks will hang back, eager to speak with me. They approach me and tell me the same sad story: 

“I don't have any money--how will I pay my bills when I’m retired?

These people will tell me how they do not have a pension and that they are worried they will run out of money. They are fearful of how they will pay for a new car someday or how to pay for their care when they are older and their health fails. It’s a sad conversation. But it doesn’t have to be. Let me tell you why.

It is very common to be sitting with a potential new client at my office when he or she tells me, “Buying life insurance is a bad decision,” or, “I’ve been told I should never buy life insurance,” or “My neighbor tells me that annuities are just terrible.” It’s impossible to know how we got to the point in our country where we have taken to inserting our emotions and opinions into factual information. What does this mean? All these financial products are tools, just tools. The frustrating thing to me is that when I hear people say, “I don't believe in life insurance,” or “ Annuities are bad,” it’s just that they included their opinion or their emotion as they are talking about these products. 

Life insurance and annuities are vehicles that help you do a job. You would not look into your toolbox and say, “Hammers are bad,” or “Screwdrivers are terrible.” Tools are neither good nor bad, they are merely options for completing a specific function. Sadly, institutions exist that have positioned their marketing and their representatives’ careers around labeling certain products with negative or positive emotions. This, in my opinion, is a reason to move on to another advisor. When a professional put their own emotions or their own feelings, or a positive or negative connotation around certain tools or certain facts, I say, walk away. Trustworthiness emerges when the facts speak for themselves. If you share your objective, and I offer my own opinions and attempt to sway you or push you into one thing or another, this is far from being objective. 

The Ultimate Truth about Life Insurance and Annuities

Life insurance and annuities guarantee widows will not be destitute. An annuity is a simple tool that guarantees widows will not fear the future, guaranteeing the conversations at the end of my social security seminars can stop. Life insurance is a guaranteed tax-free windfall to a surviving spouse that can be put in place with pennies on the dollar. A person with few assets and a meager income will not need to attempt to accumulate a pile of wealth, all they need is to have some security to pass to their spouse. With life insurance, this person can efficiently accomplish this. 

Is THAT the Whole Story About Annuities and Life Insurance?

There are MANY different types of life insurance and annuities. In fact, they can help with things that no other products can do 100 percent. These other strategies are more complex and the best way for you to learn what’s right for you and YOUR future retirement is to call and make an appointment with me. I can unpack all of these ideas, explaining to them so you can make the right decision.