Anti-Annuity Advisors Shouldn’t Be in Business, ‘Stan the Annuity Man’ Says
April 18, 2022 by Jane Wollman Rusoff
The advisor who tells clients to never consider an annuity is “a fool” and “shouldn’t be in the financial business,” argues Stan Haithcock, otherwise known as Stan the Annuity Man, in an interview with ThinkAdvisor. Such financial advisors are ignoring the fact or not acknowledging that Social Security benefits and pensions are themselves annuities.
Click HERE to read the full story via ThinkAdvisor
Wink’s Note: I agree with Stan’s closing thoughts on this article. However, there is plenty that I don’t agree with.
My concerns begin with the contention that annuities should not be bought for market growth. I don’t think that it is appropriate for this to be the primary motivation for an annuity purchase. However, I wanted a source of guaranteed income that could earn money based on the market’s performance. (And guess what? I earned 14% on that annuity this year!)
Annuities ARE affected by “war, geopolitical events, the market, interest rates or Bitcoin.” These things affect the market and interest rates, which affect annuities.
One should be looking for more than just “the best contractual guarantee,” when looking for an annuity. It does bear noting, however, that if you are trying to get clients easily through social media, it would make sense to commoditize a relatively complex product, to facilitate an easy sale. Just my opinion.
The real reason that annuity sales are up is not that “banks and brokerages” have accepted them but because they’ve been selling them for years! Sales are up because rates on CDs, etc. are crummy and the market is up.
If an advisor says that they don’t do annuities, I don’t necessarily think that means that you should stop doing business with that advisor. Just find an advisor that does annuities. Not all financial professionals sell all products, for goodness’ sake. And, per the article, it’s more like going to the Dr., and having him say, “I’m a cardiologist, I cannot help you with your diabetes.”
Lastly, I don’t necessarily think that “advisors…are dumb” if they don’t sell annuities. They likely are ignorant. – sjm