How to Figure Out Annuity Rates
Saturday, October 31st, 2009For people considering an annuity, the decision process is a daunting task. As you are grading an individual product, interest rates are crucial to consider. The labyrinth of data that you’ll encounter can be very discouraging, and create doubt about your choices.
You should concentrate on some key components of interest rates. This will enable you to ignore the information that isn’t relevant to you and streamline the decision process. Since variable and equity-indexed annuities float with the stock market, a broad focus on interest rate components is irrelevant. Let’s focus on Fixed Annuities.
Four essential interest rate elements make up an annuity agreement. This will assist you in knowing where to maintain your focus.
- Base Guaranteed Rate : Your annuity is contractually guaranteed to yield this minimum. This rate will range from 1-3.5% except in the case of a CD-Type Annuity, which will lock a higher rate for the life of the contract.
- Current Rate : Annually, the insuring company will fix a rate that will be applied to contracts that are in-force. This is what generates competition within the insurance industry. Each company is going to declare a rate based on portfolio performance, future business projections and competitive comparison. Establishing a steady current rate can be used as an indication of the financial health of that company, as well as providing as a fiscal outlook within the entire scope of the financial industry.
- Bonus Rate : A lot of contracts will add this ‘bonus rate’ to get you to buy in. Certain annuities offer excessively high bonuses. You need to think about a few facts of bonus rates. Some of these rates are only credited at contract maturity which adds an additional surrender charge if the annuity is cancelled early. Large bonus rates will usually prolong the period of surrender as they add an expense for the company. In many cases, bonus rates turn out to be no bonus at all. Be sure to validate every contract component until you’re certain about them, before you consider any bonuses.
Yield to Surrender: This represents the effective rate of return projected throughout the contract time period. Yield to surrender is the most essential rate to investors. The yield to surrender should be revealed by your agent in both current and guaranteed minimum rates. Calculating this yield will objectively determine the validity of a bonus rate.
In addition to the major interest rate components, there are a couple other things that deserve consideration when evaluating interest rates. These include a company’s renewal rate history and bailout rates.
- Renewal Rate : Any company’s performance in the long term can be ascertained by the history of their renewal rates. Historical rates can be matched to past economic cycles to show how the specific company has performed during various market scenarios. It’s perfectly normal to be concerned with deflation and inflation when you’re thinking about making large investments in anything. This is one of the better ways to compare an annuity’s performance in relation to past interest rate environments.
Bailout Rate: Some annuities have bailout rates, and some do not. These rates are generally part of annuities of higher quality, and offered by companies which are extremely stable. This ‘bailout rate’ is typically fixed slightly above the rate of the base guarantee. It allows an investor to cancel the contract free of penalty if the declared interest rate is at or below the bailout rate. This offers additional freedom to the contract holder and opens up options for placement of the funds without the usual cost of surrendering the annuity.
This basically sums up the things a person needs to consider when evaluating interest rates in annuity contracts. There are a large number of components to understand before one invests in annuities, and annuity rates are only one small aspect of the larger picture.
Annuities are extremely versatile financial products that will play an expanding role in the financial planning landscape. Selecting an annuity, though, can be difficult due to the sheer number of products available to investors.
We’ve given you the framework for formulating an informed choice regarding annuities which can be seen at AnnuityStraightTalk.com. Visit the site for a list of all necessary contract components and the objective analysis needed to make an educated purchase.
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