| Selection Strategies | Choices to Make
Flexibility and control are the keys to effective planning.
Non-qualified variable annuities are designed to play a part in long-term retirement planning. You get tax-deferred growth on your investment earnings, and you can choose the way your money is allocated among the investment portfolios offered by the annuity contract you select.
What distinguishes variable annuities from other retirement planning tools are:
- The opportunity to receive lifelong income
- The guaranteed death benefit that protects your premiums and may also offer investment gains for your beneficiaries
- The ability to change investment portfolios without taxation
- The flexibility to decide how much to contribute, how to allocate the money in your contract, and when to begin taking income
What’s more, you don’t need to have earned income to put money into non-qualified variable annuities, as you do with an IRA or an employer-sponsored qualified plan. Investments in non-qualified variable annuitiesare not tax deductible.
Choosing Your Direction
Buying non-qualified variable annuities involves making choices, but also gives you some control over your retirement savings.
The more you know and understand about how non-qualified variable annuities work, the more informed choice you’ll be able to make in selecting the best contract for you, as well as appropriate portfolios within the contract.
Of course, you can also buy a fixed annuity and not make any additional decisions, especially if you’re making a one-time purchase, feel overwhelmed by financial matters, or who are looking for a stable, guaranteed source of income.
But if your preference is to stay attuned to what’s happening with your investment portfolios, variable annuities give you the opportunity to allocate your assets, monitor their performance, and change that allocation when it seems wise.
Professional Management
You allocate non-qualified variable annuities premiums among different portfolios managed by a team of specialists, who make buy and sell decisions based on extensive research. That means you don’t have to shoulder responsibility for that level of decision-making. While past performance does not guarantee future results, you should, however, evaluate the past performance of these portfolio managers in making your investment decisions, as well as evaluating the performance of the portfolios themselves. You should also consider the investment objectives, fees and expenses of the portfolios before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information and may be obtained from your financial advisor.
Flexible Time Lines
Another advantage to non-qualified variable annuities is that there are fewer rules about how long you can continue to add money and when you must take it out. With most qualified retirement annuities, you can put money in only as long as you have earned income, and there are limits on how much you can put in. In addition, you must begin taking income in the year following the one in which you turn 70½ . With non-qualified variable annuities, on the other hand, you can build your account whether or not you’re earning income, and you can often postpone withdrawals to age 85 or later.
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Social
Security |
As long as you work |
As early as age 62, no advantage in waiting beyond age 70 |
Pension |
As long as you work |
Typically when you retire |
IRA |
As long as you have earned income |
Minimum distributions must begin by age 70½ |
Annuity |
As long as you want |
Flexible by contract and state, often by age 85 |
Limited vs. Unlimited Contributions
There are no federal or state limits on the amount of after-tax income you can add to your non-qualified variable annuities each year. That’s in direct contrast to IRAs and qualified retirement annuities. It means that non-qualified annuities can help you build your nest egg faster, even if you get a later start. Of course, it's always advantageous to start a retirement savings program as soon as you can.
Contribution Limits
Most retirement plans put strict annual limits on contributions.
|
IRA |
$3,000 (for 2002-2004)
$4,000 (for 2005-2008)
$5,000 (for 2008)
(indexed in $500 increments beginning 2009)
|
401(k) |
$11,000 (for 2002)
$12,000 (for 2003)
$13,000 (for 2004)
$14,000 (for 2005)
$15,000 (for 2006)
(indexed in $500 increments beginning 2007)
|
Keogh |
$40,000 (for 2002)
$41,000 (for 2004)
(indexed in $1,000 increments beginning 2005)
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Non-Qualified Annuity |
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