Annuities - Good or Bad? I really need to know
My husband has a pension coming to him. I don’t. I have some 403b/IRA money in place, but I’m concerned that I will outlive it. So I have spent some time studying annuities, talking to people about a variable annuity that I “can’t outlive.”
I get two kinds of advice:
A. They’re great. You should put all your money in one. This, of course, if from the “financial advisor” who sells annuities.
B. They’re awful. No sane person would touch them. This is a lot of people, including MarketWatch commentator Paul Farrell, who recently bashed annuities. If you read his article, you would run from annuities.
So I read the comments about his article (all 83 of them). Maybe they’re not so bad. I also talked to an advisor from Fidelity (they don’t really sell annuities, and he said they are on salary, so they don’t have any financial incentive to sell them.
So now I’m really confused. Have any of you bought a variable annuity? Did you think the fees were too high? Do you have any recommendations for me?
Tags: , fidelity, Paul Farrell, variable annuitiesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Boomers nearing retirement, Finance, Networking
2 opinions for Annuities - Good or Bad? I really need to know
The Coach
May 1, 2008 at 5:42 am
Fidelity may be on “salary” but did he mentions the BONUSES he gets to steer you in to his products? Of course he didn’t!
Most media have no clue when they write or talk about Financial products and they just parrot what some Stock Broker told them at a cocktail party.
Jean
May 1, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Thanks! I never knew this. I do know the media aren’t any more informed than the rest of us. I find I have to do my own thinking and reading and talking to lots of people.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: