Annuities - Good, Bad and Ugly
Consumer writer Jane Bryant Quinn says variable annuities are products she "dreams of blowing to smithereens." Not ALL annuities mind you. Jane says there are good annuities. For teachers and people who work in non-profit organizations, the pre-tax pension and retirement annuities (TSA's and 403-b's) are in fact EXCELLENT programs. Jane also says some fixed rate annuities and income-for-life annuities can be good for many people.
That is where it stops though. What is being marketed today are products appealing to your fear and greed. Fear that you might lose money and greed that you will get something that you know sounds too good to be true.
Moneybulletin has assembled a list of articles that detail the abuses, misleading information and outright lies of people peddling "no-risk" "guaranteed 7%" "market returns with no downside" products. All products have risk, even bank CD's. You need to know the risk of the annuity someone is peddling to you that pays them a very high commission and traps you for years inside a product that you think is guaranteed but turns out not to be what you were told.
