What features do people look for in retirement investment plans? Well, these could be many and they could vary with different individuals. However, some features will be common among most individuals. They will include security of investment, guaranteed return of the investment with very low risks and level of income after retiring. Let us evaluate these features in more details with relation to annuities.
Security of investment will require that your investment be immune to losses and if they occur. These should be controlled. With the fixed annuity, you may be assured that you will not only be protected from such losses but with some interest as well. However, you also need to ensure that the firm that will be taking care of your investment will not collapse before you get your money back. This could be hard to determine because this information will not be obvious from looking at the name of a firm. However, there are bureaus that rate these insurance institutions after a consideration of various factors. It is always recommended that you invest in a firm which rates highly. This way, there are very low chances of such a custodian collapsing.
In business, people say that the higher the risk the higher the rate of returns. This is a debatable statement. When you have plenty of money, you can afford to take chances by investing in high risk ventures. However, if you are putting your lifetime savings on the line, this is not an option. It would be best to invest in a low risk scheme, which has an assured return rate. A fixed annuity scheme falls in this category. Once you put your money into this venture, you will be guaranteed of a minimum rate of interest. This is a good thing. Moreover, this scheme has always resulted in investors getting more than this minimum rate. Therefore, your income will not depend on how well the stock markets will perform.
Within this type of assurance, there is another advantage, especially if you invest in the deferred option of the scheme. This scheme allows you to earn interest from principal deposit without any taxes. This is one of the advantages, which should make you invest in this venture rather than keeping your money in a savings bank or in a money market scheme. Actually, calculations show that a person investing in this scheme will earn 45% more than a person in a taxed scheme. This is a lot of money and it is even more when you consider the compounding effect.
When you are retiring, you need to ensure that once you stop earning your usual monthly salary, you will still have a reliable source of income. A fixed annuity investment scheme will give you this assurance. After waiting for the money that you invest in this scheme to accumulate for the time specified in your contract, you will start receiving your payments. This distribution period usually starts at the age of 59.5 years, a time that most people will retire. You will also have the option of choosing how you would like to receive these payments. It could be monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly.
Most contracts, although you should confirm this with your insurer, will always pay you up to the time that you die. This security is not available from most investments. Moreover, you can always name someone who will receive these payments if you die before receiving all the payments. In other cases, you can choose to receive payments together with your spouse. When one of you dies before the other, the bereaved continues to receive the payments.
For more info on annuities, enter your zip code on the top of this page with some basic information and you can start comparing FREE annuity quotes that might fit you the best.