Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part 1: Making Sense of Annuities 5
Chapter 1: The ABCs of Annuities 7
Chapter 2: Taming the Big Retirement Risks 21
Chapter 3: Diving into Annuity Documents 33
Chapter 4: Weighing Annuity Pros and Cons 47
Chapter 5: Deciding Whether an Annuity Is Right for You 59
Part 2: Identifying the Major Annuities 73
Chapter 6: Earning Interest with Fixed Annuities 75
Chapter 7: Creating Retirement Paychecks with Income Annuities 91
Chapter 8: Gambling on Fixed Indexed Annuities 111
Chapter 9: Aiming Higher with Registered Index-Linked Annuities 129
Chapter 10: Tapping Variable Annuities for Tax Breaks and Income 143
Chapter 11: Aging Gracefully with Deferred Income Annuities and Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts 161
Chapter 12: Tapping the Liquidity in Your Home 175
Part 3: Shopping in the Annuity Marketplace 189
Chapter 13: Issuing Annuities: It’s What Life Insurers Do 191
Chapter 14: Meeting the Annuity Salespeople 205
Chapter 15: Site-Seeing in the Annuity Web World 219
Chapter 16: Adding Annuities to 401(k)s 229
Part 4: Getting the Most out of Your Annuity 243
Chapter 17: Building Safe Retirement Income 245
Chapter 18: The Taxing Side of Annuities 259
Chapter 19: Recognizing Annuity Exit Ramps 269
Chapter 20: Structuring Your Annuity Correctly 277
Chapter 21: Avoiding Annuity Pitfalls 285
Part 5: The Part of Tens 295
Chapter 22: Ten Great Books about Annuities 297
Chapter 23: Ten Questions to Ask Before You Sign a Contract 303
Chapter 24: Ten Annuity Checkpoints on the Information Highway 311
Part 6: Appendixes 317
Appendix A: Glossary 319
Appendix B: State Guaranty Associations 329
Index 333