Your lifetime income review happens over Zoom or by phone — Tele-Wealth planning with the illustrations shared on screen as we walk through them.
Secure your retirement. Protect your legacy.Live with confidence.
Retirement planning designed around you — not around products. We connect you with experienced retirement professionals who compare lifetime income strategies from many of America's leading A+ Rated insurance companies to help identify solutions tailored to your goals, priorities, and risk tolerance.
Annuities, explained in plain English
Watch this short video to see how lifetime income strategies are compared before you ever commit.
Your retirement deserves more than generic advice
Experienced professionals. A+ Rated carriers. Recommendations built around your life.
After decades of hard work, your retirement income strategy deserves careful planning. Rather than offering a limited selection of products, the retirement professionals we recommend compare solutions from many highly rated carriers — helping ensure every recommendation reflects your unique needs.
Experience that matters
Specialists in retirement income, Social Security timing, Roth conversions, tax-efficient distributions, and legacy coordination.
Broad carrier access
Comparisons across many of America's leading A+ Rated insurance companies — not a single-product menu.
Personalized, not prescribed
Every recommendation begins with understanding your full financial picture before any solutions are discussed.
AI-enhanced research. Human judgment where it matters most.
Many of the retirement professionals we recommend use sophisticated Artificial Intelligence tools to compare hundreds of product variations, evaluate multiple carriers, model retirement income scenarios, and stress-test long-term plans. Technology enhances the process — experienced professionals remain responsible for evaluating whether a recommendation is appropriate for your circumstances.
- Compare hundreds of product variations
- Evaluate multiple insurance carriers
- Analyze retirement income scenarios
- Model future cash flow
- Stress-test retirement plans
- Identify tax-efficient strategies
Why guaranteed lifetime income matters
The greatest risk in retirement isn't volatility — it's outliving your income.
A thoughtfully designed retirement strategy can help address market volatility, sequence-of-returns risk, longevity risk, inflation, healthcare expenses, tax efficiency, and legacy planning. For many retirees, guaranteed lifetime income provides confidence that essential living expenses will continue to be covered regardless of market conditions.
Reducing portfolio volatility
Guaranteed lifetime income is backed by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurer — not daily market movement — which may reduce the overall volatility of a retirement income strategy.
Addressing sequence-of-returns risk
Poor markets early in retirement can significantly affect portfolios reliant on systematic withdrawals. Stable cash flow can reduce the need to sell investments in downturns.
The bond-replacement concept
Retirement educator Tom Hegna often suggests evaluating whether replacing part of a traditional bond allocation with guaranteed income may improve retirement efficiency for certain investors.
Research by economist Roger Ibbotson has explored how certain fixed indexed annuities have historically compared with traditional bond allocations under specific market conditions. Academic work on mortality credits highlights how lifetime income products can improve payout efficiency by pooling longevity risk. These concepts continue to be studied within retirement income planning and may not apply equally to every investor.
From Tom Hegna's Guaranteed Paychecks & Playchecks
The three-legged retirement stool is wobbling. Here's the missing leg.
Retirement used to stand on three legs: Social Security, a company pension, and personal savings. Today, two of those legs are shorter than ever — which is why more retirees are building a fourth leg: a private, guaranteed lifetime income they cannot outlive.
Social Security
Benefits face long-term funding pressure, cost-of-living adjustments haven't matched retirees' real inflation, and the trust fund outlook has weakened for decades.
Company Pension
Traditional pensions are largely gone for private-sector workers. Even many government plans have reduced the payouts workers expected.
Personal Savings
That leaves your 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) and savings — which most people park in CDs, money markets, stocks, or bonds. Each has a problem for income.
Why lifetime income annuities win out
Mortality credits: the payout no CD, bond, or stock can offer.
Banks pay every CD holder the same rate, regardless of age. Bonds pay everyone the same yield. Stocks have never paid a dividend based on how old you are. But a lifetime income annuity pays mortality credits — an actuarial reward that increases the longer you live, funded by pooling longevity risk across thousands of annuity holders. Economist Dr. Moshe Milevsky calls them "longevity credits," because you literally get paid for living longer.
That's why a properly structured annuity can guarantee roughly 7% a year at 65, 9% at 75, and nearly 13% at 85 — for the rest of your life.
Worried the money disappears if you pass early? It doesn't have to. Joint-life, period-certain (20 or 30 years), cash refund, and guaranteed death benefit options all exist — fewer than 10% of lifetime income annuities sold today are "life-only."
Sample guaranteed annual payout rates
Sample traditional rates for illustration (source: New York Life Insurance Company). Rates change with interest rates and product pricing; actual rates vary by carrier, age, and options selected.
The grandfather's answer
"What do you want your money to do while you're alive — and after you're gone?"
When Tom Hegna asked a grandfather with a large 401(k) those two questions, his answer was simple: a guaranteed paycheck every month for life — then the same check for his wife, then his son, then his son's wife, and finally his granddaughter. Remarkably, a single properly structured lifetime income annuity can do exactly that:
- 1Grandfather and granddaughter are named joint annuitants.
- 2Grandmother is named successor owner and keeps the checks coming.
- 3Each generation names the next successor owner in turn.
- 4When the final generation passes, the checks stop — after potentially decades of family income.
Multi-generational structuring depends on product features, carrier rules, and annuitant ages; it may reduce the initial payout and is not available on all contracts. Illustrative concept — not a guarantee of results.
- See whether a guaranteed-income leg fits your plan
- Free 15-minute call with a Retirement Expert — virtual or by phone
Watch & Learn
Why retirees with guaranteed lifetime income are measurably happier.
Economist and best-selling author Tom Hegna walks through the research behind The Happy Factor — how covering essential expenses with guaranteed lifetime income lowers stress, protects against market swings, and helps retirees enjoy the retirement they worked their whole lives to earn. It's a core idea behind how we build every plan.
Understanding Fixed Indexed Annuities
Growth potential linked to a market index — with principal protected from direct market losses.
Unfortunately, annuities are sometimes misunderstood. Many criticisms arise from comparing very different types of annuities or assuming all contracts work the same way — in reality, product features vary significantly by insurer and contract. Fixed Indexed Annuities (FIAs) are insurance products designed to help protect principal while providing growth opportunities linked to an external market index such as the S&P 500®. Although interest is linked to an index, your money is not invested directly in the stock market.
How they work
- Principal protected from direct market losses, subject to the terms of the contract.
- Interest is credited based on the contract's indexing method.
- Growth may be limited through participation rates, spreads, or caps established by the insurer.
- Optional riders can provide guaranteed lifetime income or enhanced care benefits for an additional cost.
Understanding costs and transparency
A common misconception is that all annuities charge ongoing asset-management fees. In reality, many fixed and fixed indexed annuities do not assess an annual percentage fee against the account value on the base contract. Instead, insurers generally recover their costs through product design features:
- Interest-crediting methodologies
- Participation rates
- Caps and spreads
- Surrender charge schedules
- Hedging and investment strategies
- Optional riders (e.g., guaranteed lifetime income or enhanced care benefits) may carry additional charges
Side-by-Side Comparison Guide
The best way to know if an annuity fits your retirement plan.
A line-by-line analysis that helps you compare products fairly — so you can decide whether they truly fit your retirement objectives.
A balanced perspective
No financial product is right for every investor.
Potential benefits
- Principal protection from market losses (subject to contract terms)
- Tax-deferred growth
- Guaranteed lifetime income options
- Protection from sequence-of-returns risk
- Estate-planning flexibility via beneficiary designations
- Optional enhanced income or long-term care features
Considerations to understand
- Growth may be limited by caps, spreads, or participation rates.
- Surrender charges generally apply during the surrender period.
- Optional riders may involve additional costs.
- Product features vary significantly by insurance company and contract.
The Retirement Confidence Review™
A structured, five-step planning process built around your goals.
- 1
Complimentary review
Understand your goals, timeline, income sources, and concerns.
- 2
Retirement analysis
Evaluate strategies from many A+ Rated carriers using AI-enhanced research.
- 3
Personalized recommendations
Clear explanations of options, trade-offs, and how each fits your plan.
- 4
Implementation
Once you're comfortable, we help coordinate paperwork and setup.
- 5
Ongoing reviews
Regular check-ins keep your strategy aligned with life changes.
Why clients appreciate this approach
Experience, access, and clarity — not a sales pitch.
- Access to experienced retirement professionals
- Solutions evaluated from many leading A+ Rated insurance companies
- AI-enhanced research and retirement analysis
- Personalized retirement income strategies
- Transparent education and product comparisons
- Focus on lifetime income and long-term financial confidence
Schedule your Retirement Confidence Review™
Your retirement deserves thoughtful planning — not guesswork. Discover strategies that may help you create dependable lifetime income, reduce unnecessary risks, improve tax efficiency, protect your principal, and leave a meaningful legacy.
Common questions
Annuity questions people ask before they commit.
How does an annuity actually create retirement income?+
You hand an insurance company a lump sum or a series of payments, and in exchange the contract promises income — either starting now or on a future date you choose. The promise is contractual rather than market-dependent, so the payment continues for life even if the account value is exhausted, backed by the claims-paying ability of the issuer.
What are the main types of annuities and how do they differ?+
Fixed annuities credit a stated rate. Fixed indexed annuities link growth to an index with a floor of zero and a cap or participation rate. Variable annuities invest in subaccounts, so the value — and often the income — can fall. They differ in how they grow, what they protect, and what they charge.
What are the disadvantages of an annuity?+
Liquidity is limited: surrender charges usually apply for the first six to ten years, though most contracts allow a penalty-free withdrawal each year. Upside is capped in indexed contracts, riders cost money, and gains come out as ordinary income rather than at capital-gains rates. An annuity should hold the portion of your money that has an income job, not all of it.
How much income will an annuity pay me?+
Payout depends on your age at income start, whether the income covers one life or two, how long you defer, and the rates in force when you sign. Two contracts funded with the same amount can differ meaningfully, which is why the review compares live quotes from several A+ rated carriers rather than one illustration.
Are annuities safe, and are they FDIC insured?+
They are not FDIC insured. Guarantees rest on the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company, which is why carrier ratings matter, plus state guaranty association coverage up to state limits. We work with A+ rated carriers and show you the rating before anything is signed.
Can I use my 401(k) or IRA to buy an annuity?+
Yes. A direct transfer from a 401(k) or IRA into an annuity held inside an IRA is generally not a taxable event. The account stays tax-deferred and required distributions still apply at the usual age.
How are annuities taxed?+
Inside an IRA or 401(k), every dollar withdrawn is ordinary income. Outside a retirement account, only the gain is taxable and it comes out first under last-in-first-out rules until the contract is annuitized. Neither receives long-term capital-gains treatment.
Do I still need Social Security planning if I own an annuity?+
Yes — often more. Social Security is the only inflation-adjusted lifetime income most households have, and delaying it raises the base. A well-sized annuity can fund the bridge years so you can delay filing, which is one of the highest-value moves available.
How much of my savings should go into an annuity?+
Start from the bill, not a percentage. Add up the expenses you must cover every month regardless of markets — housing, food, insurance, medical — subtract Social Security and any pension, and only the gap needs contractual income. For most households that lands well under half of savings, and the rest stays invested for growth and access.
What is the difference between an annuity and a CD?+
A CD is a bank deposit, FDIC insured, taxed each year on the interest, and typically one to five years long. An annuity is an insurance contract, backed by the carrier and state guaranty limits, grows tax-deferred until you withdraw, and usually runs longer with surrender charges early. CDs park money; annuities are built to pay income.
What happens to my annuity when I die?+
It depends on the contract and how you elected income. Most deferred annuities pay the remaining account value to your named beneficiaries, joint-life income continues for a surviving spouse, and a period-certain election pays the balance of the term. A life-only election with no rider stops at death, which is why the beneficiary and spousal choices are settled before signing.
Insurance products, including annuities, are issued by insurance companies and are subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurer. Product features, guarantees, crediting methods, caps, participation rates, spreads, surrender charges, and optional rider costs vary by contract. Guarantees are backed solely by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. This information is provided for educational purposes only and should not be considered tax, legal, or individualized financial advice. Please consult your own qualified tax, legal, and financial professionals before making financial decisions.
The Advisors We Recommend All Work With Top-Rated Insurance Companies
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- Allianz Life
- Corebridge Financial
- EquiTrust Life
- Global Atlantic
- North American
- Pacific Life
- MassMutual
- American Equity
- Mutual of Omaha
- Symetra
- Jackson National
- Protective
- Transamerica
- Securian Financial
- Ameritas
- Equitable
Disclosure: Carrier names and logos are shown for identification and reference purposes only. Their appearance here does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, sponsorship, or approval of My IRA Hero, its advisors, or any strategy discussed on this site, and it does not imply any affiliation, partnership, or agency relationship with these companies.
Results are not guaranteed. Nothing on this page is a solicitation for any specific product, a projection of future performance, or a promise of any particular outcome. Product availability, features, riders, and rates vary by carrier, state, age, health, and suitability, and are subject to change and underwriting approval. Any guarantees are backed solely by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. My IRA Hero does not provide legal, tax, or accounting advice; consult your own qualified professionals.
Not sure which type of annuity fits your situation?
We break down the three types of annuities side by side — how each one grows, what it protects, and what it actually costs — plus 10 obvious reasons an annuity may (or may not) belong in your plan.
Why a fixed index annuity can be a powerful addition to a retirement plan
Retirement is about more than maximizing returns. This plain-English guide explains how one portion of a portfolio can be assigned a different job — protection from index losses, index-linked growth potential, and lifetime income you can't outlive — plus the risks, the mortality-pooling math, and when an FIA is the wrong fit.
Read the guideKeep reading
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Read the guideLearn how fixed indexed annuities work
Principal protection, annual reset, and index-linked growth in plain English.
Read the guidePlan your Social Security claiming decision
Filing ages, spousal and survivor rules, and the income gap left behind.
Read the guideWhen you're ready to see the numbers for your own household, start with the free Retirement Income Score — then talk it through with a licensed Expert.
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