How safe is Symetra ?

[DonP]

At his tax rate, you would think tax free bonds & corporate bonds or Drips would get him to same rate as a NQ annuity. NQ annuity is just deferring the tax for you guys to pay at your ordinary tax rates. Capital assets would get a step up in cost basis at death

It’s for his grandkids . There tax rates low .

Great points. I forgot the OP that these were for Grandkids too.

Plus, grandkids can spread tax out over 5 year deferral or by electing payout annuity at death.

Very real chance though that dad lives to maturity at age 99 or 100 & all of that deferred interest will be taxable to dad in a lump sum at maturity. Seeing this happen more & more today as some hit age 100. For most tax payers at those ages, they are in low or 0% tax bracket & should be taking some taxable gains out each year to spread it out & utilize their standard deductions & lower tax rates than leaving it for taxation at death or maturity

The one thing you hit head on . He could easily live to 100 . His grandfather lived to 107 . He’s in incredible health . We call him “ the freak “ . Never been in hospital , zero rx and here’s the freakish part . Never a cavity and straight as an arrow teeth . Goes to dentist 3 times a yr . He’s wealthy . If he lives to 96 he’ll just have to put in cd payable at death

 

[Tahoe Ray]

If he lives to 96 he’ll just have to put in cd payable at death

GILICO is A- and writes to age 100.

I'll be willing to bet you see a few other carriers (that already go to 90) creeping those ages up before he gets there.

 

[Allen Trent]

You can still stretch non-qual annuities too.

Yup, I did that with my own mothers. But some carriers will not do it as some either dont have the system to do it on the back end for the RMD calcs or are conservative on IRS regs on NQ

 

[Allen Trent]

The one thing you hit head on . He could easily live to 100 . His grandfather lived to 107 . He’s in incredible health . We call him “ the freak “ . Never been in hospital , zero rx and here’s the freakish part . Never a cavity and straight as an arrow teeth . Goes to dentist 3 times a yr . He’s wealthy . If he lives to 96 he’ll just have to put in cd payable at death

The problem with that is that he will have to cash out the annuity at 96 & be taxed on all the gains he deferred for 6 years to get it into a CD.

If he gets near those ages, might want to instead start systematically withdrawing money to spread the tax out if his income tax brackets are still high like they are today.

Ask your brother to find out what Symetra does at max maturity--ie Age 99 or 100. Some carriers might allow it to stay on deposit. But if interest rates are higher & they dont want the money on deposit any longer they may not allow it to stay active past maximum maturity.

Get dad to an attorney if you can before 12/31/2025. current tax laws expire & unless congress takes action, they revert back to 2017 levels. This means higher income tax rates for most, lower standard deductions & the estate tax levels drop a ton in terms of what you can pass. Many of the high income seniors & estate size are working with attorneys to transfer assets today, discount closely held business values & in many cases, filing estate tax returns now to take advantage of the current estate tax exemptions before they expire.

PS--QBI for us business people also expires