Stinky wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:46 am
Information on Annuity Advantage and Stan the Annuity Man is included in a post near the bottom of the third page of this thread. Immediateannuities.com is discussed near the top of the fourth page.
Over the last few months, I've purchased multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs) from each of Blueprint Income, Gainbridge, and Canvas, as I constructed a "MYGA ladder" (similar to a CD ladder). For the benefit of anyone who is considering purchasing MYGAs. I decided to compare and contrast the products and service on each of these platforms,
(To learn more about MYGAs, search the Forum for "MYGA", as there have been multiple recent threads on this topic. There is also an article in the Wiki. A one sentence summary - a MYGA, also known as a "CD annuity", can offer an attractive interest rate relative to a bank CD, and comes with the caveats of (a) state guaranty fund protection rather than FDIC insurance and (b) punishingly high surrender charges on most products.)
Blueprint Income (www.blueprintincome.com)
I chose to go with Blueprint for the majority of my purchases. Blueprint acts as an agent for over two dozen insurance companies. In my opinion, Blueprint's website is more user-friendly and has much more information than other agents like Stan the Annuity Man and Immediate Annuities, so I used Blueprint exclusively.
Positives -
--- Over two dozen insurers have products available through Blueprint. These companies have AM Best ratings ranging from A++ to B+. In general, lower rated companies pay higher interest rates. This choice of companies allows folks to decide on the combination of interest rate and financial strength rating that best fits their situation.
--- Products are available for every duration from 2 years to 10 years. Note that not all companies sell products at all durations.
--- Blueprint's website is very user friendly and easy to navigate, and contains a deep body of information on every product offered. It's easy to compare and contrast products on the website. In my view, this is a major advantage over the other annuity agents mentioned above.
--- The application for either a "taxable" or "IRA" annuity can be completed fully online. The Blueprint team then follows up with an email to confirm the choices indicated in the online application.
--- Blueprint's customer service is excellent. I chose to communicate exclusively through email, and always found the Blueprint team to be very responsive to my questions and comments. The Blueprint team is very knowledgeable about what they are selling. The reviews submitted by buyers are extremely positive, and those who chose to call the Blueprint team seemed to be very happy with the phone service.
Negatives -
--- The timeline for purchasing annuities through an independent agency like Blueprint is longer than for purchasing through a "controlled" agent like Canvas and Gainbridge. All of my purchases through Blueprint were IRA annuities, so they each involved the additional time-consuming step of the insurance company reaching out to Vanguard to "pull" money from my IRA. The shortest time between application date and policy effective date was two weeks. The longest time between application and policy effective was six weeks, because the insurance company lost the fax (I didn't know that anybody still used fax machines). I'm certain that taxable annuities, which are funded through a check or ACH transfer, would move faster, but probably not as fast as with Canvas and Gainbridge.
Canvas (www.canvasannuity.com) and Gainbridge (www.gainbridge.life)
Both of these agencies are closely associated with a single insurance company, and sell only the products of that insurance company. Canvas works with Puritan Life, and Gainbridge works with Guggenheim Life. Both of these companies are rated B++ by AM Best.
Positives -
--- Both companies currently offer interest rates than are generally higher than the vast majority of rates offered by companies on Blueprint.
--- Both have very fast processing for taxable MYGAs. Presuming that the funds are in your checking account, Canvas can deliver a fully issued and in force policy within 10 minutes of starting the application. Gainbridge goes through a little slower process of verifying bank accounts, but can issue a policy within 2-3 days.
Negatives -
--- Both agencies are offering products issued by only one company.
--- Gainbridge does not currently offer IRA annuities, but says that they plan to within the next year or so.
--- Canvas doesn't indicate on their website that IRA annuities are available. However, they told me in an email that they do offer them. I am in the middle of purchasing an IRA annuity through them, and find that their current process is very manual. After an initial phone interview to determine "suitability", they emailed me an entirely manual application that needed to be printed out, completed, and scanned back to them. They also requested a notarized form to verify my identity, which was not requested by any of the companies represented by Blueprint Income. I expect that Canvas will be improving their process for IRA annuities in the future.