Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Why You Should Choose a Structured Settlement Annuity Payment

If you are the recipient of a structured settlement order, then you know that there are several options open for you when it comes to receiving compensation. One route that may be the best for you is to go with the structured settlement annuity payment. Here's a few reasons why this may be the most beneficial course of action for you.

First of all, if you are receiving money from a fixed annuity that is the result of some sort of legal action, be it a settlement arrived at by arbitration or litigation, the payments will be tax free in just about all instances. In effect, you will have a regular source of income that is all yours and does not have to be accounted for in your calculations of how much state and federal income tax you owe. This can greatly simplify doing your taxes for each calendar year.

Second, a structured settlement annuity payment provides you with a consistent and reliable source of income. No matter what other issues you may have in your life, you can depend on the payments to show up like clockwork. This can be a great situation for someone who has always wanted to try his or her hand at starting a business, but never could because of the need to provide income for the family. Having that regular payment coming in helps to insulate you from changes in the job market, and all sorts of unexpected situations.

The fact is that a structured settlement annuity payment is a cut and dried manner of receiving the money that is owed to you. You can depend on the money coming in at regular intervals until the settlement amount has been disbursed, so you can use it to support yourself while you build other sources of income or you can choose to invest it as you receive the payments. And through it all, the money is tax-free. For many people, this is the ideal situation.

Mayoor Patel is the writer for the website http://www.structured-settlements.wares-are.us/. Please visit for information on all things concerned with Structured Settlement Annuity

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Ramp Up Annuity Sales Using Secret Tool

Lots of annuity sales with this Tool. Most of our competitors hammer us and our prospects about the surrender penalties in annuities.

7 years, 10 years, 17 years - YIKES!

I look at it differently. I love surrender penalties because they provide me with lots of future prospects and clients. How can that be?

It is the exclusion ratio. The exclusion ratio has made more annuity sales for me that anything I can ever think of. The exclusion ratio is a benefit we should all make certain our clients and prospects are aware of. Explain it this way:

If you convert accumulated funds in an annuity to an income stream you can access the exclusion ratio. The exclusion ratio is the percentage of income that is excluded from tax liability.

I like this example

? A $50,000 deposit has grown to a value of $100,000.

If the annuitant takes any funds from this account it is 100% taxable at ordinary income tax rates.

In our example let?s pretend that the annuitant selects a 10 year payout and we will round off the calculations for the sake of illustration.

? $100,000 will provide an annual payment of $10,000 for 10 years.
? $5,000 basis and not taxable, $5,000 interest and taxable.

The $5,000 basis is the exclusion ratio.

Because we have accessed the exclusion ratio we can ?spread out? the tax liability over the selected time period which in our example is 10 years. This means that only 50% of the income received is taxable. By spreading out the payment we have spread out the tax liability!

An annual payment of $10,000 will only have 50% tax liability. Mrs. Prospect, this allows you to completely manage your annual tax liability and to take advantage of the ?Exclusion Ratio.? How about selling the exclusion ratio to the client for the beneficiary?

Mrs. Prospect did you know that when your daughter receives these funds as your beneficiary she can also access the exclusion ratio??

Your beneficiary can accept the funds out over a fixed period of time and spread the tax liability over the payout period.

When a prospect asks me about surrender period I always say this:

?Mrs. Prospect, you cannot enjoy the benefits of this contract unless you allow the insurance company to hold your funds. There are many benefits you can enjoy with this product, have you ever heard of the exclusion ratio??

I use the power of the contract and the exclusion ratio to explain the need for surrender period. Easy to explain and makes for very happy clients. This is especially good when someone comes to me with an existing annuity. Often times they are not happy and did not understand the time period for the surrender penalties. I would say this..

?Mrs. Prospect, unfortunately your agent did not really understand your contract well enough. It is really not his fault; he probably did not have access to the training that I have had. Let me explain a terrific benefit of your contract, the exclusion ratio.?

Once I am able to explain this powerful benefit it is easy to sell another annuity to her. The benefits of the contact sell the annuity for me.

Bill Broich is a 30 year annuity salesman who helps agents increase their annuity sales. Visit his website to learn more. Annuity.com.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Annuity Marketing By Radio

I know what you are thinking? I must be kidding - right?

Think about our target market. Who are they and how do they access their information? It is a statistic that only 7% of people over age 65 are online. That means that 93% of our target market is accessing information by other sources such as the newspaper, television and the RADIO!

How do you do it? There are many options available to you. Offer your services to the Saturday Morning local interest station. There are many of these and your cost will be zilch. They are always looking for guests and if you offer a newsworthy topic it is very easy to get yourself on the air and it will be a clever annuity marketing tactic.

A possible target may be, ?Uncover the facts about Long Term Care Insurance? or ?How to manage your IRA for maximum income.? There are so many topics available to you that a little imagination will leave you with endless possibilities.

How about pay to play? Easy to do and lots of sources. I like the idea of a Saturday Morning slot and if you can get it close to 10:00 it is perfect. Buy the air time for 30 minutes and talk about your list of topics. Have you ever thought about doing an annuity seminar on the radio? Just repeat the strong points of your seminar over the air and invite people to call in for questions.

Have the station capture the caller?s information like address and number.

Offer a booklet to mail out after the show. The callers are all solid prospects and because you are on the ?RADIO? you are a perceived expert!

Trade air time for commercials. This idea really works, offer the station an advertising commitment for air time. Trade $1,000 of commercials for the ? hour of air time.

What do you advertise?

Your radio program! How about peripheral annuity marketing? Ask the station for permission to use their name on your web site or your printed materials. Have fun with this and be informal while at the same time being the local ?EXPERT.?

Your radio show can be cross marketed to your existing client base and to all new prospects you meet. ?Oh, you are the radio guy.? Instant credibility!

There are numerous ways to find annuity leads, be different and be creative and your annuity marketing results will explode.

Bill Broich is a 30 year annuity salesman who helps agents ramp up their annuity marketing efforts. Visit his website to learn more. Annuity.com

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Monday, January 7, 2008

Annuity Rates

 Annuities are the series of payments made by an institution like an insurance company to the annuitant (annuity holder) over a fixed time period. The payments are fixed by the company. Annuity rates are the rates of return that the annuitant will. Rates will depend on the nature of the annuity.

In the case of fixed deferred annuities, the rate of return is guaranteed over the life of the insurance contract. On the other hand, variable deferred annuities will not give any guaranteed return on the annuity. This is because; the amount obtained by the insurance companies from fixed annuities is invested in low risk government securities and bonds that guarantee some income. But the amount from the variable annuities will be invested in high-risk securities. However, the main advantage of variable annuities is that the excess income above the premiums from these annuities is exempted from tax. The two important factors that affect the annuity rates are gilt yields and life expectancy. In most of the countries, annuity rates have been on the decline. Sometimes the annuity rates depend on the market conditions and the monetary policy of the Government.

Every annuity holder wishes to have higher rate of return on the annuity. In order to achieve higher annuity rates of return, one needs to shop around for a good insurance company. Moreover, the potential holders need to have an idea of what types of securities the company invests in. If the investments perform well, then the likelihood of enjoying higher returns is possible. Potential holders may seek professional advice from annuity brokers or agents.



Cash For Annuities Web provides detailed information on cash for annuities, annuity brokers, annuity buyers, annuity payments and more. Cash For Annuities Web is affiliated with Cash Out Refinancing Scams.

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Monday, December 3, 2007

Annuity Basics


Annuities can be very good things for some of us and a disaster for those of us who have not been made aware of the pitfalls and traps that in turn can easily befall them. Since most people have or are going to look into annuities as a retirement or and an investment vehicle, make sure it fits into today's needs and parameters. It has to be right for the times we are in and it needs to be periodically revaluated for tomorrow's world.

Precautions to be taken when buying annuities:

1. One should not Buy Annuities With Long Surrender Periods:

People are talked into buying an annuity that locks up their money for an excessive period of time with a surrender period that is longer than another comparable annuity with similar interest rates.

2. Do not fall for First Year Bonus Interest Rates:

Some annuity companies offer you a 'bonus' or 'bonus interest rate' on your first year deposit into an annuity.

3. Understand exclusion rations and the value of a partial 1035 exchange.

This is a rather complicated subject because there are enormous variables in determining how to properly structure your annuity contract from day one so as to maximize the taxable exclusion ratios when and if you decide to take an annuitization income from your annuities in the future.

4. Do not use small companies with questionable financial ratings

An annuity by definition is a contract guaranteed by an insurance company. Annuity consumers sometimes forget this and buy and annuity without factoring the claims paying ability of the insuring company. This does not only apply to the questions of solvency or bankruptcy but to the more subtle effect it might have ones contract. If an annuity company has financial trouble it most likely will not go bankrupt (even though it is a possibility) because of the various government regulatory groups that monitor annuity companies. But what can happen is the annuity company will lower the rates at which it credits interest to your account in order to make up its losses in other areas of its business.

5. Know the guaranteed cover per person per insurance company

One needs to know if an insurance company goes broke what is the guaranteed cover per person per insurance company is available .One should not invest more than that in the fixed or guaranteed annuities and the variable annuities are not covered. Because if they broke then one may get stuck or spread the amount between different insurance companies.

6. Consider the shortest penalty free surrender date The next thing you have to consider is getting the shortest possible penalty free surrender date term as possible so long as the interest rate is better than any CD.

Lastly and most importantly get the best professional help, one who will always tell you "like it is" even if its sometimes hard to listen too and even harder sometimes to act upon.Mansi gupta writes about annuity basics .

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