Retirement Basics: Fixed Annuities (aka MYGAs)

Retirement Answer Man

Roger Whitney, CFP®, CIMA®, RMA, CPWA®

Lifeplanning, Retirementplanning, Financialplanning, Saving, Careerplanning, Self-improvement, Education, Retirementpodcast, Investing, Business, Investmentmanagement, Retirement

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

💬 Show Notes

In this episode, we dig into fixed annuities and U.S. Treasuries—how they can bring stability and income to your retirement. We’ll also discuss Social Security risks and how to stress-test your plan so you can retire with confidence. Let’s get you one step closer to rocking retirement!

SUMMARY OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN

(00:00) Today we talk about the basics of fixed annuities.
(00:59) Roger continues the discussion on navigating retirement planning during uncertain times.
(02:06) Listener, Christina, asks Roger to consider stress testing including Social Security for the average potential retiree.
(07:17) Roger defines fixed annuities and how they fit into the retirement planning process.
(07:54) Roger evaluates the similarities and differences between CDs and fixed annuities.
(10:08) What are the negatives of fixed annuities?
(12:27) How are the rates of annuities determined?
(14:08) What are the primary uses of fixed annuities?
(15:12) Roger goes through an example of optimization using fixed annuities.

LISTENER QUESTIONS

(19:38) Listener, Barbara, asks Roger to educate listeners about the basics of treasuries.

SMART SPRINT

(24:36) In the next seven days, I want you to shift the way you approach your retirement planning. Think of yourself as a scientist—you're on a mission to discover and understand. When we run these stress tests or feasibility tests, the goal is to uncover where potential risks might exist and where opportunities could be hiding.

BONUS

(25:25) Roger reads from his grandfather’s WWII Journal

REFERENCES

Retirement Answer Man
Sign up for The Noodle (previously known as Six Shot Saturday)
Social Security Administration
TreasuryDirect
Immediate Annuities

Books:

The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany- Stephen Ambrose

Show notes created by https://headliner.app

Transcript

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0:00.0	Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out.
0:04.8	John Wooden.
0:09.7	Welcome to the show dedicated to helping you not just survive retirement, but to have the confidence to lean in and rock retirement because you're focusing your planning on things you can control.
0:22.0	Today on the show, we're going to continue our month-long theme on the basics.
0:26.4	Today is the basics of fixed annuities.
0:29.4	We are also going to talk about the basics of treasuries, bills, bonds, and notes.
0:34.1	It's like a two-for-one special.
0:35.8	How about that?
0:39.7	Once we finish this theme on the basics this month, it's going to be a reoccurring segment that comes on so we can expose ourselves to
0:46.2	things that maybe we haven't heard of or re-examine our understanding of something we think we know
0:52.4	so we can identify those pesky blind spots. Love to find those
0:55.9	blind spots. Before we get to the main segment, I want to continue this discussion on navigating
1:02.7	retirement planning during uncertain times. Back on episode 584, we talked about, is your
1:10.1	retirement safe?
1:11.1	How to navigate financial security.
1:14.8	So let's continue that conversation.
1:17.4	Right now, the uncertainty is like a loud thunderstorm in the middle of the night.
1:23.3	Bam!
1:24.1	Social security.
1:25.4	Bam, markets are going down.
1:26.8	Bam.
1:29.9	Tariffs, the economy, politics, etc.
	...

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