The one I like is "Can I get a sample contract so I can read it before we go any further with this discussion?"
In fact, I'd like to see a sample of the annuity in the OP.
There should be no issue with obtaining a sample contract. Every company offers them if requested.
Has anyone ever gone to a "free" seminar and exposed the sales tactics to the audience? I think it might be fun to study the contract in advance, then educate the audience as to why it was a con. The fun part would be in knowing I was saving someone from being ripped off.
While you may think it's amusing, consider that the person holding the seminar pays around $100 per person attending...if you disagree with the approach, that's fine, but it's not a "con" and you are costing someone real money to waste their time.
FinanceDude - this is a fixed index annuity, not a VA.
OP - As others pointed out, the 8% guaranteed is not a lump sum that you can walk away with. If it was, everyone would jump on it and the insurance company would soon be out of business. It is a guaranteed "rollup" on the "income base", which is used to determine your payout each year for the rest of your life, depending on when you take the income.
There are two separate accounts, the cash value accumulation account that you can walk away with, and the income account, which is used to determine the annual payouts. The cash accumulation account is determined by the index changes or fixed rate applied. You are not annuitizing by taking the income, you are subtracting the payout each year from the accumulated cash value. If the cash value becomes $0, you still receive the payout every year until you die (or your spouse, if you choose a joint annuity). If you died 2 years after taking the income, your beneficiary would still receive the lump sum cash value left over.
On a side note, some annuities allow your beneficiaries to take the income account as a lump sum cash payment, if paid over 5 years if you died. Others do not allow that option and would just pay out whatever is left in the accumulation account.