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Annuity Quotes: An Investment Tool

by Ken Nuss

An annuity is an insurance policy that in many aspects, functions like an investment product. In a typical annuity policy, the investor pays a premium to the insurance company providing the annuity. This payment can be made in one lump sum, or in a series of payments over a 10 - 25 year period. At some point, the investor can choose to begin receiving monthly income back from the annuity. This monthly income can continue either for a specified time or for life depending on the details of the annuity contract.

Instead of monthly payments you can also purchase annuities by making a one-time payment. Many of the people who choose this option are workers retiring with a 401k account. They can better use their 401k funds by investing it in an annuity after they retire. The money received from the 401k continues to be tax-deferred if invested in annuities and thus provides additional benefits.

An annuity is sometimes thought of as an investment only for the wealthy. However this is not the case. Anyone who is saving for retirement can just as easily do so by investing in an annuity. Any amount of discretionary income, that is not needed to pay bills and is normally going into a savings account, can just as well be put towards an annuity contract.

One thing that is important when purchasing an annuity is that you find the best annuity quotes. It is recommended that you shop around by looking at multiple annuity products offered by insurance companies. This is analogous to searching for a car insurance policy with the lowest rates and best coverage.

To become well informed on the subject of annuities, you could visit multiple annuity providers and receive annuity quotes from each one. Because of the variety of annuities available in the marketplace, you'd be presented with a wide range of choices. For example, there are differences in the length of pay-in and pay-out that can directly impact whether a particular annuity is optimum for your individual needs. Thus, searching for the right annuity can be a very time-consuming and confusing experience due to the sheer number of options out there.

The good news is that, its not as difficult to find the best annuity as you might think. There are options available wherein you can research and obtain various annuity quotes from a variety of providers right in one place. Investors can now log onto many available annuity sites on the internet and research any amount of data they would ever want, related to any annuity. With so many tools around to help you find the right annuity, it would be quite unfortunate not to research annuities as you would any other investment.

Published April 2nd, 2007

Filed in Business


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