William Byrnes' Tax, Wealth, and Risk Intelligence

We are all aware that annuities have a bad reputation in the media: High fees, high-pressure sales, and unsuitability are the predominating themes.

A recent Securities Litigation & Consulting Group white paper summarizes  the sentiments of the anti-annuity press, commenting that, “[a]nnuities stand out as the investment are most likely to be unsuitable since in virtually every instance, the investor would have been better served by mutual fund or a portfolio of individual stocks.”

Annuities are neither inherently “good” nor “bad.” It follows that rational evaluation of annuities can’t be conducted in a bubble—it must focus on their application.  Herein lays their value and the coup de grâce the industry and individual producers have been awaiting.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of annuities in Advisor’s Journal, see How Much to Allocate to Annuities: A Critical Analysis (CC 11-109).

For in-depth analysis of the income taxation of annuities, see Advisor’s Main Library: Section 19.2 Income Taxation of Annuities.