I think everyone is getting a little tired of all the bad news in the financial industry. The issuing companies of certain variable annuity products are the latest headline makers. It's time to start using the bad news to your advantage. Identify the products and companies in question and void them in favor of companies that continue to perform well.
The annuity products in question are the variable contracts with guaranteed income benefits. Since the 2008 stock market disaster, questions have surfaced about the long-term ability of certain companies to fulfill the contract obligations. With company reserves and sub-account assets shrinking from investment losses, these products are looking to rely heavily on the contractual guarantees.
The most popular contract supplements involve guaranteed income benefits. This applies directly to a demographic fear of outliving retirement assets and ill-timed market volatility.
Guaranteed income as a supplement to a variable annuity is attractive but investors would do well to explore a variety of strategies to ensure maximum guarantees are achieved. These are exactly the kind of strategies that only Annuity Straight Talk can deliver.
As it stands now, several companies are predicting future difficulty with standing by the guarantees in those specific annuity contracts. Reclaiming a strong basis for these institutions depends on a major stock market recovery, government bailouts, relaxed regulatory standards or some combination of the three.
None of those solutions represents a solid foundation for a company to do business. A stock market recovery would be great but we have a long way to go. Government bailouts will allow the companies to continue doing business but will impose restrictions that could make stand alone operation difficult. Finally, relaxed regulatory standards should make current and potential investors cautious. Those standards are in place for a reason and dropping reserve requirements will only make a company more susceptible to extended market difficulties.
Unfortunately, the companies that are most questionable are also pouring the most money into marketing and their products are getting a lot of attention. With millions of people searching for investment assurances, products from the companies in question don't exactly represent the kind of security that's in demand.
Prudent investors are under a lot of pressure considering the amount of research required to make a calculated decision. It is more important than ever to find quality advice and objective analysis from a competent advisor.
As a guide, investors must first realize that annuity contracts with valuable income guarantees exist outside the mass-marketed world. If one of these products seems to fit your needs, look for a stable company with a similar product offering to meet that need. Simply ask for more options from your advisor.
Also, as mentioned earlier, certain strategies exist that can help an investor reach an even higher level of guaranteed income. This will involve the use of fixed products that can be converted or rolled into lifetime income annuities at some future date. The plus side is that this strategy is the safest approach and completely eliminates all reliance on the stock market.
Quality advice can be hard to come by but is a necessity when it comes to such a serious decision. Companies exist that survived the recent financial meltdown and it's in your best interest to place your retirement assets with those exact companies.
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