Annuities Are Settled

[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Annuity Straight talk. Since 2008, your host, Brian Anderson has helped clients nationwide navigate the complex market for annuities. With Brian's assistance, hundreds of clients have achieved a profitable and secure retirement. You I would know because Brian has answered many of my questions concerning annuities and retirement planning so that you can benefit as well. Let's get started here's, Brian. [00:00:48] Speaker B: Hello and welcome everyone, to the Annuity Straight Talk podcast, episode number 107. My name is Brian Anderson, founder and creator of all things Annuity Straight Talk, here to share with you a little bit more of my thoughts on the subject of using annuities in the real world and how it relates to all the other things that we experience in life. I encourage everyone to like, subscribe or comment on any of your favorite podcast platforms or on YouTube. The comments are how I get my information. I got a really good topic today that's just so obvious to me because someone was bold enough to say it and gives me an opportunity to address the common questions concerns that people have now. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things this week because last week I was out and I'm going to share my screen and show you guys the newsletter. I encourage anybody who's just listening to this to go check out the newsletter. A couple of cool photos there of what I was doing last week. So I'm going to talk about annuities are settled. That's the topic of this week. So last week I had a really great trip and I've done a lot of really things that I like. I've done a lot of really interesting things that I like in my life. I guided in Alaska. I ran collegiate track and field. I competed in the Olympic trials. I did all this stuff. I've always go for the top of everything and most of the people who are regular listeners about this time every year I tell a story and everybody knows who's been around for a while knows this is my favorite time of year. So as sad as it is to see summer slip away, the warm weather, the nice days on the lake, all that stuff, september is an absolutely beautiful month to be in Montana. And I've noticed in the last couple of years that it's really hard to keep my work life balance in check. I get busier and busier running this website. More people pick up the podcast. I'm not sure how to deal with that. I always want to keep the personal touch with everybody that I have. I'm not into call centers and all that other garbage. I can address that on a separate podcast, talk about how I'm different. Maybe that's part of what happens next week. But for mental health, you guys all know this. Most of you have worked years and years to get where you want and you had to have a break from your day to day routine, and I draw a lot of inspiration from you guys because you're all retired and you got the money and you got the time, and you go do whatever you want. And I practice semiretirement throughout my career, and I like to be retired for a week or two at a time sometimes. So elk hunting is my thing. Some people say, hey, I don't really like that. I love the animals. I love the animals as well. I could talk about how much the hunting community adds to conservation over time, all that stuff, but this has been a tradition in my family for several generations. I'm about the only one that carries it on. I got a couple of nephews that are into it as well, so it doesn't stop with me. But as far as my siblings, my cousins, everybody in my generation, it seems like I'm the only one that keeps going on it. When I add my horses and mules to the mix. It's a culmination of all the skills I've gained from being an outdoorsman for the past 40 years or more. So it's competence in several areas. And I'm not bragging about this. I'm just saying this is what I've worked hard to do. Between that and understanding how to place annuities and learning about all the facets of retirement planning, those are the things I'm best at. But it's not just anyone can take horses and mules out into the woods and go elk hunting. You want to haul an elk out of the woods on the back of a mule, I guarantee that elk does not want to be there and does not want to come out of the woods that way, you damn well better know what you're doing. So there are a lot of people that like to go hunting and like to be in the outdoors, but they don't do it quite like I do it. I'm a little bit different in that area, and that's the overriding. If you're looking at the photo, that's my favorite meal jitterbug sitting on the Continental Divide over a lake. Beautiful stuff. That's what I like to do. So when I go hunting, most days start before the sum comes up and don't end until after it goes down. So I'm going to tell a story, and I'm going to weave that into kind of how that pertains to retirement planning, annuities, and all the crap that's going on in the world. We're often traveling to and from hunting areas on foot or on horseback in the dark. Leave camp before the sun comes up. Riding, it's hard to see. Last week there was a new moon. It was cloudy a lot of the nights, no light whatsoever. But the horses and mules, their eyes collect a lot more light than we can, so they see a lot better in the dark. You have to trust them. You have to let them pick their spot, because you can't necessarily tell which way they're going. It takes a lot of trust and experience to realize the horse or the mule is going to take care of you know exactly how to get back to camp. That's where the grain bucket is. In the morning, it's not so bad because you might ride in the dark for 2030 minutes, and then it starts to get lighter and you can see better, all that stuff. When it's time to go, they know there's a grain bucket wait for them at the camp, and they're like, hey, we know exactly how to get there. I always say the horses and mules, they have fewer things to pay attention to and fewer things on their mind, so they navigate their world so much more effectively than we do. So when I go on these trips, I try to disconnect as much as possible, refresh my mind. Every day when I have cell service is not always the case. I read the Bloomberg open and the close. I want to keep an eye on what's happening in the financial markets, interest rates. And then once a day, I'll email. People, reach out, hey, listen, I'm out this week. That's what I do. I'll get back to you next week. Once in a while, there's something I got to slip away, make a phone call, take care of something, but doesn't happen all that often. So about two or three times each day, I get a reminder of what a mess the world is in, and that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. I thought about this a lot on that trip. The financial news is never good, and when people ask about it, I don't know exactly how to answer their questions. So then you've got the Open and Close, you get kind of the gist of what's important in the financial markets. And then a couple of times you get emails through the day. People are like, what should I do about that? So I don't know quite how to interpret that and tell everybody what it actually means. But this is my best attempt at telling you what I think. And all of that stuff only really matters if you want it to. I've done lots of podcasts and talked about a ton of things that are parallels in my life that draw my passions along with the things I do professionally. If you're looking at the podcast, I'm going to show you something right now. Absolutely beautiful photo. The first time in my life I've ever seen it like this. Even of all the times I spent in Alaska walking the horses to water. One night came back and the northern lights were shooting ribbons across the sky. We got the silhouette of a couple of big pine trees, the stars in the sky. It was insane. There were elk bugling on the hill. I'm telling you, this is one of the best trips I've ever done. And I don't know if it's because it was that good or if because I'm getting older and I appreciate the ability to do it more. I don't know which that is, but it was spectacular, no matter how you look at it. Much of my cynical viewpoint of politics, financial markets, and the world in general comes from the fact that I disconnect from it frequently. I don't know if many of you know this, but when the radio signals become faint, your head clears, your heart rate slows, and your blood pressure drops, connect your bare feet to the ground and everything calms down. And if anybody wants to challenge me on that I have tested it numerous times, but I am positive that an escape from the society we live in is physically and mentally healing. Jumping back into the digital world two or three times a day is a completely different experience, and it seems like the same thing over and over. I did this last year. I do this every year. I've talked about it every year. There's not a lot of difference between the Daily News today and the Daily News one year ago. Today. It might be a different story, but the purpose is the same. When I move in and out of the digital world, it gives me the opportunity to compare and contrast both sides. In comparison to something as pure as wilderness. The digital world and the world we live in seems absolutely ridiculous. Nothing is ever settled, and there's a sense of perpetual anxiety that drives me crazy. You got interest rates, unemployment, stock market bureaucracy, global threats, not to mention all the social garbage that keeps us at ODS with each other at all times. They're all so volatile and never seem to settle down. Nothing is ever fixed. Nothing ever changes. So what's the point of watching the news every day? I think we got to keep our eye on what's going on so that we can plan our exit, get out of it, and connect back to a more normal world. We had a lot of weather when I was there, rain for a few days. The high country got snow. Absolutely gorgeous. You got fall colors, the pine trees, the evergreens, snow capped mountains in the background. I don't like to share my locations because this is becoming a public show, and a lot of people want to figure out where it's at. Don't share my spots. One of the things I like is I get away from people. So all that time, when I would read it every day and think, what's the difference? What's the difference between this year and last year and the year before that? It's all the same. And you guys are sitting there, and I'm trying to help you figure it out so that we can make good plans going forward so that you can I mean, the point of doing good retirement planning is to set all that stuff aside. Nothing is settled. But you know what I didn't have to worry about? I didn't have to worry about annuities. So you want to call it a sales pitch or a sales plug? I'll go toe to toe with anybody and tell you why an annuity is beneficial for retirement. Two weeks ago, I did the annuity analysis and talked to you about there's no question about it. For that guy and almost anybody else, there is an unequivocal proof that annuity improves your retirement. And then you don't have to worry about that crap so much. Can you imagine not having an annuity? And then you got to sit there, and you got to watch that CNBC. That's what John Balmer says all the time. You don't watch CNBC in retirement. Let him do it. Annuities are set in stone, and one of the only things that isn't affected by the constant uncertainty coming from the daily news. So one night, this all came to me. And this isn't just something I made up. I remember sitting there. I was in the middle of the week, and we hunted elk till dark. They usually come active around dark. We had 4 miles to go to camp. I was riding Jitterbug. The best thing that's ever happened to me. She's amazing. But I get on her, and we're riding back to camp. I couldn't see anything even if it was right in front of my face. We had about 4 miles to go. Would have been slow. Going for a hiker to pick his way through it, for some people, would have been impossible. It's dangerous, too, because you got things that come out of nowhere, the rocks on the trail, things like that. You fall off, you got overhanging branches. Do have an extra story for that, but that's not the point of this. It's not safe. But I've done it enough, and I'm confident in the animals I have and the people that I go with that we can manage those risks. The country was really rough. Steep inclines, rocky terrain, faded trail trails that aren't used too often. Because to find elk, you have to get away from where people go. Unless you're in a national park, it's not a big, broad trail. A lot of times, you have to find your own way. There might not even be a trail. Jitterbug, she could see really well. Sure footed, smart, going to take care of herself and whatever she's carrying. 4 miles, less than an hour. Piece of cake. So while I was riding along and listening to Jitterbug's hooves chew up, the trail dawn on me how lucky I am. I was thinking about it. Man, of all the things that people asked me via email or text message while I was gone, none of them related to annuities. The worst thing that ever happened with an annuity in the last couple of years was that an index annuity didn't make money. But then you hear from people in the stock markets like, whoa, we missed the seven stocks that increased in value. We're still down 25%. It's a lot of money. No matter who you are, whether you got 100,000, a million, or 10 million, that's a lot of money. There are a few things you can count on without a doubt in the world today. And not everyone has a mule. It sure is handy when trying to escape the anxiety of the real world. I'm also glad to be an Annuity proponent because it's the closest thing available in the financial world for something that's settled, that you rely on and guaranteed. And I've talked about this, how mules are like Annuities, and I remember sitting on Jitterbug, riding down the trail, thinking like, man, she's my Annuity right now, no joke. I know for a fact she's not going to take me anywhere that I shouldn't go. Always there, steady as can be. That's the point of it. You want to enjoy your life. I've said this before where I feel lucky because I'm an Annuity guy and when I go do that stuff, I don't have to worry about putting out fires. I don't have to do all that stuff. I came back after eight or nine days and realized that the stock market is down 5% or 6%. Oops. Hey, maybe index annuities didn't make any money, but fixed annuities chugged along and income payments hit the bank account like clockwork every month. So that's the point, is it not of retirement. Have something you can count on. Have something that is settled. You guys make the decision. This has been episode 107. My name is Brian Anderson, founder and creator of this website. Follow me on YouTube, your favorite podcast platforms. Share it with your friends. Get it out there because it's a message that everyone needs to hear. I love doing this and I love everybody that gives me the opportunity to help them out. Had some really good interactions with people and it's going to create good content for everybody else to listen to or read in the next couple of weeks and ongoing. But we're going to keep this happening and I'll be back next week for episode 108. Thank you so much for joining me and have a great day. Okay, bye. [00:16:15] Speaker A: You have been listening to Annuity Straight talk. The precision information is for informational and educational purposes only and does not represent tax, legal or investment advice. The views expressed by guests on this program are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Annuity Straight Talk or its partners. No information presented today should be acted upon without meeting with a qualified and licensed professional. It is important that you read all insurance contract disclosures carefully before making the purchase decision. Guarantees are based on the financial strength and claims paying ability of the insurance company.