SPIA vs. SPDA: Untangling Two Very Different “Single Premium” Annuities
You typed “SPIA” into Google because that’s the term your agent used, or the term you saw in a rate sheet, or the term a friend mentioned over coffee. Then the page that loaded described something that didn’t match what you were told: a product that grows a balance instead of paying you income, with […]
SPIA Cash Refund vs. Life Only: What the Guarantee Really Costs
Here’s the number nobody puts on the illustration: depending on how long you live, there’s a real chance the refund guarantee you’re about to pay for with your SPIA will never send your family a single dollar. Harold doesn’t know that yet. He’s 71, a retired mechanical engineer, a widower with two grown kids — […]
Maximize SPIA Income and Still Protect Your Heirs
Diane sat across from her advisor holding two numbers in her head, and neither one felt right. One meant more income in her pocket every month for the rest of her life. The other meant her kids wouldn’t be left with nothing if she didn’t make it to 80. She could have one. Not both. […]
Getting a Policy Out of a Qualified Plan: Swap-Out vs. Distribution
If a qualified plan is holding a life insurance policy on your life, that policy has a deadline the plan documents rarely spell out in plain language: it has to leave the plan before your distributions begin. Not necessarily surrendered — but resolved, one way or another, on a schedule the IRS sets rather than […]