Sep 02

Regular readers of mine know that I am anti-Variable Annuity, one of my first articles on my main site JoeTaxpayer.com was titled “Variable Annuities are sold, not bought“. More recently, I quoted Suze Orman, who “hate[s] them with a passion”. That blog post received much response from readers challenging me to be more open minded. So I invited those readers to offer me a VA that they felt was worth a fresh look. In my August feature article titled “Another Look at Variable Annuities“, I analyzed the Fidelity Growth & Guaranteed Income Annuity. It’s a piece worth reading and as always, I invite any comment. In it, I conclude that the product doesn’t achieve what the typical buyer is seeking, inflation protected growth. I was challenged to suggest an alternate solution and in this month’s feature article, “Creating an Inflation-Adjusted Immediate Annuity“, I offer a strategy to create an inflation-adjusted stream of income from the purchase of a series of standard (non-adjusted) annuities. This is a strategy I am proud to present as I’ve not seen such a strategy presented elsewhere, and it offers both a high starting withdrawal rate (5%) along with conservative assumptions (4% inflation factor, yet just 3% return on savings). Please read it and share your thoughts.

Joe

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Aug 01

Well, it’s been a month since my “Suze on Variable Annuities” post which sparked some heated debate. So much so, that I decided to take a look at a newer product, the Fidelity Growth & Guaranteed Income Annuity and analyze it in a feature article titled “Another Look at Variable Annuities” on my main web page.

I must say, I find the process interesting. I’ve been a ’spreadsheet guy’ for some time and enjoy playing with the numbers. Please read the article and comment here, if you wish. The Fidelity link above should download a PDF of a brochure for the product I analyzed. If it doesn’t, please advise of the broken link.

Joe

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