Get an Adviser Who Puts You First

If your best friend told you that they met someone who helped them generate 30 percent more income in retirement, chances are you’d want to know who your friend met with.

Meetings just like this are taking place every day, and in these meetings a professional evaluates your total financial picture, gathering information about you, your assets, liabilities and savings. Following this meeting, the professional comes back with a series of recommendations and a strategy plan that can truly transform lives financially.

I can’t overstate the value of a face-to-face meeting with the right independent professional who can help you craft a detailed retirement income strategy — a professional who has access to not just one insurance company’s financial contracts but many companies’ contracts.

To illustrate, consider this, the difference in income generated by the same annuity purchase payment can differ by as much as 30% or more, solely based on the products and riders you select

Think about that. It’s a 30 percent difference in income payments using the same amount of money. That is a lifestyle changer. It’s the difference between just getting by and having the extra money to do all those things you dreamed of.

Some quick math can illustrate the magnitude of selecting the best contract for your specific financial situation. If you were receiving $5,000 a month, the additional 30 percent puts an additional $18,000 into your pocket every year. When you multiply that times the average life expectancy of someone turning age 65 — which is about 20 years —  you’re looking at an additional $360,000 during your retirement years.

Next to the purchase of your home, purchasing your retirement income strategy may be the single biggest financial decision of your life. Adding 30 percent to an income payment that may cover 20, 25, 30 years, or more,  is not something to take lightly.

If you were buying a home, you wouldn’t think twice about getting the best local agent you could find to help you with the process.

Shouldn’t you take the guesswork out of your retirement planning?

With so much at stake, doesn’t it make sense to engage a professional annuity agent?

You’ll want to find a local professional who has access to a wide range of insurance companies, not just one company. This professional can help you select the best annuity and riders to help maximize your payouts based on your particulars.

The right agent can help you sift through the variety of companies and products, to identify the best annuities and riders for your specific financial situation. These annuity contracts can vary from state to state so it’s important to work with an agent familiar with the products and riders available in your state.

An independent local professional can help you maximize your retirement income while having the security of contractual guarantees. Yes, guarantees, and you get them in writing. These guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the insurance company issuing the contract. So you’ll want to be sure to team up with a carrier that is financially sound.

This is another area that your local professional can assist you with.

There are several independent agencies that rate insurance companies — Standard & Poor’s, A. M. Best and Moody’s, to name a few. Each has its own way of analyzing and rating the financial strength of insurance companies, so you’ll want to review more than one to get an overall picture of a company’s financial health.

Annuities are long-term insurance contracts designed for retirement. As a result there may be fees or penalties for early withdrawals, including surrender charges and if taken prior to age 59 1/2, withdrawals may be subject to a 10 percent federal additional tax.

The utilization of annuity contracts for a portion of your retirement nest egg can provide you with a lifetime guaranteed income stream. Partnering with a local professional with a keen knowledge of the products available in your state can help increase that guaranteed income by up to 30 percent or more.

You can find out more about Fixed, Fixed Indexed, and Variable Annuities — and the associated riders — in Crown Atlantic's new report, "The Annuity Primer: Get Guaranteed Income for Life."

Go online to CrownAtlantic.com/Protect or call today 855-221-5546.
Joe Stark is the CEO of Crown Atlantic Insurance, LLC in Boca Raton, Fla. Stark is an insurance industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.