I have never invested in an annuity but I am considering doing so. My wife and I sold our home at the beginning of April in Michigan and we moved to Oregon where I found a new job. We are currently renting a home owned by my employer and we may continue to do so long term as opposed to buying a home here. If we do that then I need to somehow invest the money we have from selling our Michigan home. I hate having that much money just sitting in the bank and not earning any money for us. So I might perhaps put that money into an annuity.

I do like having my own home but the prices here for something decent are quite high and it does tend to tie one down. The business where I work is getting sold at the beginning of January and I will likely remain working here but I am not certain of that. Partly will the new owners be good people to work with? Will they be able to increase my wage which is low compared to the industry standard. So I am currently glad that we did not try to buy a home immediately after moving to Oregon.

Anyway I would love to hear some thoughts on what I can do with the proceeds from selling our Michigan home until we might decide to buy a home if ever.

I am guessing that I will retire in about 10 years and hopefully my wife will do the same in about 14 years.

Don’t care much for annuities. Lose too much control of your money. ETF’s are better and I suggest Vanguard.

Advice #1 DON'T buy an annuity for any reason whatsoever.They are the next worst investment next to Whole Life Insurance.Borderline scams.

Get a competent investment firm, and if you don't know or don't want to deal with it, get a managed account. They'll feel you out for your risk tolerance and invest accordingly.

Fees eat some up pretty good.

If I really wanted to make some real money, I'd buy real estate. It is making 100's of times what any annuity or money market, IRA, etc. ever thought about.

If you go with an Annuity do it via low cost providers such as Vanguard, Fidelity and T Rowe Price. Their cost are lower and their terms are far less restrictive.

With the home sale be aware of time limitations on reinvesting if you profited from the sale.

If you don’t have a good CPA, find one.

Don't forget the tax implications of not buying another home.

Shame we hafta check IRS regs before decidin how ta live our lives.

And no one has yet suggested contacting Safari-man !!!

Why not just park the money in a money market mutual fund until you know if the new job is going to work out? I'd never invest in an annuity for a 10 year retirement time frame, but each situation is different. It might be wise to hire a financial advisor, provided you can find one who will keep YOUR best interest in mind. Lots of them are really just salesmen in a nice suit. Best wishes in your new gig. I had 19 degrees this morning here in MI and am still recovering from that big wind storm we had Thursday.

I wouldn't put it in the Total stack market with these prices and your age. There are several ETF's that do not have a lot of growth or tech stocks. Those stocks are way too high and they are starting to shake up the market and that is why it is so volatile lately. I just took out another $3,000 out of the S&P 500 fund and put it in SCHD. It is a higher dividend ETF with stocks that are much more reasonably priced. I am mostly a higher dividend investor cause I am determined to just live off my dividends and never sell a stock. There are several ETF's that did not get the market gains that the total stock market funds did. Here are the ones I have. VYM , Vanguard high dividend large cap ETF pays 2.85% dividends. SCHD , Charles Schwab pays about 3% . SPYD pays about 4% in dividends. This ETF has 81 companies and and does not over weight any stocks HDV pays 4%. It has not done well the last 10 yrs. The reason is , cause everyone invested in fast profit tech and growth the last 10 yrs. and left the "value " older, well established companies behind. If you look at the holdings , you will recognize many of them. Chevron, Exxon Mobil,, Verizon, AT&T, and many others. Many will say these companies got crushed by the growth stocks and they bad mouth these conservative dividend paying ETF's. They are right, however, the tide is turning and many of these companies make real good money. An example , just yesterday the market lost 1.2% and HDV actually went up. Today , investors foolishly went back to the growth stocks, but the growth stocks are way over priced. I would also buy some bonds. They are not wanted right now. I have HYEM, ( Emerging Market corporate (foreign ) ETF) It pays about 5%, pays out monthly and is right on it's 52 week low. I also have HYG and USHY corporate bond ETF and they are American companies. I have also noticed HYD is down quite a bit. It is municipal bond ETF, pays about 3.5%, pays monthly and the dividends are tax free. The other ETF's are taxable , the corporate bond ETFs have a fairly high tax , but the first ones I mentioned have a reduced tax on the divies . Right now, anything can happen. The market may go up a buch yet, but it base been 19 months since we have a 10% correction with only a few 5% drops. This is why I keep my eyes on the safe dividends and dont worry about the irrational ups and downs of the daily stock market.

rufous,

I had some Annuities and I cashed out of them. I found them to be a poor investment. Some say they are safe but they are only as safe as the insurance company that sells them.

Same as every other product. Some people are a great fit and it helps them a lot and some people are a poor fit and it hurts them. The key is knowing the difference and having an honest agent with integrity who will tell you the truth about fees and options.

Been many many years since they were in general, a bad idea. Now they can be the difference between running out of money or not.

Be informed.

CPA and/or financial adviser. Id would definitely avoid putting in annuities. Too many good funds out there as mentioned vanguard, I use fidelity. you can self manage. I like dividend stocks too diversify obviously

My mom almost doubled her money in a few years while completely safe from loss, and is guaranteed cash flow for her lifetime and can still access her money fee-free.

Sound like a ripoff? It's not. But if she had not been a good fit I would have told her and we would have gone a different direction.

I am sure some guys with no experience or knowledge will come running to offer their opinions.

This is solid advice. I would not buy an annuity, period.

Get a good financial advisor. If he advises annuities, get another one. A decent index fund through Vanguard or someone else, is what you need if you are middle age.

No on the annuity. I'm also wondering why you sold your home to move to Oregon to take a lower paying (in the field) job? Also, are you going to be able to keep living in the house when the company is sold?

Asking for financial advice on an internet chat room is like getting brain surgery at a drug store, isn't it?

I was a stockbroker and licensed life insurance agent for about 10 years. I sold very few annuities over the course of my career (only 3 that I can think of now) because they didn't make sense for most people and their situation. Given the little info you have provided, I would say look elsewhere. A good mix of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and cash should give you a better return, more control and cost you less in the long run.

An annuity is the purchase of a contract agreement. It's not an investment. You can't get it back to invest elsewhere if you're not satisfied.

Also, they can be a good deal if a nation has a stable dollar, but we don't. Our dollar steadily loses purchasing power, and at the rate at which its purchasing power is declining lately, this would be a really bad time to buy an annuity, IMO.

Probably. Depends on age and health and needs but yes, I would hesitate to offer an annuity right now.

Stay da fugg away from annuities and kick anybody in the balls who tries to sell you annuities.
If you may need the money in a year or two, park it in a money market account. If you have a longer timeline in mind, open a fidelity or a edit rads account and put it in an index fund of some flavor.

Some annuities offer fees in the 0.04-0.05 range. I'd think about those, everything else, a big NO.

DON'T. Why pay someone to handle your $$$ and give them a cut? About the only way such might pay off is if he significantly outlives their projected life expectancy. Fall short of that and they make significant bucks. Find an investment advisor and do your own arrangements.

Is that what Safariman used to skin seniors with? Annuities..

Rufus,
Run,Run as fast as you can away from the Annuity. From something who has been able to sell and has sold a few for 35 years.
Multiple reasons why, but run Forest Run.

Free Ruger Charger bipod with each annuity purchase.

i invested heavily in coke and whores. so far it has paid big dividends.

LOL

This is the best advice on the internet.

No way would i put funds in an annuity.

There are platforms that will serve you better over your time frame.

Fidelity is where i would look,they have done good for us over the years.

Good luck

If you're sure you need an annuity the only ones to consider are a SPIA[single premium immediate annuity] or a MYGA[multi year garanteed annuity],the only one that beats these is the one that most people have when they retire, Social Security.

^^^And don’t take advice from anyone who thinks social security is a good deal.

As far as annuities go it is.

You do have a point, sir.

But it is very hard to know if you have a good financial advisor, and by the time you find out he is bad news, he has made a lot of money off you. I had 3 of them. Was was not good at all, one was ok but just wanted to sell me loaded Franklin funds and the last one was a nightmare. We gave them a $56,300 check and they didnt invest it for 5 weeks . They said it was no good anymore so we gave them another and it took 3 weeks to invest that one, in August 2015, just in time for a 10% correction. The owner was a jerk , He sold us $40,000 of 2 non traded REITs. We still have $10,000 of it stuck , and may never get it back. Some say I should have done my homework, or due dilligence , and we did, we had a few at my wifes bank where she worked . We talked to him several times before commiting. It is very hard to tel a professional BS salesman from someone that really knows what they are doing, and they make a living bs ing. To make matters worse my son worked there. About 2 months after the second check, we headed to Fidelity and never looked back. A few months later they fired my son anyway. However, it was their loss . We now have a lot more money , I do it my way and it is a better way of investing with ETF's and stocks and some bond mutual funds . I have not done real well , but no doubt better and cheaper than the 3 advisors we had. My son works at a better financial firm and after 3 yrs with this job, he still cant believe how they operated at his old firm. Investing yourself just isnt that hard anymore and hardly any fees at all.

I put some of my money in a fidelity account after the covid drop hit March of 2020. I had most everything in Edward Jones in mutual and index funds at them time. When the dip hit I called them up to make some individual stick trades and found jones is not the place to do that. They had huge fees. I asked them to to transfer a chunk to my new fidelity account so I could buy individual stocks. By the time they got it done the best bargains had passed. I traded a bit on fidelity and made some money but got tired of watching it all the time so now it's just sitting on the sidelines.

I know fidelity offers lots of mutual and index funds and etfs but I can't figure out how to research and compare them on their app. I can't even find mutual funds in it and I know they have them. I'd like to put some in some different funds now like one with good divided stocks. Any fidelity power users here that can point me towards their good funds?

Bb

My parents put a lot of money in annuity and when they passed we got very little back. Shop around for a good financial advisor that fits your AGE, FUTURE PLANS, and DOLLARS AVAILABLE. Find the right fit, its out there. As has been said put it in a money market until you get a plan.

Check Morningstar ratings.

12 years ago my brother paid $75k for an annuity. After he received 2 payments, he had a stroke and died. Goodbye $75k.

An annuity is not likely a good fit for someone 10 years out from retirement. The returns these days are poor and fees can be high. You are better off with a diversified stock portfolio based on your risk tolerance and financial plan.

Thanks all for the food for thought.

I can't speak to their app because I don't use it, but logging in to the website allows you to look at all of their funds. Click on Investment Products, then choose from the drop down menu Mutual Funds or ETFs.

My investment program consists of a safe and a bank bag.
About 15% goes into the bank bag! 😃
Another 15% goes into a bank bag marked "Med".

HINT: needed a med test. The test cost was a bit over $5k.
I asked the receptionist, "What if I pay cash?"
She looked at her computer screen, tickled a few keys and stared at the screen again.
"Then it will be $1500."
I paid cash, got an itemized statement, remitted it to my insurance company.
Got my $1500 back plus a happy insurance company for saving both of us money.

Can't tell you HOW many times I've called med business offices and asked, "What if I pay cash, up front?" and ended up with a significant discount.

Cool. Shows what a scam our current insurance-based medical care system is.

It all comes down to one thing - profit. If a bank or insurance company can't make money, they won't offer the plan. They're all owned by stockholders who expect a return on their money. That's what capitalism is. If a company's officers can't make money for the stockholders, there will soon be a new set of officers.

Vanguard has super low fees and a huge selection of funds. they also have an advisor service that is good. depending on your portfolio, you either get a personal advisor or a team. they will take your age, risk tolerance, etc and map out a plan for you and maintain it. the cost is for this service is .03% of your portfolio a year, which is very low.

In 99 percent of cases that results in a tax free death benefit of up to the whole 75k.

See. Not the annuity. It's the slime ball picking the product.

Pretty much if you aren't retired AND don't need the money to live on, you shouldn't have one.

But for some clients it's a big win financially.

Don't! The only advice I have about annuities!

I like this advice a lot. Spread the risk, but I'd look for some growth too, with tech and some small cap stocks so as to have some part with large upside potential.

But then, that's what I'm advising my young son who can handle a little high risk activity. BTW, I don't care for mutual funds, but like the rest.

Norm

Yep.

Annuities are for Hood rats who hit the NFL lottery and want to try to have something in the future.



Other than that too high of fees and too little earnings!

Lots of them are fee- free now. Like I said, only if it's the right fit, but at least know your facts if you are going to bad mouth something. Not aiming at anyone in particular.

Wall Street isn't paying for those million dollar speeches by offering "free" products..


Buyer beware.

Buy dope.

It’s legal here.

Just remember,annuities aren't bought, their sold! They are not investments,they are insurance products and have a lot of hidden fees.

TIAA Cref offered me an annuity for the money I have in my TIAA 403B. If I die before 10 years of payments, the remaining payments go to my choice. After 10 years I receive the same amount until I die.
The MONTHLY ANNUITY payment was about the same as my ANNUAL estimated social security total. So my thoughts were I could not possible spend all that money. I will say they are hot on selling the lifetime annuity. Seems they bring it up if I call about something. I have zero intention of going that route, primarily because it benefits them not me. I have enough so they can't tempt me.
Funny too, that they always push it, and apologize at the same time for pushing it. They say it is not a recommendation, just a random thought. Pretty creepy.

Annuities suck. Don't go there.

Recently, most annuties had a 5% "return" (not the right word). Not too good with 7% inflation.

interestng the comments posted.
I was an investment advisor/stockbroker/insurance licensed for about 40years, running at times over 50million in other peoples money.
although licensed, i didn't place to many annuities for various reasons.

I am now retired, and bought two annuities through different fraternal organizations.
they have been in business for over 100years, have no fears regarding security.
they are paying if i wanted to take the income, tax defered as long as i leave it with them similar or above the s&p return on dividends.
in some cases 4% which sure beats the bank.
i can always spend principal if needed, i would rather do that than have the market take it away.
Part of the reason for the annuities was the smoke and mirrors stock market. and i did'nt want to pay taxes on the earnings every year, or have the income bump up my tax bracket.
I paid zero commissions on purchasing, with relatively short contractal holds on the money
one thing i learned during my career is you can paint with to wide a brush.
and yes, i was aware of safariman's crap from the beginning, and after the state finally got on him.
that doesn't make all investment advisors bad.

This, aside from all the issues with fees, gotcha clauses and low returns in general, is the core of the problem. Fixed annuities in a inflationary environment. If you go with a variable annuity, then you give up about a third of the expected return for what is only a perceived safety factor over longer periods.

Annuities are like time shares. A great money maker for the bastard selling them.

It may sound good to be getting a grand or so a month when you're healthy but when you need long term care or assisted living you'll wish that you had the principal that you gave the insurance company.

That is creepy.


Kinda like Resident Biden and his schlongs pushing the vax so hard. Why??

rufous, gotta ask. Why did you move to OR??

Life insurance is insurance in case you don't live long enough and annuities are insurance in case you live too long.

The problem with investments is that when you spend what you have invested, it's gone. You are broke.

Shop carefully.

Local Dirt, I lost my job as winemaker in Michigan at the beginning of the year due to the severe financial impact of Covid closures on the winery I was working for. I did not foresee being able to find suitable work in the area I was living in Michigan so we sold our home and moved to Oregon to live with my mom while I continued to look for work which ended up being in Roseburg. I grew up in Oregon and for the most part like the state but not the politics led by the left.

Well, the good news is you may have better luck finding a winery job in Oregon then you would have in Michigan.

The companies that sell annuities make money from selling them. This means that they take the money from annuity purchases and invest it elsewhere where returns are higher. Why not just invest the money yourself instead of buying an annuity? I realize this means you have to know something about investing, but it's definitely a better way to get more return on your money.

Using my wife’s limited experience as a guide........don’t! There is usually a lengthy time before you can withdraw without severe penalties. Your return will likely be many (many) percentage points below the stock market gains.

A good, conservative mutual fund is lightyears ahead of the crap that my wife invested into! memtb

As someone who's held a half dozen securities licenses over a 20 year period, this cannot be emphasized enough.



This is even more true right now as we enter an increasing rate environment. The one thing that can make these investments even worse is happening right now.

Contact Mark Claiborne in Walla Wall Wash for expert annuity advice

That's because Annuities have one of, if not the highest profit margin of any financial product, so the companies what the reps to sell them, but they are such crap the reps are embarrassed to bring them up, but have to so they don't get fired.

Many in my parents' generation were scared into buying annuities. They lived through the Depression and salesmen used the "what if the stock market crashed again? You could lose EVERYTHING!". My parents didn't fall for it, but my one aunt did. If they were such good products, you wouldn't have to scare people into buying them.

Again, I am rather ignorant about investing so take that into consideration with my next query. Am I correct to assume that if I decide to continue to rent and then invest the money we made when we sold our Michigan home (after living in it for about 4 and a half years) then I would have to pay capital gains taxes on whatever gains we make by investing that money?

If instead, I buy another house and eventually get it paid off then I would have a place to live with no payment (other than utilities, property taxes and maintenance of course) and no taxes on gains.

That is why I have bought 3 homes so far. I had to live somewhere and figured I might as well build equity while doing it. Now though the cost of houses is high and my job situation is a bit uncertain due to new owners taking over in a week.

I used to be VP/Investments Merrill Lynch before I retired. That said, I would never put someone in an annuity even though I would have made several times more income doing it. Annuitys are most often sold by insurance people (Yes, I had that license too) who are not lic to sell regular investments. You loose a lot of control with them and the fees are atrocious.

Look at rolling over the proceeds into a professional money manager or buy some timberland...