Annuity Rate Renewal Time

If you bought a fixed deferred annuity a few years ago, you may be looking at the end of your initial annuity rate guarantee, and the renewal annuity rates could be lower than they were when you first made the investment.  Some fixed annuities leave you no option other than accepting the current one-year rate, or transferring the annuity to another one so you can lock in a new, long-term annuity rate guarantee.     However, a one-year annuity rate lock may not be such a bad idea. You could earn a reasonable return and wait until next year to see where interest rates have gone before deciding to renew for another year, or explore other options.   If your contract surrender period has ended and the renewal annuity rates are low, the annuity company might offer you a new multi-year (usually five to 10 year) annuity rate guarantee period. This could be their way of trying to keep your business rather than lose you to another insurance company. You could, however, possibly face a new round of surrender charges by doing this.  (Surrender schedules and rates vary among companies.) It might also be time to take money from your annuity through annuitization (payments over [...]

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