Moshe Milevsky: Learning from History with Annuities (From the Vault)
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
Release Date: 12/02/2025
10 Percent Free Withdrawal Annuity Nonsense: Shootin’ It Straight With Stan
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discussed: Understanding that “free withdrawals” come at a cost Recognizing misleading annuity sales claims Focusing on purpose before choosing a product Prioritizing guarantees and long-term impact Key Takeaways: The 10% withdrawal feature is not a bonus but access to your own money. Taking withdrawals reduces key benefits like lifetime income, death benefits, and overall contract value. Phrases like bonuses, free withdrawals, and market upside with no downside can be misleading. These features are often part of the...
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Annuity Dart Throw or Contractual Rifle Shot?: Shootin’ It Straight With Stan
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discussed: Focusing on contractual guarantees Avoiding “dart throw” annuity products Clarifying the purpose of the annuity Recognizing the value of timing and simplicity Key Takeaways: Evaluate annuities strictly as contracts based on guaranteed terms, not projections or marketing illustrations. The goal is to buy an annuity for what it will do contractually, rather than what it might do in hypothetical scenarios. Be cautious of complex market-linked annuities such as variable annuities, indexed annuities, and RILAs. These...
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The Realities of Annuity Affordability: Shootin’ It Straight With Stan
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discussed: Building a reliable income floor Focusing on guarantees, not projections Using annuities to transfer longevity risk Planning for growth and inflation Key Takeaways: Retirement affordability means having a guaranteed income that consistently covers essential bills every month, providing peace of mind and financial stability for life’s second chapter. Annuities should be purchased for what they are contractually guaranteed to deliver, not for hypothetical growth or market stories. The emphasis is on certainty and...
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No Commission Annuities…but With an Annual Fee: Fun With Annuities
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discussed: Understanding how annuity commissions work Avoiding misleading “no-commission” products Focusing on contractual guarantees, not hype Shopping broadly and matching products to needs Key Takeaways: Understand how annuity commissions work Annuity commissions come from the insurance company’s reserves, not the client’s premium. Your invested amount is fully at work, meaning commissions don’t reduce your initial principal. Some fee-only or fiduciary advisors label annuities as no-commission but layer ongoing...
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Jimmy Dean Sausage Annuity Legacy Strategy: Shootin’ It Straight With Stan
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discussed: Planning for a lasting legacy to protect clients and business continuity Creating a client-first culture by prioritizing guarantees over commissions Fostering radical transparency through honesty and owning mistakes Using trust and straightforward service to stand out in a commoditized market Key Takeaways: Preparing for the future keeps client trust intact even after the founder is gone. Documented processes and succession plans ensure smooth operations. Continuity strengthens reputation and confidence. Prioritize...
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Lifetime Income Is the Ultimate Outcome: Fun With Annuities
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discusses: Building lifetime income as the real retirement goal Securing your income floor before adding complexity Using annuities to solve income and protection problems Locking in guarantees before longevity shifts the math Key Takeaways: Retirement planning is not about account balances but about creating income you cannot outlive. “Chapter One” is for accumulation, but “Chapter Two” only works when a reliable lifetime income replaces your paycheck. Without that income foundation, lifestyle freedom in retirement is...
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The Best Kind of Money Is Guaranteed Money: Shootin’ It Straight With Stan
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discussed: Building an income floor before chasing growth Using annuities for risk transfer, not market upside Avoiding hype and choosing guarantees that last Key Takeaways: Retirement is about securing essential expenses with contractual guarantees, not chasing hypothetical returns. The priority is creating an income floor through sources like Social Security, pensions, and properly structured annuities. Once that foundation is set, the rest of the portfolio can pursue growth without threatening stability. Annuities are...
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It’s Time to Consider a Respirator Annuity: Shootin’ It Straight With Stan
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discussed: Understanding what lifetime income really guarantees Separating guarantees from projections Understanding the structure before judging the product Thinking strategically about longevity timing Key Takeaways: A lifetime income annuity pays as long as you are alive, even in extreme medical situations. It transfers longevity risk from you to the insurance company. The guarantee is contractual, not conditional on health or account value. Many products are sold with optimistic growth illustrations, but projections are not...
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RMDs Are in Essence a Forced Annuity: Fun With Annuities
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discusses: RMDs as a built-in income stream Building a reliable income floor for Chapter Two Stacking income sources intentionally Choosing truth over product-driven advice Key Takeaways: Required Minimum Distributions are not just tax events but forced withdrawals that create predictable income. Like Social Security, they function as an annuity whether you planned for one or not. Seeing RMDs as income rather than irritation changes how retirement planning is approached. Retirement is reframed as Chapter Two, a season focused on...
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How Will AI Affect Annuities?: Fun With Annuities
“Fun With Annuities” The Annuity Man Podcast
In this episode, The Annuity Man discussed: Anticipating AI-driven longevity shifts Understanding how annuities are truly priced Locking in today’s assumptions before they change Choosing guarantees and carriers with intention Key Takeaways: Advances in artificial intelligence are expected to significantly extend life expectancy, especially through medical breakthroughs. Longer projected lifespans will materially affect how lifetime income products are priced in the future. Lifetime income annuities are driven primarily by life expectancy tables, not just...
info_outlineIn case you missed it, I have decided to circle back to one of my Fun With Annuities episodes that just cannot be missed. This one has annuity gold, and it is definitely a must-listen.
In this episode, The Annuity Man and Moshe Milevsky discuss:
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The problem with annuities
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What’s a tontine?
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How income increases with tontines
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The gap between healthspan and lifespan
Key Takeaways:
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The point of annuities is to generate a predictable income even when you can no longer make decisions yourself due to cognitive decline. That’s why agents have to make sure the clients understand and continue to understand what they are buying and what contractual guarantees they have in place.
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A tontine is one of the many strategies people use to finance themselves in retirement, in which the longest-living people get the most income, while the people who didn’t live a long time get a smaller amount of income.
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Tontines increase the income for all living people involved as time passes because the same income amount is being split within a group that gets smaller as members pass away. The mortality rate becomes a real interest rate - this is most interesting in the current inflationary times.
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Money alone doesn’t solve your problems; just throwing money at a problem won’t make it go away. You need to do something with it to solve your problems, and one of the biggest problems in aging is the gap between health span and lifespan.
"When you have a product that is meant to help people that are eventually going to cognitively decline, there's a higher burden of care there because you got to make sure that they understand what they're buying and they continue to understand what they're buying." — Moshe Milevsky
Connect with Moshe Milevsky:
Website: https://moshemilevsky.com/
Connect with The Annuity Man:
Website: http://theannuityman.com/
Email: Stan@TheAnnuityMan.com
Book: Owner’s Manuals: https://www.stantheannuityman.com/how-do-annuities-work
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCXKKxvVslbeGAlEc5sra2g
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