An annuity can provide you with a tax-deferred way of saving for your retirement. And once you've retired, an annuity can give you a guaranteed stream of income for as long as you live.* It's like getting a paycheck for the rest of your life; and it can help you maximize your income throughout retirement.

Product Offerings

Immediate Annuities
Immediate annuities can supplement other sources of retirement income with payouts that begin soon after you buy them. They can be a good choice if you're retired or about to retire.

Typically, they're purchased with a single payment that's converted to a steady stream of income that lasts a lifetime (or a specified number of years). Some options let you pass payments on to a beneficiary after you're gone.

Deferred Annuities
A deferred annuity is a type of long-term personal retirement account designed to help grow your assets, and provide a steady income stream once you are retired. These provide tax-deferred savings for longer-term goals, such as retirement. A deferred annuity has two phases: the savings and investing phase, and the retirement income phase.

All of your earnings grow tax-deferred, which means you don't pay any taxes on your earnings until you withdraw your money, usually at retirement. Amounts withdrawn prior to age 59½ are generally subject to a 10% federal income tax penalty as well as ordinary income taxes.

Getting Started
You can make a single, lump sum contribution and add to it later, or you can make multiple contributions over time.

Savings and Investing Phase
During the saving and investing phase, your assets are invested for potential growth. A fixed deferred annuity generally offers guarantee of principal and an interest rate guaranteed for a set period of time by the issuing insurance company. Variable deferred annuities offer greater growth potential and investment flexibility with a full range of funding choices, often with a fixed rate account option.

Retirement Income Phase
During this phase, you have a choice of how to structure your income payments to complement your other retirement income sources. You can choose systematic withdrawals, take income as you need it, or convert your savings into a series of income payments (called annuitizing your contract). You can elect to receive these payments for a set time period, or choose an income stream guaranteed for life, a feature only available in annuities.

Guaranteed Death Benefit
Most variable deferred annuities provide, prior to annuitizing your contract, a guaranteed death benefit that ensures your beneficiaries will never receive less than the amount you contributed, less withdrawals, even if the markets have declined. Many variable annuities offer a choice of death benefits that can increase over time, based on your contract value. A guaranteed death benefit is one of the insurance benefits annuities can provide.

Types of Deferred Annuities:

Fixed Deferred Annuities

• Offer an interest rate guaranteed for a set period of time. Your earnings grow tax-deferred until you begin to withdraw your income. Because your principal and interest rate are guaranteed by the issuing company, it is important to consider a strong, stable company that will be there tomorrow. The company generally resets the interest rate periodically, but guarantees the rate will never fall below a minimum rate stated in your contract. 
• You can have a fixed deferred annuity that accepts a single payment or one that accepts multiple payments.

Variable Deferred Annuities

• Offer investment choice and flexibility. Variable annuities offer a range of funding choices, that in turn invest in things such as stocks and bonds, which may provide higher returns than a fixed rate account, but the returns are not guaranteed. The amounts allocated to the variable funding options of your account balance are subject to market fluctuations so that, when withdrawn or surrendered, it may be worth more or less than its original value. Many variable annuities also offer a fixed rate account. All of your earnings grow tax-deferred until you withdraw them. 
• You have the flexibility to transfer among the funding option choices within the variable annuity tax-free and often can take advantage of dollar cost averaging*, automatic rebalancing of your account, and other investment strategies.

* Dollar cost averaging does not ensure a profit or protect against loss in a declining market. For the strategy to be effective, you must continue to purchase shares in both up and down markets.

Contact Gino P. Molettieri today at 781-942-5000 x144

Please note that Investment and Insurance Products are: not FDIC insured, not bank guaranteed, may lose value, and not insured by any Federal Government Agency.