Retirement Allocation Suggestions Wanted

[LongPrime]

Looking for new & old ideas for current allocation and future (1-4 yrs) inheritance money : So sell me something or sell me to your thinking.

Current:
27% VA, Guaranteed Income Withdrawal type= 5% max, 5 yrs remaining on 5 contracts, 8 yrs remaining on 1 contract. Laddered amounts, 5% guaranteed withdrawal for life and remainder to heirs. Growth MF based/no bonds other than small amounts in the Growth&Incomes. Looking at the annual stepup-reset and 5% withdrawal.

25% Stock brokerage, currently 35% in cash,

22% Fix-Index Annuity. 2 policies. Guaranteed Income Withdrawal type.
6.5% withdrawal rate attained in 3 more years. 5% guaranteed growth rate for 12 more years. Looking at the 5% internal growth and the 6.5% backend income

17% Mutual Funds = All Growth MF and Indexed Growth

10% Cash

Have LTC, illiquid property in farm deferral, no mortgage, no debts. Age 64 and 67. Expect to live to 95.

 

[brewer12345]

Which companies wrote the FIAs? There are a lot of marginal writers of this crap that offer more generous guarantees and unlike the VAs these are general account products with very real counterparty risk (see, for example, Fidelity & Guaranty Life).

 

[LongPrime]

^Lincoln.
Looked at about a dozen plans. Met(already had VA with them-didn't want more eggs with them), Fidelity (30 year relationship but even my old, bad Met was better), Great American (several different FIA offered by different representatives, discovered here that annuty-insurance company will offer variations to different reps), TDAmeritrade then didn't offer annuities, Vanguard(similar to Fidelity). Couldn't find a local Pru agent. Couple of others-forgetable.

 

[Golden sunsets]

You are looking for alternatives to your current AA? Is it even possible for you to dump your annuities without being burned to badly?

 

[LongPrime]

^ I am looking at any and all proposals.
4-VAs are in their 5th year. 1 VA is in 3rd year, which is relatively small, in our name and annuitant, is intended for future grandchild, for use in perhaps 25 years.
All VA's are the same "vintage" except for amounts and slightly different growth allocation and in 2013 gave 24-27% growth, with expenses taken out. They reset to the higher valuations rather than step ups of 5%. They have a 10 year 5% internal "income account" guarantee. I expect to start tapping at least one of the VA at the end of the 10 year contract and look for alternatives for the remainder.

The FIA, have a 5% income account guarantee for 15 years and can be "restarted", They have a 6.5% withdrawal if held to 5 years+70 yo. The index option return, was poor so the internal 5% step up as taken. We are in the 2nd year.

Both types need not be annuitized to capture features. In fact, annuitization is even discouraged.

If we were to kill these policies, what are the alternatives. Ignore the surrender charges.

 

[LongPrime]

Correction. Forgot to carry a "1" in the last column.

Looking for new & old ideas for current allocation and future (1-4 yrs) inheritance money : So sell me something or sell me to your thinking.

Current:
[-]27%[/-] 37% VA, Guaranteed Income Withdrawal type= 5% max, 5 yrs remaining on 5 contracts, 8 yrs remaining on 1 contract. Laddered amounts, 5% guaranteed withdrawal for life and remainder to heirs. Growth MF based/no bonds other than small amounts in the Growth&Incomes. Looking at the annual stepup-reset and 5% withdrawal.

[-]25%[/-] 22% Stock brokerage, currently 35% in cash,

[-]22%[/-] 19% Fix-Index Annuity. 2 policies. Guaranteed Income Withdrawal type.
6.5% withdrawal rate attained in 3 more years. 5% guaranteed growth rate for 12 more years. Looking at the 5% internal growth and the 6.5% backend income

[-]17%[/-] 14% Mutual Funds = All Growth MF and Indexed Growth

[-]10%[/-] 8% Cash

Have LTC, illiquid property in farm deferral, no mortgage, no debts. Age 64 and 67. Expect to live to 95.

 

[springnr]

I'm easily spooked into missing out on great deals, by guys like this.
Confessions of an indexed-annuity insider |Stan The Annuity Man®

 

[REWahoo]

Confessions of an indexed-annuity insider |Stan The Annuity Man®

After years of revealing what's behind the green curtain in the world of annuities it is hard to believe this guy hasn't been the victim of a tragic accident. Old Stan must have a huge pair.

 

[brewer12345]

Holy crap! The salesmen goy you hook, line and sinker. Did they use a gaff, too?

Do you understand what you bought? There mist be over a thousand pages of contract language for all the annuities you bought.

 

[ducky911]

It appears that you not only have a full tank of gas to get you through retirement but you are hiring a driver to boot.

Most of us here are , whether needed or not, looking to maximize our retirement opportunities . Throwing half your money into a perpetual motion box and than asking for advice ...well that seems odd.

 

[LongPrime]

Holy crap! The salesmen goy you hook, line and sinker. Did they use a gaff, too?

Do you understand what you bought? There mist be over a thousand pages of contract language for all the annuities you bought.

So what do you suggest?

Your comment is not helpful. Can you provide some help or not?

 

[LongPrime]

It appears that you not only have a full tank of gas to get you through retirement but you are hiring a driver to boot.

Most of us here are , whether needed or not, looking to maximize our retirement opportunities . Throwing half your money into a perpetual motion box and than asking for advice ...well that seems odd.

Your comment is not helpful either.

The high proportion of annuity is from the results of better returns in relation to the rest of the portfolio.

 

[steelyman]

Nap time!

 

[LongPrime]

I'm easily spooked into missing out on great deals, by guys like this.
Confessions of an indexed-annuity insider |Stan The Annuity Man®

Yes, I saw these and variations of teaser. It is not what I have.

 

[LongPrime]

Any Suggestions Please

As of 10:30 am PDT. I got 460+ views. Four, ad hominems , and one question that resulted in an ad hominem, and one question that assumes that I should change product lines.

No advice or questions of substance.

Come-on, Early-Retirement, people keep it coming.

 

[MichaelB]

As of 10:30 am PDT. I got 460+ views. Four, ad hominems , and one question that resulted in an ad hominem.

No advice or questions of substance.

Come-on, Early-Retirement, people keep it coming.

All you seem to care about is showing what a good deal you have with your current annuities. What do you expect?

 

[steelyman]

Come-on, Early-Retirement, people keep it coming.

I think E-R people consistently provide useful advice. I don't ask for much but when I do, someone steps up to the plate.

 

[REWahoo]

Here is the bottom line, the same advice given out by this forum hundreds if not thousands of times over the years: read & learn about DIY investing, simple is better, costs matter (big time!), develop and implement your own investment plan, stay the course, and because TAANSTAAFL, don't drink the annuity Kool-Aid.

 

[LongPrime]

You are looking for alternatives to your current AA? Is it even possible for you to dump your annuities without being burned to badly?

Ans: Any and all suggestions are welcomed. I can dump the VAs and take a 5% hit and is small compared to the gains and overall portfolio. The FIA, I will take the full surrender charge. But what are the alternatives and advantages and risks?

 

[W2R]

All you seem to care about is showing what a good deal you have with your current annuities. What do you expect?

Ugh, annuities. There are (rare) situations that seem to call for them, but on this forum we also seem to attract an avalanche of annuity salesmen and pitches. I suppose this is due to our fairly well heeled membership. They are looking for easy marks.

Honestly I think the best way to determine an asset allocation is to do a lot of reading from this list. Sure, that is not as fast and easy as asking somebody you don't even know, on a message board, but gosh. Nearly all of us have to learn about handling large sums of money, relative to our pre-retirement income, so it is worth the time and effort to do it right. This is your responsibility to yourself.

My main advice is to spend time with whoever it is from whom you expect to inherit, perhaps a parent. You just can't imagine how much you may miss a parent until after they are gone. I inherited when my mother passed away, but would so much prefer that she hadn't passed away to begin with. Well, I guess she had to, at age 98, but what I mean is I miss her so very, very much. There is so much I want to tell her and say to her and share with her, but that time is past. Who gives a fig about the inheritance. I invested it according to the same asset allocation I had before inheriting. I haven't touched it so far, and probably won't.

 

[REWahoo]

But what are the alternatives and advantages and risks?

Looking for someone else to tell you how to invest and make money is what earned you the privilege of owning all those wordy annuity contracts. You need to spend the time to read and learn how to do your own investing, not ask unknown, anonymous individuals on an internet forum to tell you how. Start here: Bogleheads® investing start-up kit - Bogleheads

 

[RetireAge50]

Sell everything you have. Take the butt whipping you have coming. Put everything into Wellesley or Wellington and never make another decision.

 

[brewer12345]

Looking for someone else to tell you how to invest and make money is what earned you the privilege of owning all those wordy annuity contracts. You need to spend the time to read and learn how to do your own investing, not ask unknown, anonymous individuals on an internet forum to tell you how. Start here: Bogleheads® investing start-up kit - Bogleheads

A big 'ol +1. If OP does not even understand what alternatives are to annuities, I don't understand how the annuities were anything other than the result of the salesman screw job.

 

[Golden sunsets]

A big 'ol +1. If OP does not even understand what alternatives are to annuities, I don't understand how the annuities were anything other than the result of the salesman screw job.

Brewer; What a hoot. I viewed your response before signing in so there were adds showing on your post. The add was for annuities.

 

[LongPrime]

Read Dick Bogle's tenants longtime ago. Looked at Wellington and Wellsley but couldn't reconcile using their Vanguard's managed fund vs unmanaged Vanguard's indexes. Two primary postulates that DB has: #1 You can't beat the market; #2 Low fees. Not a bad argument and we had some managed money in Fidelity(grandfathered) and Indexes in the brokerage account. Even had Dreyfus LiquidAssets originally started in '74. Vanguards in 401k.

We all remember 9/11's aftermath? It took 2 years before the market hit bottom. We weathered it OK, DCA all the time. So, what happens in an occurrence of the fall 2008 and winter 2009? When jobs were in jeopardy, housing values pluments, and Vanguard various funds drop 30-40% and you have not time left to DCA?