I own a Vanguard Variable Annuity which I have not yet annuitized and don't plan to for the foreseeable future. (My current thinking is that I will hold onto it and assuming I predecease my wife, ownership will revert to her and then she can annuitize it to replace pension income which will go to the grave with me.)
But I ran a few numbers recently from the Annuity Tables at the back of the annuity contract. These tables have factors which you multiply times the value of the annuity at the time of annuitization to arrive at the guaranteed monthly payment under a variety of scenarios (single life, joint and last survivor, designated period, etc.) I assume all annuity contracts have similar tables.
So my questions are two for anyone who knows more about annuities than I do:
- the tables say they are "Guaranteed Minimum Amount of Monthly payment for Each $1000 Applied. Are there ever cases where the insurance company pays more than the guaranteed minimum amount? (I'm thinking of cases where you happen to annuitize during a period when interest rates are extraordinarily high.)
- is there any way to to do a head-to-head comparison of the Annuity Tables for various annuities from different providers? For example, if I wanted to see if I would get a bigger monthly payout by transferring the annuity to TiAA-CREF, Fidelity or someone else, is that information readily available anywhere? Or do you have to have a copy of the annuity contract in hand to get access to the tables. (I tried to find them on the TIAA-CREF web site but was unsuccessful; maybe they're there and I just couldn't find them.)
In any event, if anyone has answers to those two questions it would be appreciated.
But I ran a few numbers recently from the Annuity Tables at the back of the annuity contract. These tables have factors which you multiply times the value of the annuity at the time of annuitization to arrive at the guaranteed monthly payment under a variety of scenarios (single life, joint and last survivor, designated period, etc.) I assume all annuity contracts have similar tables.
So my questions are two for anyone who knows more about annuities than I do:
- the tables say they are "Guaranteed Minimum Amount of Monthly payment for Each $1000 Applied. Are there ever cases where the insurance company pays more than the guaranteed minimum amount? (I'm thinking of cases where you happen to annuitize during a period when interest rates are extraordinarily high.)
- is there any way to to do a head-to-head comparison of the Annuity Tables for various annuities from different providers? For example, if I wanted to see if I would get a bigger monthly payout by transferring the annuity to TiAA-CREF, Fidelity or someone else, is that information readily available anywhere? Or do you have to have a copy of the annuity contract in hand to get access to the tables. (I tried to find them on the TIAA-CREF web site but was unsuccessful; maybe they're there and I just couldn't find them.)
In any event, if anyone has answers to those two questions it would be appreciated.