Plain-English guidance on the annuity you own.
Short, jargon-free explainers on annuity types, riders, surrender schedules, 1035 exchanges, retirement income, and RMDs. Written for people who want to understand what they own before deciding anything.
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Annuities Explained
Plain-English guides to annuity types, riders, and contract mechanics — written for the person who owns the contract, not the industry.
Annuity Review
How to review an existing annuity: surrender schedules, free withdrawals, 1035 exchange rules, and replacement disclosures explained in plain English.
Retirement Income
Plain-English guides on retirement income mechanics: guaranteed income floors, sequence-of-returns risk, and required minimum distributions.
Annuity Rates
How annuity rates work: declared crediting rates, index caps and participation rates, guarantee periods, and how to compare offers fairly.
Independent reviews of specific annuity contracts
Athene Agility, Allianz 222, Nationwide Peak and more — each read against the five pillars of the Annuity Position Score™.
A.M. Best ratings and carrier profiles
Financial strength ratings for Allianz, Athene, Nationwide, MassMutual, Lincoln and more — plus what to read on the contracts each one writes.
1035 Exchanges
What Is a 1035 Exchange?
The tax code provision that lets you move between annuity contracts without triggering income tax - and its limits.
Full Disclosure Before Any Replacement
The surrender-charge, lost-rider, and new-contract disclosures a licensed specialist must provide.
Annuity Types
MYGA, Fixed-Indexed, Variable, Immediate: A Plain-English Map
How the four main annuity structures actually work, and what problem each one was built to solve.
Deferred vs. Immediate Annuities
The trade-off between accumulation and guaranteed income - and when each fits.
Annuity vs. CD: How the Comparison Actually Works
A MYGA and a CD look alike on the surface. The differences are in tax, access, and backing.
Fixed Indexed Annuity Explained: How Crediting Actually Works
A fixed indexed annuity is not an investment in an index. It is a fixed contract with a crediting formula tied to one.
MYGA Rates Explained: How Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuities Work
One rate, one term, one surrender schedule that matches it. The most straightforward contract in the annuity family.
Variable Annuities Explained: Subaccounts, Charges, and Risk
Principal that moves with the market, layered charges, and optional riders - how a variable annuity actually works.
Registered Index-Linked Annuities (RILAs) Explained
Part fixed-indexed, part variable: a defined slice of downside accepted in exchange for a higher ceiling on the upside.
Riders
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits (GLWB) Explained
What a living-benefit rider actually guarantees, what it costs, and why it can be the reason to keep a contract.
Death Benefit Riders: What They Do and Do Not Do
How enhanced death benefits are priced and when the added cost is worth it.
Surrender Charges
Retirement Income
Sequence-of-Returns Risk
Why the order of investment returns near retirement matters more than the average.
Building a Guaranteed Income Floor
How annuity income can cover essential expenses so the rest of the portfolio can work differently.
Are Annuities a Good Investment?
A balanced read on where annuities fit, where they do not, and the questions that actually settle it.
RMDs
Carrier Strength
Annuity Ratings: How to Read Carrier Financial Strength
An annuity is only as strong as the carrier standing behind it. How the four rating scales compare, and how to read yours.
State Guaranty Association Coverage for Annuities Explained
A statutory backstop that applies if a carrier fails, capped by state law and determined by the owner's state of residence, not by the carrier's location.
The A.M. Best Rating Scale Explained: A++ Down to D
Every tier of the A.M. Best financial strength scale, what the plus and minus modifiers mean, and why the letter alone never tells the whole story.
Costs
Annuity Fees Explained: Where the Costs Actually Sit
Fixed and variable annuities charge for their costs in entirely different ways. Knowing which structure applies changes where you should be looking.
Market Value Adjustment Explained: How an MVA Works
An adjustment tied to interest rate movement that can add to or subtract from a withdrawal - and the specific situations where it does not apply at all.
Taxes
How Are Annuities Taxed? Qualified, Non-Qualified, and Withdrawals
Deferral during accumulation, ordinary income on the way out, and two very different rule sets depending on whether the money is qualified.
Inherited Annuity Options: What Beneficiaries Need to Decide
Spousal continuation, lump sum, five-year, or a stream of payments - four very different elections, most of them irrevocable once filed.
Income
Annuity Payout Options: Annuitization Choices Explained
Life only pays the most per period and leaves nothing behind. Every other payout option buys protection by lowering the payment.
SPIA Rates Explained: How Immediate Annuity Payout Rates Work
Why an immediate annuity payout rate is not an interest rate, and which four variables actually move it.
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