The following are some of our more recent and past articles, news stories and media pieces specific to the solutions we’ve offered our clients for two decades.

Is $7 a Gallon of Gas Likely?

This clip is from Fox Business Network in early 2011, wherein the subject is Mid-East turmoil and the potential for gasoline prices to exceed $4 per gallon within months. The guest expert, Ty J. Young, a leading investment counselor in Atlanta, provides a context for his price/gallon prediction, and then ends with a discussion about the 3 “protected places” that his clients choose to safeguard their funds: FDIC-insured accounts, treasuries, and guaranteed insurance contracts. His clients prefer the guaranteed insurance contract called a fixed index annuity; when the stock market goes up, they get some of that as an interest credit, but when the market declines they don’t lose last years’ gains: “It’s not about how much you make, it’s about how much you get to keep…”

CNBC On The Money Talks About Indexed Annuities

This clip is from CNBC’s The Money Line call-in program wherein an FIA owner, Mark, has been “advised by friends” to incur surrender penalties to get out of an index annuity in which he’s “averaged 5.15% per year over 5 years” without risk—to get back into the stock market (assumed to be going up soon) with risk. The advisors on CNBC’s panel first laughingly question the source of the recommendation to surrender (“Are they brokers?”), then tell the caller that he “should be thanking the person who sold it to you!” Incidentally, during the 5-year period in question (3/17/04 to 3/17/09, the date of the broadcast), the S&P 500 had lost 31% of its value (1124 to 778), yet Mark (the caller) claims his initial $175,000 is now worth $225,000, an increase of 28.6% or 5.7%/year. (One of the panelists incorrectly calculates the yield at 5.15% during the call.) In context, then, Mark “outperformed” the market—up 28.6% versus down 31%—by a whopping 59.6% in 5 years! The question no one thought to ask him next is this: “Mark, given the 59% “head start” that your index annuity now has over any assets you might still have exposed to the market right now, how long do you think it might take those equities to catch up to the annuity—especially given that the annuity will also grow in rising markets?” Conservatively, the answer is 15 to 20 years; realistically it could be never.

The Unloved Annuity Gets a Hug

The above piece also includes this quote as shared in our seminar: “…(S)tockbrokers and financial planners (often oppose the FIA). Once money goes into an annuity, they can’t earn commissions from trading it anymore and may not be able to charge fees for managing it. (They even) have a charming term for this phenomenon—‘annuicide’. You (protect your holdings), and their revenue dies. …Many of them will try to talk you out of it.” …A nice, rare piece of honesty from the financial media, many of whom happily oblige their mutual fund advertisers.

CNBC Financial Advisor Network

This CNBC clip from 2010 initially deals with the wisdom/timing of selling BP stock—and what to do with the proceeds. The guest advisor discusses the three “Protected Places” in which his clients are guaranteed against losses, the highest yielding of which is the FIA. It’s a 1:41 clip, but only the last 45 seconds are relevant to the FIA:

VOICES: Chris Hobart, On Hybrid Annuities

Fox News Talks About Indexed Annuities

Why Your CPA Prefers Index Annuities

Why My Fixed Annuity is My Smartest Investment

Busting the Fixed Annuities Myth

Annuities Are Perfect for Some Investors

Obama Administration Will Promote the Use of Annuities to Fund Retirements

Study: FIA Returns “Competitive”…This link also includes a link to the Wharton School study that is cited in our seminar.

Fixed Annuities: Everything Old is New Again …This piece, from NH Public Radio, addresses plain vanilla fixed annuities, products yielding around 3-4% today, but has many relevant quotes about market risk. Fixed Index Annuities are obviously higher yielding, as we’ve shown you, with typical interest credits in the 5-9% range in rising markets (and the potential to do much higher on occasion), with no ability to lose those gains amid a downturn or market implosion.

MarketWatch.com For the most up-to-the-minute summary of economic and market news, articles, and connecting links to a wide variety of web publications, nothing beats MarketWatch.

BigCharts.com Click on Markets, then on Major Indexes, to track the advances/declines in any of dozens of stock market indices around the world. Also: Click on Historical Quotes, type in ‘SP500’ in the “Enter Symbol” box, and type in your Index Annuity contract inception date to see how well you’ve done since you got into it—as compared to what the markets have done during the same period.

SherylJMoore.com For the pulse of the industry, recent news, articles, comparisons, and articulate and informed rebuttals on the media’s tired old negativity on annuities, no one beats Sheryl J. Moore, the “walking encyclopedia” of the annuity industry. Sheryl’s bio and background are unmatched in the United States, and she is a passionate defender of the value proposition of annuities when used suitably and ethically as one tool among many in an advisor’s toolbox.

SocialSecurity.gov Click on the link to read the Trustee’s latest report on the solvency of Social Security benefits. Note: They are reporting a deficit for 2010; to wit “…Social Security expenditures are expected to exceed tax receipts this year for the first time since 1983. The projected deficit of $41 billion this year (excluding interest income) is attributable to the recession and to an expected $25 billion downward adjustment to 2010 income... This deficit is expected to shrink substantially for 2011 and to return to small surpluses for years 2012-2014 due to the improving economy. After 2014 deficits are expected to grow rapidly as the baby boom generation’s retirement causes the number of beneficiaries to grow substantially more rapidly than the number of covered workers…” (our emphasis)

NationalDebtClock.org For a sobering look at our National Debt and many other fiscal, tax, and budgetary categories/statistics, nothing beats the visual created by this site! Our early-arriving seminar attendees are often mesmerized by its implications, as we stream it live in the 40 minutes prior to many of our events. Scroll across the face of each category for a pop-up explanation of what the figure represents, as well as the source for its value. Notice the Dept per Taxpayer/Citizen figures, and that the total cost of Federal, State and Local government, divided into our GDP, comes to about 32%, meaning that government consumes nearly a third of our annual production as a nation whether you pay taxes or not!

RealClearPolitics.com For an excellent source of opinion, news, analysis, videos and the latest polling data, click on Real Clear Politics.

IRS.gov Download forms and type in your questions at the Treasury’s Internal Revenue site.

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