It’s always disappointing with a media outlet has things like this brought to their attention, but stays the course

October 22, 2025 by Sheryl J. Moore

I had a couple of exchanges with a journalist last week, regarding a piece that he wrote on SPIAs.

He said:
“Once you purchase an ANNUITY, the money you receive comes from a series of payments, and you can’t withdraw from the investment as you would with a bank account.”

I said:
Not true if you are taking income from your annuity via a Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit (GLWB), penalty-free withdrawals or Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).

He said:
“Some ANNUITY products come with steep fees…”

I said:
Most annuities have no fees at all.

He said:
“And depending on your [ANNUITY] contract, payments may stop upon death and aren’t passed down to your loved ones.”

I said:
While that is true, it accounts for less than 0.5% of annuity sales. Not sure that is even worth mentioning…

Ultimately, my beef with Money Magazine was that they were using the word “annuity” as a generalization for all annuities. So, they intended the reader to know that their comments were regarding SPIAs, despite the fact that they simply said “ANNUITY.”

He said:
“It’s always helpful when experts keep me in check, and I welcome it and happily issue corrections and clarifications when warranted. But the information needs to be relevant, verifiable and help clarify the story. In this case, I do not see how bringing in stats/info on deferred annuities and riders makes sense.”

I say:
It’s always disappointing with a media outlet has things like this brought to their attention, but stays the course. Imagine how many readers have walked away with a bad taste in their mouth about ANNUITIES because of a SPIA article with sweeping generalizations. -sjm