Annuity strategies for anxious clients

An interesting case regarding legacy planning recently arose with a client who has sufficient income, however, he held a $650,000 IRA account which we repositioned into an FIA (fortunately, before the most recent market collapse). Through the annuity, we created a guaranteed annual distribution that, after income taxes are removed, provides a net premium of an additional $2 million tax-free to the estate upon his death. His IRA was just sitting there and wasn’t needed for income so we used it to increase the estate for his heirs.

The client was married at the time, age 65 and in reasonably good health. Had we a healthy spouse, we could have increased the estate by nearly $3.5 million using a guaranteed death benefit SUL. As it is now, the new $2 million contract will abbreviate pay at age 83 and the client is comfortable with that. We now have a $2 million taxable estate that, in the absence of trust work, which I initiated with an attorney for him, is now worth nearly $4 million.

Don’t miss Stefanos Loisou’s session, “Branding Yourself into a Household Name,” at the 2009 Senior Market Advisor Expo. Click here for more information and to register today!