Annuities

If you have money in the stock market chances are you’ve had some highs that got you excited and some lows that had you biting your nails.

What if there were a way to participate in the market gains but not in the losses?

For those in the know, fixed indexed annuities can do just that!

Annuities come from Life insurance companies and earn much more than CD’s from banks.

Get the conversation started by contacting us today!

There’s no cookie cutter annuity. I write what’s right for your situation.

So let’s start the conversation. Based on your age, income and what’s important to you, together we can build a policy with a plan! Everything is customized for you.

Want to accumulate wealth? Depending on your age there are many options.

Want to supplement your retirement? Let’s work on that.

Do you want to transfer money to your children with as little tax burden as possible? Then that’s what we’ll talk about.

Remember, an annuity is a contract with a life insurance company but it’s still your money!

Are you just starting out in the job market ? High school or college graduates can control their own futures with a little planning. Some companies offer benefits that include a 401(K) which defers taxation on a portion of your earned income until your retire.

Other companies hire 1099 employees who don’t get benefits and work independently. These people should put together their own benefits Plan.

What if you start your own business? Get with the plan!

You’ll need a tax advisor at the very least. An accountant, a financial advisor and an attorney can be necessary as well when you are making money and have employees of your own.

Contact us to get started. We can help with health insurance, Life insurance and set up an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) AKA Individual Retirement Annuity.

We have the licensing for all of these necessities. And when additional expertise is required we have experts available!

You don’t have to be an expert. You just have to share what’s important to you and then CWT Consulting goes to work.

We work with dozens of the top rated insurance carriers and sometimes find a new company and get appointed just for one client because that company offered the best returns, growth and options.

Feel free to ask about the process we use to find your best policies to fit your unique situation.

A lot of what we do is educate clients on the types of life and annuity policies that are available. Then show how and why one or another works better for a younger or and older individual.

Most agents stay with a set demographic and limited territory.

Not CWT Consulting! click on the navigation pane across the top of the page and see ABOUT that links to a page that shows the states where Christopher W. Teter is licensed.

And yes, Chris will get licensed in your state when it’s time to put together your plan.

Good question. There are seldom any fees to open an annuity contract.

Imagine thinking you are earning 5% in your 401(K) and not taking into account the monthly statement fees and the annual statement fee plus any handling fees etc.

What about liquidity, your ability to get your money out for use in an emergency such as healthcare?

There are surrender charges involved with CD’s from banks and annuities, however the surrender charges are a known entity when you enter the contract. No moving goalposts. Usually in a 10 year deferred annuity there’s a 10% surrender charge to withdraw money in the first year and then 9% the second year on down to 1% in year nine and no surrender charge after that.

These surrender charges cover the costs incurred by the insurance company to set up your account and the additional lost revenue for not staying within the contract.

However, if you do have a medical issue most carriers waive the surrender charge, it’s built into most contracts. Long term care is also an option from some companies.

On the bright side, most deferred annuities offer 5% to 10% withdrawal without a fee annually after the first year. So if you need $40,000 and last year you put $400,000 into a SPIA (Single Premium Immediate Annuity) all you have to do is contact the company and sign a form.

Let’s talk about the different kinds of annuities. First let’s talk about where they come from again, insurance companies.

There are three different types of insurance companies based on how they were formed.

1. A stock company owes it’s allegiance to its shareholders, when they have a good year they pay dividends to people who own their stock.
2. Mutual companies owe their allegiance to their policy holders, when they do well they pay dividends to policyholders.
3. Fraternal organizations are existing groups like the Elks, The Moose, The Knights of Columbus or the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Religious organizations etc. Any existing group may opt to offer life insurance to their members. Note; you can’t form a group solely to sell your members life insurance.

Note, this is a simplified description of these entities, it’s much more complicated and involves a lot of legal terminology as well as compliance with state and federal laws. Every state has its own Insurance commissioner. Search your state and insurance commissioner and you’ll thank me for the Cliff notes version.

Licensed agents must apply to insurance carriers to be appointed to write for that company.

Again, this is where experience is involved. At CWT Consulting we search for the best match for your specific needs. This may not necessarily be the lowest premium because one company may offer a better benefit or rider than a less expensive competitor. Riders are add ons to a policy that customize it to the client. If a specific rider makes sense for one of my clients then I’m going to recommend that policy and I’ll explain why. Flexibility in the future, double indemnity, no payments if you’re disabled etc.

1- Fixed annuities are exactly that, fixed. They do what the contract say and earn the interest rate in the contract. You can’t lose money with a fixed annuity. We write these when appropriate to the client.

2- Indexed annuities are tied to a market index such as the S & P 500 or Barkley’s or a foreign market index.

There are different kinds of indexed annuities. At CWT Consulting we only write FIA’s  Fixed Indexed Annuities are tied to a market index and participate with the gains but NOT the losses.

You may have heard the term, PAR rate. That’s the rate of participation.

IE: If you have a $100,000 FIA and the market index it’s tied to goes up 10% then you think you have $110,000

However, the participation rate is only 50% so you have $105,000. On the other hand, if the market drops next year by 10% you still have $105,000.

At CWT Consulting we shop for the best par rate that suits your needs.

Opting out of an up front bonus and agreeing to a longer term, instead of 5 years, 7 or 10 years, then you may have a PAR rate that is above 100% there are a few out there at 200% but aren’t suitable for most clients.

Notice that we use the term clients instead of investors. Only financial planners with SEC, Securities and Exchange licenses may use that term, Well it’s your money so you can.

3- Variable annuities can only be sold by agents holding SEC licensing. NOTE: your principal AND interest are at risk with a variable annuity as the funds are IN the market and subject to its volitivity.

Another term we must use is suitability. We can’t write a policy or contract that uses money that you need to live. A suitability questionnaire asks specific questions about your income and sources of funds as well as your expenses etc.

This is why we say we write what’s right for you, there’s a lot involved. We’re not selling anything but concepts!

It’s still your money. When you see that a plan that we put together fits your specific needs then you say, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ And then we write the policy/contract.

When talking about insurance most people ask for a quote.

At CWT Consulting we don’t rely on a quote to provide enough information for clients to make decisions. Most people do and a lot of agents do as well and as a result a lot of unsuitable policies are written and people feel like they’ve been sold.

We rely on a process of fact finding, a financial needs analysis and simply asking what’s important to you, the client. It doesn’t matter what we know until what’s important to you is on the table.

An Illustration contains the legal terms that will be in the contract or policy. You’ll know about the length of time, what will happen IF/WHEN you die and you’ll see an amortization schedule based on policy guarantees as well as a non-guaranteed assumption of policy growth.

I’m simplifying this but when we meet and you say, ’That’s what I see as important’, we’ll build an illustration right in front of you and explain it as we go.

This has proven to be the best strategy to educate clients and provide peace of mind in the process.