Annuities with Fexingo: Income Products, Retirement Planning, and Insurance Investments

In Episode 104 of Annuities with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore a creative use for fixed annuities: funding a down payment on a short-term rental property. They walk through a real-world scenario where a listener uses a multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) to accumulate a lump sum for a vacation rental, while keeping access to liquidity through penalty-free withdrawal provisions. The hosts break...

Episode 103 of Annuities with Fexingo explores a creative retirement-income strategy: using fixed deferred annuities to prepay future college tuition for grandchildren. Lucas and Luna walk through the mechanics of a multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) ladder, comparing it to 529 plans and Illinois' state-run prepaid tuition program. They discuss tax implications, risk trade-offs, and a real-world...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how fixed annuity owners over age 60 can swap their existing contract for a deferred income annuity using a 1035 exchange — without triggering a taxable event. They walk through the mechanics, using a real example: a retiree with a $200,000 fixed annuity earning 3% who moves into a QLAC-style longevity annuity offering a 7.5% payout starting at age 80. The h...

Episode 101 of Annuities with Fexingo explores a targeted retirement planning strategy: using a fixed deferred annuity to bridge the income gap for a younger spouse before claiming Social Security. Lucas and Luna walk through a real-world scenario where a 64-year-old retiree delays his own benefit to age 70 while funding a fixed annuity that provides $2,100 monthly for his 62-year-old wife until s...

In episode 100 of Annuities with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how fixed annuities can be used to fund long-term care expenses without triggering Medicaid penalties or draining retirement savings. They walk through a concrete example: a 67-year-old retiree with $300,000 in a fixed annuity who needs assisted living. Lucas explains the tax treatment of withdrawals for medical care, the interaction...

Episode 99 of Annuities with Fexingo explores a rarely discussed application: embedding a fixed annuity income rider inside an employer-sponsored 401k plan. Lucas walks through how a mid-sized manufacturing firm added a simple, low-cost guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (GLWB) to its investment menu, offering employees a 4.5% guaranteed withdrawal rate at age 65. The company avoided expensive...

Episode 98 of Annuities with Fexingo dives into a niche but critical use case: funding a third-party special needs trust with a fixed annuity. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example — a grandmother in Illinois using a five-year fixed annuity to grow $100,000 for her disabled granddaughter's trust without disqualifying her from SSI or Medicaid. They explain how the annuity's guaranteed grow...

Episode 97 of Annuities with Fexingo tackles a common retirement planning dilemma: how to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA without getting hit by a huge tax bill. Lucas walks through a detailed example using a fixed annuity as a 'tax shield' — parking the converted assets in a fixed annuity to spread the tax bite over several years. Luna questions whether the annuity's fees and surrender ch...

Episode 96: Most people think of annuities as retirement income, but they also offer a lesser-known estate-planning benefit: bypassing probate. Lucas and Luna break down how a fixed annuity with a named beneficiary can transfer assets directly to heirs, avoiding the time and cost of probate court. They use a concrete example: a retiree in Florida who leaves a $200,000 fixed annuity to her daughter...

Episode 95 explores how fixed annuities can act as a funding engine for donor-advised funds (DAFs). Lucas and Luna walk through a real-world scenario: funding a DAF with a fixed annuity to maximize charitable impact while securing a steady income stream for the donor. They break down the mechanics—how tax deferral inside the annuity can compound before the charitable gift, how the DAF can distribu...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how fixed annuities can fund a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT), a powerful estate planning tool for donors who want income plus a tax deduction. Using a concrete example of a $500,000 annuity funding a 5% payout CRT, they walk through the mechanics: how the trust buys the annuity, the charitable deduction calculation based on IRS Section 7520 rates (current...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle a counterintuitive question: can a fixed annuity serve as part of an emergency fund? They dig into the mechanics of fixed indexed annuities with return-of-premium guarantees, specifically the 'two percent for life' rider offered by companies like Athene. Lucas walks through a concrete example: a 45-year-old plumber earning $80,000 a year, who allocates $20,00...

In this episode of Annuities with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore a creative strategy: using a fixed annuity to supercharge a grandparent-owned 529 plan for a grandchild. They walk through the mechanics—how the annuity's tax-deferred growth and guaranteed income stream can be directed to fund education expenses, while keeping control with the grandparent. The discussion covers the trade-offs versu...

In episode 91 of Annuities with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna tackle one of retirement planning's most dangerous pitfalls: sequence-of-returns risk. They explain how a deferred income annuity (DIA) can act as a personal pension that kicks in just when your portfolio is most vulnerable—after a market downturn in the first few years of retirement. Using a concrete example, they walk through how committing...

Episode 90 of Annuities with Fexingo explores how fixed annuities can fund a business buy-sell agreement. Lucas and Luna walk through a specific scenario: two partners in a $10 million manufacturing firm using a fixed annuity to guarantee the surviving partner has cash to buy out the deceased partner's shares. They discuss the tax mechanics, the role of the insurance company as a funding vehicle,...

Lucas and Luna explore a little-known strategy: using fixed annuities to accumulate and time a down payment for a second home or vacation property. They walk through a concrete case: a couple in their mid-50s, already maxing out retirement accounts, who want to buy a lake house in eight years. By parking $100,000 in a multi-year guaranteed annuity yielding 4.25%, they secure principal, beat a savi...

In this episode of Annuities with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how fixed indexed annuities are gaining traction as a bond alternative in the mid-2026 rate environment. With ten-year Treasury yields hovering around 4.2% and credit spreads tight, many retirees are questioning whether traditional bonds still offer enough yield for the duration risk they carry. Lucas walks through the mechanics of...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how fixed annuities can be used to fund a spousal lifetime access trust, or SLAT. They break down the mechanics: a high-net-worth couple uses a fixed annuity to provide predictable income to the trust's beneficiary (the spouse), while removing assets from the grantor's estate for estate tax purposes. Lucas explains the tax treatment under the grantor trust r...

Episode 86 of Annuities with Fexingo explores a niche but powerful strategy: using a fixed annuity within a self-directed Solo 401k. Lucas and Luna walk through how a freelance consultant in her early 50s, earning irregular income, parked $70,000 of her 2025 Solo 401k contributions into a multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) yielding 4.8 percent for five years. They break down why the annuity's gu...

In this episode of Annuities with Fexingo, hosts Lucas and Luna explore how fixed annuities can serve as a pension replacement strategy for retirees who lack a traditional defined-benefit plan. They discuss the mechanics of using a fixed annuity to create a steady, predictable income stream that mimics a pension, including how to structure payments to cover essential expenses. The episode also exa...

Episode 84 of Annuities with Fexingo breaks down how fixed indexed annuities with inflation riders can protect retirement income from purchasing power erosion. Lucas and Luna examine a specific case: a 65-year-old retiree with $500,000 who wants guaranteed income that keeps pace with rising costs. They compare a traditional fixed annuity paying 4.5% against a fixed indexed annuity with a 3% annual...

Episode 83 of Annuities with Fexingo explores a clever, underused strategy: using a fixed annuity to pay off a reverse mortgage balance. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example: a 72-year-old homeowner with a $180,000 reverse mortgage balance and $300,000 in savings. They explain how a fixed indexed annuity with a 10-year surrender period can generate guaranteed income to cover the loan, pr...

Lucas and Luna explore a creative but little-discussed strategy: using a fixed annuity to generate a predictable income stream specifically earmarked for a mortgage or home purchase in retirement. They walk through a concrete example—a 63-year-old retiree with $200,000 in a fixed annuity—and compare the math against taking a lump sum distribution or using a bond ladder. The episode covers tax impl...

Episode 81 of Annuities with Fexingo explores a niche but critical retirement planning scenario: using a fixed annuity to fund a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) during divorce. Lucas and Luna walk through how a 53-year-old client named Sarah avoided a 10% early withdrawal penalty by rolling a portion of her ex-husband's 401(k) into a fixed annuity and then taking substantially equal peri...

Episode 80 of Annuities with Fexingo digs into the Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC) — an often-overlooked retirement strategy that uses a deferred fixed annuity to delay required minimum distributions from a 401(k) or IRA until age 85. Lucas explains the regulatory cap of $200,000 or 25% of the account, how the QLAC rules changed in 2024, and why using a fixed annuity inside a QLAC can...