Annuities?

[Sigarms]

Local bank in my area paying 4% on 15 month cd. Best locally I've seen.

Had to stop at the bank we want to ditch to get some accounts changed to a different beneficiary. They're doing 12 month at 4.5%. Going to stop at a credit union we joined recently but really haven't done anything with yet to see if they have anything.

Thanks for all the input to everyone, been of great help.

 

[riptides]

For some reason, in my head, I always thought of annuities, as LONG term investment platforms.

That said, I bailed on one about ten years ago that had a pretty good run up. As I got closer to that mythical fantasy of retirement we closed it out and put it into an IRA. The return looks a lot better in the IRA, even with the fluctuations in the market.

And yes, I sat down with three financial advisors, one of which is the SO, LOL, before we took action. Their modeling programs were pretty amazing to see. So far, right on track. My thing is we plan for "Significantly Below Average Market Conditions" returns. LOL.

 

[MossRoad]

Had to stop at the bank we want to ditch to get some accounts changed to a different beneficiary. They're doing 12 month at 4.5%. Going to stop at a credit union we joined recently but really haven't done anything with yet to see if they have anything.

Thanks for all the input to everyone, been of great help.

I've been a member of a local Credit Union since I was about 10 years old. No complaints. We use one of their financial advisors for free. We also go to Fidelity for free. And then we compare the advice both of them give us. They are very similar.

 

[Sigarms]

I've been a member of a local Credit Union since I was about 10 years old. No complaints. We use one of their financial advisors for free. We also go to Fidelity for free. And then we compare the advice both of them give us. They are very similar.

I've been a member of a federal credit unit union for about 35 years now, generally always used them for my credit cards (2 of them, one for work, one for personal).

My father belonged to the same credit union as well. Let just say that after dealing with them on a couple of things, I'd much rather prefer to deal with people more "one on one" than having to play Russian phone roulette, never actually meeting the person you're dealing with.

This is why both my wife and I went local, where we can set an appointment to and actually see someone in person.

 

[M59]

For some reason, in my head, I always thought of annuities, as LONG term investment platforms.

That said, I bailed on one about ten years ago that had a pretty good run up. As I got closer to that mythical fantasy of retirement we closed it out and put it into an IRA. The return looks a lot better in the IRA, even with the fluctuations in the market.

And yes, I sat down with three financial advisors, one of which is the SO, LOL, before we took action. Their modeling programs were pretty amazing to see. So far, right on track. My thing is we plan for "Significantly Below Average Market Conditions" returns. LOL.

SO? Not familiar with that shorthand.

 

[MossRoad]

Significant Other

 

[Richard]

Anyone invest in annuities?

I work with Northwestern Mutual on an old 401K from an old company and have a couple of whole life insurance plans. I like the guy I work with (always talk to him on the phone as he's two hours away from me).

We have some money tied up in CD's that will be maturing soon from the bank, as well as some "expendable" cash sitting in our savings account that really isn't generating any type of interest.

Needless to say, anything we "invest" isn't "do or die money" and we're figuring we'll be here at our home for the last 18 years until we figure out the game-plan with my wife's 76 year old mother.

Thing is, best rates I've seen on CD's from the bank is around 4%. Could do much better with a annuity.

We don't want to play the stock market with the assessable money we have as our 401K's haven't done as well the last couple of years, but consider it a sin to have money sitting in the bank where it's not generating any substantial income and would like something low to no risk as to losing the investment. We understand that until we both hit age 59, any interest generated from the annuity will be dinged an additional 10% for taxes.

Feel free to PM me with your phone number. I'm a credentialed financial advisor....been in the biz for 36 years, hold several Principals licences (in addition to being "just" an advisor), managed a small local firm for 10 years....

I can cover as complete education on pros/cons as you are willing to absorb.

AND, I have no vested interest in what you do.... so I can be completely honest.

If you take me up on this, it will be a bit of playing phone tag....I work in the field most days and on a day like today, I have a bunch of remote meetings from home.

 

[Richard]

Think about this, you have any bonds, annuities, whole life insurance or anything else, you die, it can be a pain in the butt through probate to deal with the will. A trust makes transfers painless with no probate.

We're in the process now of getting our 401K's into the trust as we thought we had one (estate), but only had a basic will. In the process with all of our other assets as well.

More later perhaps....but my thoughts are:

BANK accounts, put a POD beneficiary on them
Brokerage accounts, put a TOD beneficiary on them

(Payable on death, Transfer on death)

Both bypass probate. Person who inherits a brokerage account, inherits a stepped up cost basis

You are not going to get an *active* 401K "into a trust".... and, (my opinion) you don't want the trust as beneficiary unless you have unusal situation. There ARE times it makes sense, but as a blanket comment, I always recommend an individual.

 

[Oaktree]

Local bank in my area paying 4% on 15 month cd. Best locally I've seen.

Sure beats anything offered near me. My bank is offering a limited time 7 month CD @2.75%, another at 3.25% for the same term, $20,000 minimum, new money only.
No other CD rates are listed on their website.

 

[Oaktree]

I've been a member of a local Credit Union since I was about 10 years old. No complaints. We use one of their financial advisors for free.

I've never belonged to a credit union, there's one around here but I don't see any advantages of it over a commercial bank...the rates paid/charged are pretty close. Don't know what restrictions you have to meet to qualify to join, at least at one time most were quite specific...you had to be a municipal employee or work in a certain field, etc. I'm very leery of bank financial advisors, they all seem to be paid on commission and tend to steer you towards investments that benefit them, not necessarily you. Learned that lesson the hard way.