fi nancialforum Annuities A
Save for Retirement Use MOAA’s retirement and savings calculators to help you plan finan- cially for retirement. Visit
www.moaa.org/ calculators/#RetireCalc.
44 MILITARY OFFICER MAY 2016
A fi xed-index annuity is not for wealth creation. Carefully defi ne your fi nancial objectives and requirements before opening one. By Lt. Col. Shane Ostrom, USAF (Ret), CFP®
A fixed-index annuity (FIA) is a type of interest-bearing savings account. It might be pitched as a safe investment to entice sales, but an FIA is not an investment. Technically an FIA is a deferred an- nuity — deferred meaning you don’t have to take a stream of lifetime income until you choose to do so in the future, or not at all. Annuities are insurance compa- nies’ savings or investment products that have guarantees (insurance) and some tax benefi ts.
The FIA interest rate fl oats based on the performance of an outside measure- ment. Most use the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index (S&P 500) as the outside measurement. You are not invested in the S&P 500; it is used as the basis of the interest rate.
A typical FIA has a guaranteed mini- mum interest rate of about 1 or 2 percent — the fl oor you are guaranteed to earn. The upper limit of interest paid is a por- tion of the outside measurement. So, as the sales pitch goes, you capture some of the stock market’s highs while being pro- tected from the stock market’s lows. Think of an FIA as principal protection
and not wealth creation. You get a portion of the outside measurement’s return on the upside. An FIA has a cap rate and a partici- pation rate (terms might vary). The cap rate is the most interest you can earn. For example: Let’s say the S&P 500 gains 15 percent in a year. The cap rate might be 6 percent. In this case, you
gave up 9 percent of the S&P 500 upside to ensure your safety. The cap rate can be decreased by the participation rate. Let’s say you have a participation rate of 80 percent and the S&P 500 Index goes up 6 percent in a year. Your cap rate is 6 percent, so you get the 6 percent, right? In this case, your participation rate kicks in and lim- its you to 4.8 percent — 80 percent of the cap rate. Tax-wise, annuities are tax-deferred until withdrawal — your gains are not taxed as long as they sit in the annuity. You pay regular income tax rates upon withdrawal for all amounts that are not a return of principal. You will not get more favorable capital gains tax rates upon withdrawal. When considering an FIA, make sure to ask about: fees; surrender charges; whether you are limited to one lump- sum deposit or contributions over time; your need for a lifetime income option; your time horizon; your other interest rate account options; your income needs; emergency withdrawal options; and your ability to close the account.
MO
— Lt. Col. Shane Ostrom, USAF (Ret), is a CFP® and benefi ts information expert at MOAA. Visit
www.moaa.org/fi nancialcenter for other re- sources. Email specifi c benefi t and fi nance inqui- ries to
beninfo@moaa.org.
PHOTO: SEAN SHANAHAN
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