An annuity is a type of investment or insurance whereby the investor makes a lump sum payment and in future, receives payment of a sum of money yearly for a fixed period of time or for the rest of his life. It is a retirement strategy that investors use to enable them to receive cash when they are no longer employed or receiving an income.
Types of Annuities
- Immediate: If you choose an immediate annuity, you start receiving payment as soon as you make your first investment payment. The payment can be dispensed until death or for a specific period of time.
- Deferred: The investor makes a payment but starts to receive annuity payments in future. It may take a period of one year or more before the annuities can start being paid out.
- Fixed: For fixed annuities, a fixed interest is paid out to the investor annually.
- Variable: The value paid out to the investor depends on the performance of the sub-accounts where the money was allocated to.
Options for Selling Annuities
There are two options available for selling your annuity payments:
- Partial Sale: You can sell a portion of your annuity payments and keep the remaining ones. You will still receive payments for the annuities that are still entitled to you. You can choose to sell a portion of each payment you are to receive. Another option is to sell payments for a certain period of time. For example, you can sell 4 years of your annuity payments. During that time, you will not receive any payment until 4 years have elapsed.
- Entire Sale: You can sell all your annuity payments at once. After selling, you will be left with cash you can use but you will no longer receive scheduled payments like you did before the sale.
How To Sell Annuity Payments
In order to sell your annuity payments, you need to give the necessary information to the party interested in buying the annuity payments. Information about your annuity will be required as well as your current financial situation. This information is required so that you can know which options you have when selling your annuity. You can either sell all your annuities at once or you can sell them partially depending on your situation and the financial goals you have set for yourself.
Before the sale can be done, you will be required to provide a copy of the agreement you had with the insurance company to the party interested in purchasing your annuities. You will also be required to sign a contract where you authorize the potential buyer to complete the sale. These documents will then be sent to the insurance company that manages your account so that changes can be made.
Once the insurance company has made the necessary changes, the payment will be processed and you will receive your money as agreed with the potential buyer. If you need the cash as soon as possible, it would be wise to let the potential buyer know so that you can agree on how soon the money can be transferred to your account.
While selling annuity payments, you need to be careful with potential buyers since there are many who scam people and rob them of their money. Make sure the potential buyer is credible and is experienced in this field. You can check reviews about the person or company and see whether you can trust the person or the company. You could also seek the services of a lawyer or a broker to help you with the sale.
Reasons for Selling Annuities
Some of the reasons that can make selling your annuity more beneficial than keeping it include:
- You have discovered another investment that will give you higher returns compared to what you are currently receiving
- You are not able to afford the fees for the annuity
- You have an emergency that requires you to get cash
- You realize that the annuity is not of value to you as you thought it would be
- You already have enough money from your pension
- You want to try out another way to save on taxes
- You want to invest in a business