Term Talks: Simple Language. Quick Videos.

What's an annuity?

Quite simply an annuity is a financial tool.

And like most tools it helps you build something.

In this case retirement income.

In a way, annuities are like power tools, you have to charge them up first.

And you power up an annuity by paying premiums.

Later, the insurance company pays you back, with interest, tax advantage, in a single sum or regular intervals, guaranteed.

Best of all, no matter how you pay in, the annuity can pay out for as long as you live.

So you may never run out of income in retirement, no matter what happens in the market or economy.

No other financial tool can do that,

Plus, in some instances you can even set them up to pay a beneficiary.

Does an annuity have costs?

Sure, but so do other financial tools, and they can vary.

The good news is those costs help build the value other tools can't match.

Such as the guarantees and the lifetime payouts.

Of course, an annuity may be used a long time.

So, it's key to consider one from a company that measures up with a long history of industry ratings.

Such as Standard and Poor's, Moody's, A.M. Best and Fitch.

And a strong Comdex score, which is an average of a company's ratings.

Note that the agencies that rate us are registered as Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations with the SEC.

And we go to great lengths to maintain these standards.

Look, an annuity may not be the only thing in your financial toolbox to help you save for the future.

But it's a handy way to help build your savings now and protect against the risk of outliving them later.

Which can put a real wrench in your retirement.

Of course, this is just a high-level look at annuities.

A visit with your financial advisor can help nail down the details.

Tell them you saw it here first.

Single Premium Immediate Annuity or SPIA.

The name may seem long and complicated but the concept is simple.

In short, a SPIA has just two steps.

Step one, you make one-time upfront payment.

Step two, you get regular retirement payouts immediately.

Best of all, those payouts can last a lifetime.

If you live to 100, it pays to 100.

If you live you live longer, it pays longer.

So you never stop receiving income no matter what happens with rates or markets.

In some ways, a SPIA works like a pension plan.

Plus it's customizable with dozens of different payout possibilities.

And SPIAs typically have no added fees due to their simplicity.

Now, since a SPIA is designed for a long retirement

it's key to consider one from a company with a long history of high ratings.

Such as Standard and Poor's, Moody's, AM Best and Fitch.

And a strong COMDEX score which is an average of a company's ratings.

Note that the agencies that rate us are registered as nationally recognized statistical rating organizations with the SEC.

And we go to great lengths to maintain these standards.

For a final fact, SPIAs are actually the oldest form of income insurance.

They date to Roman times when soldiers received lifetime payouts for their service.

Of course, these days you don't have to march into battle for life.

You can get it from an annuity provider.

See if a SPIA suits your retirement needs.

Contact us to learn more.

How long will your retirement income last?

Many variables affect it.

A big one is something called Sequence of Returns.

Basically, when you start withdrawals in retirement,

your portfolio performance can impact your income stream 

right from the start positively or negatively.

If you start withdrawals in an up market

your money may last as long as you need it.

But if you start withdrawals in a down market

your money may not last so long.

So, how do you know which way the market will go when you retire?

You don't!

But you can help guard against negative results.

You see, whichever ways markets go, guaranteed retirement income for life

is always available in an annuity.

Just putting a portion of your assets into such a strategy

helps protect you from running out of money

by providing steady, sustained stream of payouts for as long as you live.

Think of it this way, dealing with sequence of returns is like riding a roller coaster

but you don't if it's going to climb high or dip deep at the start

yet it can affect the rest of the ride when you're already on your way.

An annuity is like a lap bar, helping protect you from whichever sequence awaits,

up or down.

The bottom line, your sequence of returns can affect your retirement ride tomorrow.

Ask how an annuity can help today.

Insurance company ratings, they're dozens and they're all different.

Which do you trust and which do you understand?

Industry ratings may seem like a complex mix of letters and numbers.

So they can be difficult to decipher.

Well, remember back in school when you took a test you typically got a simple score out of 100.

For example, if you got 90 out of 100, you know that was a good grade.

There's a similar way to grade insurance companies.

It's a COMDEX score.

it takes all the major industry ratings and averages them and creates a single easy to understand composite ranking from one to one hundred.

It's important to note that COMDEX uses ratings agencies in its calculations that are registered as nationally recognized statistical ratings organizations

with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, an independent federal government agency.

These include: AM Best, Fitch, Moody's and Standard and Poor's.

In a way, COMDEX is like a simplified report card for insurance companies.

At Western Southern our companies score 96 out of 100.

Those are pretty high marks you can feel good about.

In fact, only a small number of insurers are in that higher range.

These days, things are uncertain.

You don't want your financial services company to be.

So consider COMDEX as a way to compare and contrast companies.

You can count on it's simple way to see if the company you choose to do business with makes the grade.

Learn more at wsfinancialpatners.com/ratings.

You know it pays to better understand financial jargon.

And paying is the whole point behind a particular financial term called annuitization.

Now, you may have heard of an annuity.

It's a retirement  planning product.

You may not know what annuitization is.

Well, in short, it's one of the ways an annuity pays you in retirement.

Annuitizing turns the payments you put into an annuity into payouts you get out of it.

It converts your accumulated cash value into an income stream you could set up in a variety of ways.

For example monthly, yearly, for a specific time or the lifetime of one or two people.

So why does all of this matter?

Well, a study shows that the thing people fear most in retirement is outliving their savings and running out of money.

In fact, it's the number one concern of all workers surveyed.

But lifetime annuitization ensures that won't happen.

Think of it like a permanent paycheck for your where you choose the amount and the frequency.

And it's guaranteed for as long as you live.

So, as you can see, annuitization is big word for an important concept.

A concept it pays to understand.

To learn more about annuity solutions, contact us today.

Do you save money for a rainy day?

Well, in a way insurance companies do too with capital.

Capital represents reserves we have to help pay policyholder promises.

Promises like guaranteed insurance benefits and lifetime retirement income.

We measure capital strength by something called the capital-to-asset ratio.

That sounds complex but it's just a way to compare a company's capital relative to its size.

The larger the ratio the better.

You can think of this as a kind of rainy day fund.

Some days are sunny. Some days are rainy.

And in the financial world, some days are downright stormy.

With market volatility, economic challenges and more.

Well, the bigger our capital ratio, the greater our ability to survive and thrive during the stormy times.

And uphold our commitments to you.

For the record, our capital-to-asset ratio is higher than the average of the 15 largest publicly traded life insurers in the nation.

Enough to cover all our customer commitments and then some.

Learn more about our capital, our company and our product promises today.

Find out what will be there  for you in the future.

Rain or shine.

If you're like most folks you probably don't spend much time thinking about life insurance companies but here's something to think about.

There are actually two different types of insurers and how they differ may affect how they think about the customer experience.

The two types are mutual companies and stock companies.

Companies that are part of a mutual organization such as Western & Southern Financial Group focus on business strategies that provide long-term value to policy owners.

However, stock companies also have a third party, stockholders. to consider.

So they're additionally interested in investment practices that support their stock price,

which may not necessarily be aligned at all times with the concerns of policyholders.

Plus, stockholders can sell their stock so company ownership can change.

In fact, there's been a recent rash of Industry deals where Private Equity firms have invested in and taken control of many life companies.

The NAIC previously estimated that such firms now control 117 companies.

And these insurers could shift their investments to higher risk and less liquid assets or even increase premiums and fees, all to pursue stockholder returns.

In contrast, Mutual companies do not have stockholders and are instead owned by policyholders.

As a result, they are not beholden to stockholder demands and may be able to focus more on long-term investment strategies to build strong capital positions that benefit customers.

All this can seem complicated but an analogy might help simplify things.

Let's say you had a choice of two restaurants for a nice dinner out, one served you with a focus on what you, the diner, wanted.

And the other put food on your plate based on what the restaurants investors wanted, whether you ordered it or not.

Where would you rather dine?

Whatever you decide, we hope this has been Food For Thought for your financial future.

For more information on our company contact a representative of W&S Financial Group Distributors, a member of the Western and Southern Financial Group.