There are many reason you may want to move your funds

Poor CD rates
Stock market volatility
Retirement Income Stability
Divorce

Inheritance
Legal settlement
Changed career or employer(s)
Tax advantages

Regardless of your why,  you are going to want someone who knows how to properly move the funds to avoid delay and negative tax consequences.  At Cunningham Life Insurance Agency we specialize in helping people move their funds to tax advantaged investments that have guarantees against loss of principal.  While these types of investments are not new, they have come a long way in the last few decades.  Just like you wouldn’t look at the TV’s from 30 years ago and assume they work the same way as a TV today; the same is true of Annuities today.

Qualified Funds or Tax Differed funds such as Pensions, 401(k)’s, IRA’s, 403(b)’s, 457, simple IRA’s, SEP IRA’s, and HSA’s all have different rules and regulations about how and where they can be moved. Always work with someone who is highly qualified to avoid costly lump sum tax bills.

Furthermore if you find your self unable to contribute to a retirement account due to income limits or contribution limits there aren’t many option left for you to enjoy tax differed growth.  An annuity can be an ideal vehicle designed just for you, there are no contribution limits and no income limits to keep you from enjoying tax differed growth.

What type of annuity should I use?

There are three types of annuities that are ideal for moving retirement funds for future distribution while guaranteeing the principal .  The Fixed Single Premium Differed Annuity (SPDA) , the Multi-Year Annuity (MYA), and the Fixed Indexed SPDA.  If you are looking to start income distributions right away a Single Premium Immediate Annuity (SPIA)  may also be an option.  See the Guaranteeing Your Retirement Income section for more detail about immediate income options.

SPDA Option

When deciding between a Fixed or Fixed Indexed option, you will want to determine if you would like to have a set return rate with the fixed annuity.  Alternatively, you may want to try to do a little better than the fixed rate by letting the rate be determined by an underlying market index, such as the Dow Jones, S&P 500, Hang Sang, Russell 2000, etc.  With an indexed annuity you usually will have the option to change the underlying index or select the current fixed rate.  However, if you choose a fixed contract it will NOT have the option to allow for an indexed option in later years.  The upside of the fixed is that you never have the possibility of having a flat or 0% return year.

A Differed Annuity means that the income phase of the contract is differed till you decide to annuitize, withdraw, or move the funds. Your funds grow according to the terms of the contract you choose.

MYGA Option

The Multi-Year Annuity is a fairly simple type of annuity, you pick the number of years you want to the insurance company to hold your funds.  The longer you want them to hold your funds the better the fixed guaranteed rate of return will be.  The typical time frame is from 3 Years to 10Years.  Because of the similarities to a CD they are sometime refereed to as “the CD like annuity” or “CD type annuity”.  However, CD’s and annuities are quite different and should not be linked or confused with one another.  For example, unlike a CD the funds in an annuity grow tax differed regardless if it’s a qualified or non-qualified type of account.

NOTE:  The return rate of a Fixed Traditional (SPDA) vs. a MYG annuity is rate of the traditional annuity is set each year where as a MYGA has the rate for all years set in the beginning of the contract.

Request a free guide to fixed annuities or call for more information.