What are the best Annuities?
The best Annuities are those that can minimize risks to the barest minimum and guaranty an ever increasing income. There are two main types of annuities which are Fixed Annuity and Variable Annuity. Each of this annuity types have its characteristic features and advantages but you need to compare them through some variable factors before deciding which ones are the best for you.
Load fees and the performance of each company that is providing you the annuity opportunity are the first factors you need to use while comparing the best annuities for you. Though every insurance or financial investment company can offer Annuities but you need to find a company that shows a tremendous “stronger-than-the-average” returns for you to get the best annuities you can invest your money into. Find a company that has been in the business for several years to make your investment safe. Don’t fall for deceit and promises made by newly established companies who are simply seeking for new customers.
Some other factors you need to consider to decide the best annuities for you are Guaranteed Account Value Benefits, Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefits of the annuity, Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefits, and Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits. You need to use the Guaranteed account value benefits to compare the best annuities for you so that you can determine the annual interest that is being re-invested in the annuity{ the more interest you invested the more annual income you receive and that should be the most suitable annuity for your investment }.
The Lifetime withdrawal benefit is another factor that can be used in determining the best annuities for you. This factor determines the percentage of withdrawal you can take from your account for the rest of your life. The more percentage you can take the better such an annuity for you. The best Annuity contract should be flexible with the amount of money you withdraw on constant basis. Such Annuity companies often allow their customers to withdraw up to 60% or more. That would mean to say that if you had invested into an One Million Dollars annuity, it is possible to consider withdrawing up to $600,000. But there will be certain terms and conditions tied to such flexible annuities as well.
The third important factor for determining the best annuities for you is the factor of guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits. This factor determines how much money you can take from the account each year without losing the principal (regardless of how well the account performs in the market). The best annuities should be flexible enough to withdraw as much as you can while retaining your initial principal investment. The performance of the market should not be the basic reasons why you cannot withdraw accrued profit. Go for Companies with track record – those who are not scared when customers withdraw some funds.
One of the main factors you can also use in determining the best annuities for you is the Guaranteed Account Value benefits. These benefits allow you to take your entire investment plus market profits as a lump sum after a specified amount of time. Your Annuity company should be flexible enough to allow you get your investment and profit at any stage of the program.
The above mentioned factors are just few of the factors you need to consider in determining the best annuities for you.
Retirement Planning. How to Plan and Create an Income during Retirement?
Retirement Planning is one of my pet peeves and even though I have not been posting for quite a while does not mean I am off the subject J. Over the last few months, I have been re-organising my finances and taking on new challenges of managing a new organisation that have taken up most of my time.
I know most of us do not think about retirement planning most of the time and that planning for retirement can sometimes be one of our last priorities when we are faced with loads of work and family issues; myself included. However we should engage some of our time for this activity and anyway planning for retirement should not be a worrisome activity and it can actually be fun thinking about what we want to do after years of working. Retirement with at least one million dollars would certainly be fun.
In this post, I want to address the issue of planning for your income during retirement. For many of us, our plan is to save sufficiently so that we can draw from the nest egg, with whatever we can also withdraw from our corporate pension plans or Social Security, to last us for 20 to 30 years. For others, their plan is to be able to create an additional income source that could either be passive such as rental income or investment returns, or from a home business or even online business such as Ebay or general internet marketing.
My thinking about planning for retirement income is bias towards an income from small businesses and property investment. Small business, especially businesses which provides basic necessities to the people staying in your neighbourhood, are more resilient against market movements but the returns may not be spectacular.
Cafes serving students in the local university or college, local unpretentious hair saloons serving the local community, grocers and even a magazine shop can provide a nice little income while keeping ourselves active. Taking the idea further, this would mean an investment into several of such businesses with or without a few active partners. Even in businesses, I believe in diversification and investing in a variety of businesses, providing essential services, will be a strong component in our retirement plan.
Go look at what the local shops are doing. Talk to the ladies running the hair shop and understand their operations, talk to the manager running the college café and you will see that creating a few little businesses is not a daunting tasks. The income you derive from such small businesses, after paying all your staff, may not buy you that Ferrari but it will be more than enough to pay for that holiday in France and a great bottle of pinot noir in Burgundy. Go try the Boeuf Bourguignon in Beaune and you will love your retirement. We want to enjoy our retirement so go plan for how you will create that retirement income.
