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Three Main Annuity Types: Immediate, Fixed or Indexed Annuity
The difference between deferred and immediate annuities is just about what you'd think.
With an immediate annuity, your income payments start right away (technically, anytime within 12 months of purchase). You choose whether you want income guaranteed for a specific number of years or for your lifetime. The insurance company calculates the amount of each income payment based on your purchase amount and your life expectancy.
A deferred annuity has two phases: the accumulation phase, where you let your money grow for a while, and the payout phase. During accumulation, your money grows tax-deferred until you take it out, either as a lump sum or as a series of payments. You decide when to take income from your annuity and therefore, when to pay the taxes. Gaining increased control over your taxes is one of the key benefits of annuities.
The payout phase begins when you decide to take income from your annuity. For most people, this is during retirement. As your needs dictate, you can take partial withdrawals, completely cash-out (surrender) your annuity, or convert your deferred annuity into a stream of income payments (annuitization). This last option is essentially the same as buying an immediate annuity.
Single Premium Immediate Annuities (SPIAs) are purchased by a single deposit. They usually start making regular monthly payments to you immediately after the date you make that deposit. The key ingredient for an immediate annuity is the exchange which takes place between the insurance company and the buyer. The company promises to pay a monthly income for the life of the annuitant and the buyer gives up his rights to ever receiving his deposit back in a lump sum. Once an immediate annuity makes its first payment, it generally cannot be cashed in.
An immediate annuity can be purchased with funds from a variety of possible sources, such as: a maturing Certificate of Deposit (CD); monies which have accumulated in a Deferred Annuity account (see below); or funds from a tax-qualified defined benefit or profit-sharing plan, or from an IRA account.
What Does Indexed Annuity Mean?
A special class of annuities that yields returns on your contributions based on a specified equity-based index. These annuities can be purchased from an insurance company, and similar to other types of annuities, the terms and conditions associated with payouts will depend on what is stated in the original annuity contract.
Why should I consider buying an Immediate Annuity? What are its advantages to me?
Immediate annuities provide many advantages to the buyer, such as: (1) Security - the annuity provides stable lifetime income which can never be outlived or which may be guaranteed for a specified period; (2) Simplicity - the annuitant does not have to manage his investments, watch markets, report interest or dividends; (3) High Returns - the interest rates used by insurance companies to calculate immediate annuity income are generally higher than CD or Treasury rates, and since part of the principal is returned with each payment, greater amounts are received than would be provided by interest alone; (4) Preferred Tax Treatment - it lets you postpone paying taxes on some of the earnings you’ve accrued in a "tax-deferred" annuity when rolled into an immediate annuity (only the portion attributable to interest is taxable income, the bulk of the payments are nontaxable return of principal); (5) Safety of Principal - funds are guaranteed by assets of insurer and not subject to the fluctuations of financial markets; and (6) No sales or administrative charges.
SPIAs are particularly suitable for providing income in the following situations: (1) Retirement from Employment; (2) Terminal Funding or Pension Terminations (including deferred commencements); (3) Retired Life Buyouts; (4) Professional Sports Contracts; and (6) Credit Enhancement and Loan Guarantee Transactions.
Fixed Tax Deferred Annuities
What is a Fixed Tax-Deferred Annuity?
A Fixed Tax-deferred annuity, also referred to as a tax-deferred annuity, is a contract between you and an insurance company for a guaranteed interest bearing policy with guaranteed income options. The insurance company credits interest, and you don't pay taxes on the earnings until you make a withdrawal or begin receiving an annuity income. Your annuity contract earns a competitive return that is very safe.
Tax-Deferred?
Tax-deferred means postponing your taxes on interest earnings until a future point in time. In the meantime you earn interest on the money you're not paying in taxes. You can accumulate more money over a shorter period of time, which ultimately will provide you with a greater income.
Savings Advantages
Many people today are using tax-deferred annuities as the foundation of their overall financial plan instead of certificates of deposit or savings accounts. Although CD's and Annuities are very similar there are significant differences between the two. The most important difference is that annuities allow for the deferral of the taxes due on the interest earned until the interest is withdrawn! By postponing the tax with a tax-deferred annuity, your money compounds faster because you can earn interest on dollars that would have otherwise been paid to the IRS. Later, if you decide to take a monthly income, your taxes can be less because they will be spread out over a period of years. Like Certificates of Deposits, annuities have a penalty for early surrender, however most annuity contracts have a liberal "free withdrawal" provision.
Tax Advantages
You pay NO taxes while your money is compounding. You can also pay a lower tax on random withdrawals because you control the tax year in which the withdrawals are made, and only pay taxes on the interest withdrawn. Tax deferral gives you control over an important expense - your taxes. Any time you control an expense, you can minimize it. The longer you can postpone this particular expense, the greater your gain when compared to the gain you would make with a fully taxable account.
The Tax-Deferred Advantage
To illustrate the increased earnings capacity of tax-deferred interest, compare it to fully-taxable earnings. $25,000 at 6.0% will earn $1,500 of interest in a year. A 28% tax bracket means that approximately $420 of those earnings will be lost in taxes, leaving only $1,080 to compound the next year. If these same earnings were tax-deferred, the full $1,500 would be available to earn even more interest. The longer you can postpone taxes, the greater the gain.
Tax-Deferred vs. Fully Taxable
Compare the Return
$107,297 Accumulated in a Tax-Deferred Annuity
$71,966 Accumulated in a Taxable Account
The Difference:$35,331
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