Click HERE for convoluted and INCORRECT information on annuities from Albert B. Crenshaw, CCC who wrote for the Washington Post business section for 24 years.

If a reporter is not going to take the time to understand the basic difference between investments and savings instruments they shouldn’t write the article.


Mr. Crenshaw wrote:
They [annuities] can be fixed, with an unvarying payment amount, or they can be variable, meaning the payments will depend on the performance of some kind of investment, such as a mutual fund.
Payments from an annuity or annuitizing an annuity are NOT what determines whether it's a FIXED or Variable Annuity.
Mr. Crenshaw's statement is a total misguided characterization.


The annuity attracting new interest among retirees is the immediate fixed annuity—your contracted monthly payments start right away.
NOBODY buys an Immediate Annuity UNLESS there is a compelling reason to do so.
NOBODY.
PERIOD.
END of STORY.


What if I die soon? Typically, payments from a life annuity end when a person dies. Thus, a premature death could mean that you don't get back all the money you paid in.

Totally false because NOBODY selects the LIFE ONLY annuity option.

NOBODY.

The most typical annuitization option is 10 year certain and LIFETIME thereafter.


What about my heirs? Since most annuities end with the death of the contract holder, your heirs would get nothing.

Totally FALSE. The beneficiaries get the full accumulation value at death. Some contracts require payment over 5 years to get the highest payout.


Then later in the article he writes:
Such issues, including the what-ifs and the added costs for features that address them, may explain why immediate annuities are less than 5 percent of the more than $200 billion worth of annuities sold annually.
In fact, IMMEDIATE annuities are less than 2% of the more than $200 billion worth of annuities sold annually BECAUSE NOBODY BUYS AN IMMEDIATE ANNUITY UNLESS THERE IS A COMPELLING REASON TO DO SO.

For the General Public who may read this thread Mr. Crenshaw has convoluted and mixed together Fixed Annuities, Variable Annuities, Immediate Annuities and then thrown into the mix is the LIFE ONLY settlement option that is available on ALL annuity contracts that NOBODY would EVER select.

Mr. Crenshaw qualifies as a *CCC.

*CCC = Certified Clueless Clown