Annuity Archives - Page 21 of 25 - Jerry Golden on Retirement

Three tips that will lower your tax rate

April 26, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity, Social Security 2 Comments Tags: Annuities, retirement income, Social Security

Now is a good time, while tax season is fresh in your mind, to prepare for next year and to make plans to pay as little tax as possible. Here are two goals for everyone:

Eliminate or reduce taxes on income you’re not spending.
Minimize taxes on income you are spending.

That income could be from Social Security, income annuities or from interest, dividends and capital gains. It doesn’t matter whether you’re planning for retirement or in retirement, minimizing your tax bill is a worthy objective. More

New rules governing advisors mandate simpler, clearer guidance for individual investors

April 19, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity Tags: Annuities, Guaranteed Income, retirement income, Social Security

You might have seen the recent news flurry about rules adopted by the Department of Labor that govern how financial professionals give advice with respect to qualified savings and IRAs. The changes are important because they would benefit everyday investors who are trying to build up and distribute their retirement savings.

I find this development especially satisfying because from the start of my career I have been working to create investments in the retirement and annuity space, emphasizing products that are easy to understand and put in place. These new rules would require financial advisers to abide by a “fiduciary” standard that puts their clients’ best interests before their own profits. They would have to disclose all fees and would not be allowed to push products only from companies they represent.

Registered investment advisors are already classified as fiduciaries that must put investors’ interests first. Brokers and insurance agents now fall under that category too, which means individual investors will get more information about the true costs of products, including fees and charges that can be difficult to find and understand. More

Ask Jerry: Is a Roth IRA or a 401(k) the best way to finance an annuity?

April 5, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity, FAQs, Social Security Tags: Ask Jerry, Dependable spendable income, Golden Retirement, retirement income, Social Security, Variable Annuities

Question: I am considering adding an immediate annuity to my retirement portfolio. My research suggests these annuities make sense, but I wonder whether it would be better to purchase it from my 401(k) or my Roth IRA. What would you suggest? More

The top 3 myths you will hear about annuities at tax time

March 22, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity 1 Comment Tags: Annuities, Baby Boomers, Dependable spendable income, Guaranteed Income, retirement

As you pull together your records to prepare this year’s tax return, it might mark the first time in a while that you’ve really examined your finances.

If you are one of the many retired Baby Boomers, perhaps the amount of your interest income caught your eye. You were probably surprised, because if you’ve got $100,000 of your retirement assets in a bank savings account, the tally of monthly interest amounts to a little more than $20 per month. For the year, you earned around $250.

Your money isn’t working for you. More

Create a plan for pension-like retirement income

March 16, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity, Social Security 7 Comments Tags: Annuities, Guaranteed Income, retirement income, Social Security

A generation ago, retirees could rely on workplace pensions, along with Social Security payments, to provide guaranteed income that would meet most, or perhaps all, of their living expenses.

That doesn’t happen anymore. When you plan your retirement, you must take responsibility yourself to create a pension substitute from a mix of options that you can combine and customize to meet your needs. Often advisors unfortunately limit those options to investments like stock and bond mutual funds – combined with a “withdraw until it runs out” strategy. That’s very far from a pension. More