SAFE MONEY - 4-19-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning to all. Craig Schillig here and this is
Safe Money. I'm here every Saturday to talk with our
listeners about financial strategies we use to manage and protect
assets safely. I've been in an insurance agent for over
twenty four years. During that time, I've learned a few
insurance strategies, like using annuities as safe money harbors or

(00:24):
using cash value life insurance to supplement retirement income. Just
a reminder, you can call our office at five six
three three three two two two zero zero if you'd
like to enroll into one of my virtual Medicare community
meetings via zoom. I give two every month, or you

(00:48):
can email me at Craig at Craigshilig dot com and
that's my name, Aig at cr Aig scchi lllig dot com. Today,
I want to talk to you about Athenes Activate. Athene's

(01:13):
a pretty cool West Mooines annuity company that I do
a lot of business with. A theene Activates specifically, is
a single premium immediate annuity designed to activate guaranteed income.
Now most spias is sometimes what they're referred to as

(01:36):
that I've talked about in the past. They I mean,
it does exactly what it says. It pays money immediately,
generally within two to eighteen months, depending on what we're
trying to achieve. The cool thing about Activate is they
have a provision where you could kind of change your payout,

(02:02):
and I'll talk about that in a little bit. In
addition to remember, Athene has some cool AI chassis on
their fixed index annuities that it's artificial intelligence driven ones
on the domestic side and ones globally. But they're kind

(02:24):
of a future forward or what I would call kind
of a techie type of annuity company. They're still safe,
they have great ratings, they pay their bills. They're just
they're a little more forward thinking. They're not as stuffy
as some of their competitors are. So let's talk about

(02:44):
Athene's Activate A theme believes retirement isn't the end of
a job, it's the beginning of your life's best work.
That's why Athene is driven to deliver financial solutions that
outputform so you can dare to dream big. Backed by
the strength and stability of a market leader. Athene annuities

(03:07):
are built to give you the confidence to retire remarkably
security you can count on policy. Holder protection is Athene's
top priority because Athene knows we do more than help
protect your finances. We help protect your dreams annuities that

(03:29):
are built for you. Athene is a leader in fixed
and index linked annuities. Athene offers solutions to give you
the flexibility to adapt as your needs change. They're driven
to outperform. For over one hundred years, the drive, discipline

(03:50):
and confidence of Athene and its acquired companies have helped
customers achieve more their financial strength ratings. They have an
aplus SMP rating since twenty twenty four, a plus Fitch
rating since twenty twenty three, A plus with a invest
A one with Moody's. They have over three hundred billion

(04:14):
in total gap assets, two hundred and seventy nine point
three billion in gap liabilities, thirteen point eight billion in
total gap shareholder equity. Athene is also teamed up with
a company called Apollo, and they're both a very powerful combination.

(04:38):
Athene strategic partner. Apollo is a global asset manager that
strives to generate predictable and reoccurring yield across market cycles.
Apollos investment expertise combined with Athens leadership in fixed annuities
brings strength, opportunity, and innovation. A Theene is a subsidiary

(05:03):
of Apollo Global Management, turning retirement dreams into reality. Preparing
for retirement can be exciting. After years of saving and planning,
you're ready to turn the money you've accumulated into a
retirement paycheck, but you may have many big questions to answer.

(05:24):
Some of the questions might be, how will I spend
my time once I retire? How do I set up
a budget that allows me to do all I've waited
for and ensure my money lasts through retirement. What factors
impact what I receive from Social Security? How do I

(05:51):
make the best decisions for my situation. What impact will
market condition like volatility or inflation have on my retirement
income plan? How can I plan for the tax implications
that come with retirement income. How can I approach legacy

(06:16):
planning with the goal of passing on remaining benefits on
While there are many concerns, you have access to a
simple solution to get started. You can ensure your retirement
can last a lifetime. Athene Activate is a single premium

(06:36):
a media annuity that can help build your confidence by
providing immediate guaranteed income a theene activate can meet your
needs as you enter the next phase of your retirement journey.
Athene Activate can meet you wherever you are in your
retirement journey. You can choose from different payment options designed

(07:00):
to initiate your monthly or annual retirement paycheck. So let's
talk about periods certain only. These are payments for guaranteed
period of five to thirty years available in annual increments.
Payments are made regardless of whether or not the annuitant

(07:23):
is living. There's also single life payments. These are payments
for lifetime of the annu event. This would probably pay
the most payout, but payments will end when the annuitant
dies with no death proceeds paid. The total amount received
may be less than the premiums paid. You have to

(07:44):
be very careful with single life only. It will be
the highest payout, but it's sometimes the highest risk. You
always want to make sure you have a guarantee in there.
Single life with period certain however, these are payments for
longer of the lifetime of the annuident and they have
a guaranteed period of either five, ten, fifteen or twenty years.

(08:09):
With single life with period certain. So if you did
a single life with fifteen years and you died in
year two, those payments would still continue out until year fifteen.
That's why that's sometimes a better play than single life only,

(08:29):
but understand single life only will have a higher payout,
but there's also some risk in there. If the annuident
dies before the end of the guaranteed period, the remaining
guaranteed payments would go to a named beneficiary. Single life

(08:50):
with an installment refund their payments for longer of the
lifetime of the innudent and a guaranteed period equal to
the time required for cumulative payments to at least equal
to premium. If the innuitan dies before the end of
the guaranteed period, the remaining guaranteed payments would go to

(09:11):
a named beneficiary. Let's talk about single life with cash
refund payments for lifetime of the annu ident with a
lump sum paid to the beneficiary add death. The lump
sum is equal to the difference between the premium and
the cumulative payments made to date. Once cumulative payments exceed

(09:35):
the premium, the refund then becomes zero. You can also
do a joint life payouts and last survivor. These are
payments for joint lifetime of both annuitants. At the first
death of either innuita that the payments may be reduced
depending on the option chosen. Payments will end when both

(09:58):
innuitants have then and deceased. In some cases, joint life
annuities are sometimes a good play. It does depend on
your situation, but you can put a chunk of money
in an annuity for both husband and wife. The benefits

(10:19):
to that are one guaranteed income, but two depending on
which option you choose, because some will be a sixty
six percent or fifty to fifty depending on whenever the
first person dies. Joint life and last survivor with period

(10:40):
certain These are payments for longer of the joint lifetime
of both innuitents and a guaranteed period of either five, ten, fifteen,
or twenty years. If both innuitants die before the end
of the guaranteed period, the remaining guaranteed payments go to
a named beneficiary. This, in some cases is a great

(11:02):
way to pass on a legacy and then the next
one I'll talk about here in a minute, known as
a refund. It is also another way, but the difference
between certain and an installment refund. Under the refund, you

(11:24):
kind of diminish the payments so you don't have to
worry about leaving a legacy with a lump dump chunk.
They would still get payments continued, so they can't diminish
that asset all in one one false swoop. So joint
life and Last Survivor with installment refund it's payments for

(11:47):
the longer of the joint lifetime of both anuitants and
a guaranteed period equal to the time required for cumulative
payments to at least equal the premium. If both ANU
intens die before the end of the guaranteed period, the
remaining guaranteed payments go to a named beneficiary. Joint Life

(12:10):
and Last Survivor with cash refund payments with a joint
lifetime of both anuittants with a lump sum paid to
the beneficiary of death. The lump sum is equal to
the difference between the premium and the acumulative payments made
to date. Once cumulative payments exceed the premium, the refund
then would be zero. Understand that under a joint life,

(12:36):
while some payments would be restricted for i RA as
a single premium media annuity contract contains a few key
roles which have different benefits and responsibilities. One person may
have more than one role, So an owner has all
rights to the contract and is responsible for paying taxes

(12:58):
on the taxable portion of that income. If they're just
the annu atent, they're the person or persons that determine
the amount and at times the length of the annuity
payments based on their lifetime because it's based on their age.

(13:18):
The payees the person or entities such as a trust
or charity there receives payments while an a new intent
is alive. In some cases, you can do a charitable
remainder trust, a charitable remainder trust annuity where you're going
to give x amount of money to a nonprofit entity

(13:41):
or a charity, but you want to take income payments
until you die. Then the charity gets the rest of it.
Let's see where it was a Okay, let's see. So

(14:01):
when we're talking about pay there could be up to
three pays, maybe designated. If no pay is designated, the
pay would be the owner, the beneficiary, the person or
entities such as a trust or charity that is entitled
to benefits after the death of the annuity or anew
intense and multiple beneficiaries can be designated. Don't forget on

(14:23):
annuities because they are named beneficiaries under a beneficiary designation.
It's a good way to create a legacy if that's
your intent, if you have a philanthropic bone. Some additional
features of ATHENS activate offer added confidence Annual Automatic Increase option,

(14:47):
which activates annual automatic increase option. You can have payments
increase one to compounded annually. Annual Automatic Increase option is
a voluntary feature offering an increase to income annually based
on the compounding rate of growth. It's available on all

(15:10):
payment options, provided the purchaser is fifty nine years and
a half or older, and can be selected as any
whole number from one to five percent, but that must
be elected at issue. See Typically most speos, you give
them a chunk of money and then the calculator spits

(15:30):
out these are our offers. This is what we're going
to pay, and that's the payment they would pay, guaranteed,
regardless of what the market does. If we're involved in
a world war, whoever's in the White House, it doesn't
matter what Congress is doing. Under the annual increase option.

(15:52):
You could also increase that payment one to five percent.
Almost unheard of in the annuity spe a world because
annuities are pretty boring and conservative and kind of they
reject change. So that's why again I talk about a

(16:13):
theme because they're more they're kind of a tech savvy,
young hip annuity company. You can increase your payments by
five percent. I mean, that's pretty cool. That can help
you deal with future inflation issues. There's a voluntary feature

(16:35):
available on all payment options. Owners or all innuitants if
owned by a trust or a company, must be age
fifty nine years and a half and or older. Plus
the timing must be elected at issue and it's only
available in whole percentages one to five percent. Now understand

(16:55):
the one to five percent. Then it's going to determine
what payments will be. But we can talk about that later,
but that is something that you could do in the future.
There's also a lump sum option upon death. This feature
offers the ability for beneficiaries to elect to receive a

(17:16):
lump sum of the present value of remaining guarantee payments
at the death of the new intent or a new attence,
rather than continuing periodic payments there's availability and eligibility automatically
included with period certain single life, joint life, and last
Survivor in period certain in single life, joint life and

(17:39):
last Survivor, with installment refund payment options if elected. Once
the lump sumpings paid, the contract is terminated and no
future payments will be made. There's also a one time
withdrawal option athens Activate one time withdrawal option offers the
ability to elect a way drawl of all or a

(18:01):
portion of the present value of remaining liquidity period payments.
This is also unheard of in this Spia world. Most
speas don't do this. Again, this is another technology slash
forward thinking option that Athene does that most of their

(18:25):
competitors don't. It's automatically included on non qualified contracts and
offers the ability to elect a one time withdrawal of
all or a portion of the present value the remaining
liquidity period payments. There's a forecast refund payment option. The
liquidity period is the period it takes for cumulative payments

(18:48):
to at least equal the premium for other eligible payment options.
The liquidity period is the guaranteed period. It's not available
with single or joint life and last surviver only payment options.
The contract owner again must be aged fifty nine, fifty

(19:08):
nine and a half or older in order to exercise
this option. Why because if you're ever underage fifty nine
and a half, there's a ten percent early withdrawal penalty
on all annuity contracts, so you got to be over
at fifty nine and a half. There's also a one
time withdrawal of ten to one percent of the available

(19:33):
premium for periods certain only the contract is terminated. In
the case of a full withdrawal, one time withdrawal of
ten to ninety percent is available for all other eligible
options and liquidity periods, there's a cash refund payment option.
The liquidity period is the period it takes to accumulative

(19:54):
payments to at least equal to premium other eligib ability
payment options are. The liquidity period is guarantee period. It's
automatically included a non qualified contracts. It's not available with
single life or joint life and last survivor payment options

(20:15):
or any IRA contract, so it's got to be non
qualified money. The contract owner again must be aged fifty
nine and a half years age you're older, period certain
only one time withdrawal. You can also do the ten
to one. You could do a ten to ninety percent

(20:37):
on that'll impact the withdrawal. Let's see, may only be
exercised once and contract must be beyond the first contract year. Yeah,
you do have to be on twelve months. Initial payments
will be lower than if a level payment was selected

(20:58):
if you took out a sure the contract is terminating
in case of a full withdrawal. Let's see some of
this is legal stuff. So under iras you don't get
some of those cool bennies did you get under a
non qualified contract? And so remember non qualified money would

(21:22):
be money that isn't tied to an IRA. So let's
see minimum payment or minimum premiums ten thousand. You usually
can't go higher than a million without Home office approval.
Larger amounts can be accepted, but again it's got to

(21:43):
go through approval process first. You can have your payments
paid on between the first and the twenty eighth of
any given month, or you can defer it up to
twelve months from the application date. Activate guaranteed income today.
Your retirement dreams can begin today with immedia guaranteed income

(22:05):
designed to fit the life you've planned retiring to what
inspires you doesn't have to wait another day. ATHENE accepts
SPIA applications for inherited iras from spouse and non spousal beneficiaries,
and I know that because I've done that a couple
times with some of my clients. The available payment options

(22:28):
may be restricted based on the age and the relationship
of the applicant or annuitant in the case of a
see through trust to the deceased IRA owner, as well
as the deceased IRA owner's age at the time of death.
Retirement is not just the end of a job. It's
the beginning of a life. You've worked, dreamed and planned for.

(22:50):
Whatever excites you about your next move. Annuities from a
Theene can help you take on the challenges you can't
wait to face. A Theene is an industry leader, rated
A plus by SMP Fitch and am best. A Theene
is driven by what drives you the confidence to retire

(23:11):
your way. I've been working with a Theme for several years. Again,
they're very forward focused, so that's why I wanted to
talk to you guys about that today. Don't forget I
also give monthly virtual meetings regarding Medicare for two different
companies every month. In one meeting, I will cover the

(23:35):
Medicare Supplement Plan with a standalone drug plan. That meeting
is sponsored by well Mark. My other virtual meeting is
sponsored by United Healthcare, and in that meeting, I focus
on Medicare Advantage plans known as Medicare Parts C or
sometimes called MapD plans, and I'll cover the benefits of

(23:58):
that platform. And both meetings I also cover the four
pieces of Medicare. Some of my upcoming dates for my
next meeting is going to be May tenth and May
twenty second, June seventeenth, and June nineteenth, and my July

(24:22):
dates are July fifteenth and July seventeenth. Those are my
next three months of meetings. You can call our office
at five six three three three two two two zero
zero for the zoom meeting codes and additional dates and times.
You're also welcome to email me at Craig at Craigschillig

(24:46):
dot com and that's my name, cr Aig at cr
Aig scchi lll ij dot com. I'd be happy to
send you the virtual zoom link meeting codes. This is

(25:07):
Craig Hilly with Safe Money