Help with finance....

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by firstdown

You can buy all those funds without buying an annuity. Those are just the funds which you choose and can do the same with mutual funds. With any thing you purchase ask about the fees and commisions by law they have to disclose all this information.

That's exactly right. An annuity allows you to invest in a lot of different investments, driving the value of your annuity up until you retire. So until you get to retirement, it's really not much different than using mutual funds in an IRA or a 401K. But once you do retire, the annuity guarantees you a certain level of income, based on how big the balance has grown. All the while, you're getting hit with higher fees.

Pre-retirement, everyone should be using an IRA (or 401K if you have access through your employer) because the fees are much lower. Come retirement, you always have the option to exchange your IRA into an annuity. This allows you to avoid the big fees while you're saving for retirement, and then invest in an annuity guaranteeing your income when retirement comes.