Annuity Safety

What Type of Annuity Is Safe for You? Retirees who want to supplement their Social Security and pension income can look to their savings. They can invest those savings to generate an income or they can annuitize all or part of them. The annuity – as an insurance product – can offer a lifetime income. But are annuities safe? Well, that all depends on what you need to be safe from? Because annuities are insurance products, insurance companies can guarantee a lifetime income. Their vast number of annuity contracts allows mortality statistics to govern predictable payout obligations as a whole. So, these insurance companies need only keep their funding, investments, and finances in good order for the duration of their payout obligation to you for your safety. AM Best and others monitor each company’s ‘financial health’. But companies can potentially fail their obligations – although this possibility is generally low. If you start with annuities that have a safety rating of A+ form AM best and AA from S&P, your annuity safety will be high. Retirees either want to begin annuitization (getting monthly payouts) right away or delaying it until there much older. The latter option is a form of [...]

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