Principal protected. Gains locked in. Income you can't outlive.
Fixed Indexed Annuities (FIAs) solve three of retirement's hardest problems — sequence-of-returns risk, longevity risk, and anemic fixed-income yields — by pairing market-linked growth with a hard floor of zero.
Questions worth sitting with
If any of these keep you up at night, keep reading.
- “What happens to your retirement if the market crashes 50% — and stays down for 20 years, like Japan?”
- “Are you comfortable being ‘naked in the stock market’ after an 11-year run-up?”
- “If you live to 95, will your savings still be there in year 30?”
- “Are today's CD and bond yields really enough to fund the retirement you pictured?”
- “Would you trade a little upside for the promise you can never lose your principal to a market drop?”
The three problems FIAs are built to solve
Sequence-of-Returns Risk
A bad market in the first 5 years of retirement can permanently damage a portfolio you're actively drawing from — even if the long-term average looks fine.
Fear of Outliving Savings
Longevity is the risk that multiplies every other risk. Stocks, bonds, and CDs cannot mathematically hedge it — only an annuity can.
Low Fixed-Income Yields
Traditional ‘safe money’ options like CDs and short bonds often fail to keep pace with inflation, quietly eroding purchasing power year after year.
Protecting savings and income
Principal Protection
Your initial investment is shielded from stock market downturns. If the linked index (like the S&P 500) drops, your account earns 0% for the year instead of losing value.
Locking in Gains (Annual Reset)
Interest credited in a positive market year is locked in and becomes the new floor. Future market dips cannot take those gains away.
Lifetime Income Streams
An optional income rider converts a lump sum into a steady, guaranteed paycheck you cannot outlive — the only true mathematical hedge for longevity.
Growth and tax management
Better Growth Potential
FIAs aim to deliver higher potential returns than CDs or basic savings by tying interest to market index performance, without direct market exposure.
Tax-Deferred Growth
Earnings compound without yearly taxes. Your full balance keeps working until withdrawals begin, when the deferred gains are taxed as income.
A fixed indexed annuity with no fees and no spread
Most annuities are not fee products. Single-premium immediate annuities, deferred income annuities, fixed annuities, and fixed indexed annuities generally have no annual fees — only variable annuities and certain optional income riders do. Income annuities are spread products, not fee products, and a well-designed FIA can be structured with no fees and no spread at all.
“An income annuity functions inside a portfolio like a AAA-rated bond, with a CCC-rated yield, and zero standard deviation.”— Tom Hegna
Only annuities hedge longevity
Math and science are clear: stocks, bonds, and CDs cannot hedge the risk of living too long. Only some form of annuity can turn a lump sum into income you cannot outlive.
Ibbotson: FIAs vs. bonds
Roger Ibbotson's research found indexed annuities outperformed bonds over the prior 40 years — and are likely to outperform for the next 40. Consider moving the bond sleeve of your portfolio first.
PhDs agree on the floor
Retirement researchers around the world recommend covering your basic living expenses in retirement with guaranteed lifetime income — then investing the rest for growth and legacy.
Lower risk, higher return
Replace a portion of bonds with a guaranteed lifetime income annuity and the portfolio's risk goes down while expected returns go up — not opinion, mathematics.
See what an FIA could do for your plan
We'll model a no-fee, no-spread FIA against your current bond or CD allocation and show you the income, protection, and growth trade-offs — in plain English.
Request my free illustration