Customer Reviews

The Annuity Advisor 2nd edition

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A timeless work intended for professionals in the industry. However consumers seriously considering an annuity for a major portion of their plans should read this as well to be fully educated (more so than salespeople who haven't taken the time to read it). Why should a consumer depend on being sold an annuity hoping it would solve their problems rather than become informed enough in general to decide on what kind of annuity they should search for in the first place? Once a consumer has their big picture in mind, they can seek out the insurance company and local sales office to dig deeper into a specific purchase.

Risk transference to an insurance company comes at a cost. Therefore it is important to evaluate your objective first. Secondly, determine if you are concerned about a risk to achieve that objective. Thirdly, does an annuity, or some other product, address that specific risk. Just like any other financial product, annuities are a tool designed to do specific things - guaranteed to address some specific risk. They are not swiss army knives that are a solution to do everything. The authors do a decent and balanced job explaining how to evaluate them.

With the recent market meltdown recently experienced, and the coming tide of retiring baby boomers, I suspect the attraction of annuities will grow. Why? Because annuities are risk management tools and hence, the reason they are sold by insurance companies (insurance is a risk management method). Even if you get one at the bank, there's an insurance company underwriting it. And this distinction is what gets most people in trouble - they view annuities as an investment.

This is a well balanced and educational work without sales hype or bias that is well written to easily follow along. The reader does not need to be in the industry to understand it.

Not just for advisors, CPAs, attorneys or insurance salespeople. Consumers should read this too.

How annuities work? Read
The Economic Theory of Annuities by Eytan Sheshinski


Wealth Odyssey: The Essential Road Map For Your Financial Journey Where Is It You Are Really Trying To Go With Money?

I'm a fan of Michael Kitces writings so I purchased this book. I am a professional financial advisor and found this book very useful. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to the general public. Very technical in many areas...but the book is intended for the advisor as stated in the title and should be in their library.