Financial Planning AnnuitiesWhat Is a Variable Annuity

This is financial advisor, Patrick Munro,
talking about what is a variable annuity. A variable annuity, just like the word implies,
variable is Wall Street's version of what an annuity should be. What they've done is
they've taken mutual funds, which are of course variable in nature, and they've wrapped it
in a sheath of life insurance; therefore, making the benchmark of an annuity. The problem
is that mutual funds are of have the following rules attached to them.

Past performance is
no indication of future value, may lose value, and not insured by any federal government
agency. Those kind of rules are probably not the rules you should be looking for for your
retirement instrument, but you know Wall Street has the ability and the right to offer these
instruments up to the public. For more information on variable annuities, go to their website
at www.Sec.Gov; then of course click on enforcement, and then click on investor alerts, and inside
there you will see various financial instruments, but there is a tutorial from the United States
government on variable annuities; what you should know. Watch for rates, of course, also
watch for fees, watch for charges on the account that normally, fixed annuities and equity
index annuities do not have.

So make sure that you work with a licensed professional
if you're buying a variable annuity, and always have safety of your money in the front of
your mind when you're doing something like this. This is financial advisor Patrick Munro,
talking about variable annuities..

Financial Planning AnnuitiesVariable Annuity Drawbacks

This is financial adviser Patrick Munro talking
about variable annuity drawbacks. Like the word implies, variable means up and down.
Most people would like their financial future to go up, maybe stay the same for a while
in stormy times, but never go down. That is the inherent problem with variable annuities.
The other problem is, variable annuities are comprised of mutual funds. Mutual funds of
course have fund managers that have to make decisions and sometimes they're the wrong
ones for you as a fund holder, and if that happens, the fund will go down.

Typically
mutual fund managers also have expenses to manage your money. Those expenses come out
of your investment before you get any return. There are other fees to variable annuities,
such as an M & E charge. M & E stands for mortality and expense charge, as well.

It's
essentially a fee for dying. Also, you have in addition to the fees of the mutual fund
you also have internal rates of returned fees, there's also principal protection riders,
where, there if the market was to go down and it ties your money up over an extended
period of time. For more information on variable annuities and the risks that are associated
with them, go on the web to www.Sec.Gov, click on enforcement, then click on investor alerts,
and you'll see variable annuities, what you should know, and it's a tutorial about variable
annuities and some of the risk associated therein. I'm financial adviser Patrick Munro..

Financial Planning AnnuitiesTop Annuity Producers

This is financial adviser Patrick Munro talking
about top annuity producers. I happen to be a top annuity producer and I would like to
share with you how I got to that level of production. It's a situation where you have
to work with a compliant insurance company or companies as a broker. Make sure that all
your licensing is in place and of course you would basically take the time with every client
to solve as much of their financial affairs as you can using annuities as a solution.
There are groups or associations that exist one and most importantly is called the million
dollar round table.

You can google that under MDRT on the web and check out your financial
adviser to see if he is a member of the MDRT. Which stands for million dollar round table.
And if that is the case you know you are working with the very best. I've been a lifetime member
of the million dollar round table since I. Started my annuity practice in nineteen ninety
nine.

If you take care of the time and the attention of the client and you stay complaint
with the government as well as the insurance carriers, using ethics as a very important
benchmark, this is the way that you become a top annuity producer. This is Patrick Munro
financial adviser..

Financial Planning AnnuitiesStrategy for High-Interest Annuities

This is financial planner Patrick Munro talking
about strategies for high interest annuities. Well, like any financial instrument that you
want to have high interest, with high interest comes higher level of risk. Looking at our
spectrum of annuities, the highest level of risk, we'll talk about in a moment. Let's
talk about the lowest level of risk.

That would be a fixed annuity. That's a declared
interest rate, you know where you stand, normally it's just above the cost of living, but at
least it's 100% safe and guaranteed by the insurance company. Next we have our equity
indexed annuities which allow you to participate in the stock market but there is no possibility
of down side risk. However, there's a cap on how much you can make on your interest
rate which is a risk premium for the protection that's offered on the down side.

Finally if
you're looking for the highest level of interest in an annuity, you'd be looking at a variable
annuity. What it is, it allows you to participate in the stock market linked returns using mutual
funds that are wrapped in a vessel of life insurance, therefore making it a definition
of an annuity. I caution you, though, that variable annuities are just that. When the
market is up, you can get a better rate of return, which is the highest interest strategy
available but the market is down, you also go down and there is normally no protection
on the way down, which means you have to make up for that difference over time.

That is
the strategy for high interest annuities. I'm financial planner Patrick Munro..