Annuities
Annuity Advisor for Retirement Income in the Tri-Cities
What an Annuity Can Do That Nothing Else Can
For most pre-retirees, the single greatest retirement fear is outliving their savings. The stock market cannot guarantee you will not. A savings account cannot guarantee you will not. A fixed indexed annuity can — and that is the distinction that changes everything.
An annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company. You contribute a lump sum or series of payments. In return, the insurance company guarantees either growth, income, or both — depending on the product — for as long as you need it. No other financial product makes that guarantee in writing.
Mark Rogers, Certified in Long-Term Care (CLTC) and Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF), has spent more than 20 years helping pre-retirees and retirees throughout eastern Washington build retirement income plans anchored in guaranteed income. He works with nine major carriers — AIG, Allianz, Lincoln, Corebridge Financial, Great American, North American, Protective, Accordia Life, and American Life — which means every recommendation is built around your situation, not a single carrier's product shelf. If you want to understand annuities before you sit down with anyone, start with the
Talking Turning 65 podcast — plain English, no sales pitch, free any time.
Your Social Security claiming age and your Medicare enrollment timing are connected decisions. If you delay Social Security past 65, you need to enroll in Medicare Part B manually — missing that window carries permanent premium penalties.
Four Ways Annuities Work in Retirement
Guaranteed Growth with Annuities
A fixed indexed annuity credits interest linked to a market index — such as the S&P 500 — while protecting your principal from market loss. When the index rises, your account earns interest up to a stated cap or participation rate. When the index falls, your account earns zero — it never goes backward due to market performance. For pre-retirees who want growth potential without the risk of losing principal, this is the core appeal of the fixed indexed annuity. Surrender periods typically range from five to ten years, and caps and participation rates vary by carrier and product — which is exactly why working with an advisor who has access to multiple carriers matters.
Guaranteed Income with Annuities
A guaranteed lifetime income rider attached to a fixed indexed annuity creates a monthly payment that continues for the rest of your life — regardless of how long you live and regardless of what happens to the contract's account value. The income base grows during the deferral period, often at a stated rate, even if the market is flat. When income begins, the payment is calculated based on that accumulated income base and your age at the time you turn it on. Even if the contract value eventually reaches zero, the payments continue. That is what a guarantee means.
Retirement Income Strategies
Annuities do not replace every dollar of retirement savings — they anchor the income floor. The income floor concept means your essential living expenses are covered by guaranteed sources: Social Security, pensions, and annuity income. Other assets — IRAs, brokerage accounts, real estate — can then be positioned for growth or discretionary spending without the pressure of needing to generate monthly income. This approach eliminates sequence of returns risk, which is the danger of market losses in the early years of retirement permanently reducing the longevity of your portfolio. A guaranteed income floor removes that vulnerability entirely.
Long-Term Care with Annuities
Some fixed indexed annuities include long-term care riders that double or triple the monthly benefit for qualifying care expenses — home care, assisted living, or memory care. If care is never needed, the unused benefit passes to named beneficiaries as a death benefit. This hybrid approach differs from standalone long-term care insurance in one critical way: the funding is not lost if care is never required. For retirees who want long-term care coverage without the use-it-or-lose-it concern of traditional LTC insurance, annuity-based LTC riders are worth understanding in detail.
For deeper long-term care planning content, visit the Long-Term Care Planning page.
Are Annuities Right for You? Addressing the #1 Question We Hear.
Annuities have a complicated reputation — and some of it is earned. There are annuity products that carry high fees, long surrender periods, and limited flexibility. There are also annuity products that are straightforward, competitively priced, and genuinely well-suited to the income protection needs of a retiree in their 60s or 70s.
The honest answer is: annuities are not right for every dollar of retirement savings. But for the income layer that must be guaranteed — the money that funds essential living expenses and cannot afford to lose value — a fixed indexed annuity provides exactly that: principal protection and guaranteed income for life.
Fixed indexed annuities carry no front-end load and no annual management fee in their base form. Optional riders — guaranteed income, enhanced death benefits, or long-term care benefits — carry a stated annual charge, typically between 0.5% and 1.25%, disclosed in writing before any contract is signed. We explain every fee before you sign anything. No surprises.
We Work for You, Not for a Carrier.
"I left a corporate career to serve rural communities because I saw how many people were retiring without a real plan. Twenty years later, that is still what drives me."
— Mark Rogers, CLTC, LUTCF
Most annuity advisors are contracted with one or two carriers. That means their recommendation is limited to what those carriers offer — not what is best for your situation. We work with nine: AIG, Allianz, Lincoln, Corebridge Financial, Great American, North American, Protective, Accordia Life, and American Life. When we recommend a product, it is because it ranked highest for your specific goals across the full carrier landscape — not because it was the only option available to us.
Every annuity recommendation begins with your full financial picture: income needs, existing assets, Social Security projections, health considerations, and long-term care exposure. The product comes last, not first. That is not a policy. It is how Mark has worked for over 20 years.
Meet our team and learn more about how we work at the
About page.
Annuity Planning Questions — Answered Directly
What is a fixed indexed annuity?
A fixed indexed annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company in which your account earns interest linked to a market index — such as the S&P 500 — while your principal is protected from market loss. When the index rises, your account earns interest up to a stated cap or participation rate. When the index falls, your account earns zero — it does not go backward. Fixed indexed annuities are designed for retirees who want growth potential without the risk of losing principal due to market performance.
What is a guaranteed income annuity?
A guaranteed income annuity — often structured as a fixed indexed annuity with a lifetime income rider — creates a monthly payment that continues for the rest of your life regardless of how long you live. The income is calculated based on an accumulated income base and your age when payments begin. Even if the contract's account value eventually reaches zero, the payments continue. This is the income guarantee that no market investment can replicate, and it is the foundation of a retirement income floor strategy.
How is annuity income taxed?
Annuity income taxation depends on how the annuity was funded. If funded with pre-tax dollars — such as a rollover from a traditional IRA or 401(k) — the full payment is taxable as ordinary income. If funded with after-tax dollars, only the earnings portion of each payment is taxable; the return of principal is not. Washington state imposes no income tax on annuity income, which is a meaningful advantage for Tri-Cities retirees compared to most other states. Federal taxation applies in both cases.
What is the difference between an annuity and a CD?
Both a CD and a fixed annuity offer principal protection and a stated rate of return, but the comparison ends there. CDs are short-term instruments that require reinvestment at whatever rate is available at maturity. Fixed indexed annuities offer interest crediting linked to a market index with principal protection, tax-deferred growth, and the option to convert to guaranteed lifetime income — none of which a CD provides. For retirees comparing the two, the annuity's tax deferral and lifetime income option are the features that change the long-term math significantly.
Can an annuity pay for long-term care?
Yes. Many fixed indexed annuities include optional long-term care riders that double or triple the monthly benefit for qualifying care expenses — home care, assisted living, or memory care. If care is never needed, the unused benefit passes to named beneficiaries as a death benefit. This hybrid structure differs from standalone long-term care insurance in that the funding is not lost if care is never required. For retirees who want long-term care coverage without the use-it-or-lose-it concern of traditional LTC insurance, annuity-based LTC riders are a meaningful option.
What does principal protection mean in an annuity?
Principal protection means your account value cannot decrease due to market performance. In a fixed indexed annuity, the worst outcome in any crediting period is zero interest — your principal is never reduced because the market index declined. This protection is contractually guaranteed by the issuing insurance company, not a market outcome. For retirees who cannot afford to recover from a significant portfolio loss early in retirement, principal protection is the feature that changes the risk profile of their entire income plan.
What is sequence of returns risk and how does an annuity address it?
Sequence of returns risk is the danger that significant market losses early in retirement — when withdrawals begin — permanently reduce the longevity of a portfolio in a way that later gains cannot fully recover. A retiree who loses 30% in year one and withdraws income simultaneously faces a compounding problem that a retiree who experiences the same loss in year fifteen does not. A guaranteed income annuity eliminates sequence of returns risk for the income it covers — the payment continues regardless of market performance, removing the dependency on portfolio timing entirely.
What is a 1035 exchange and when should I consider one?
A 1035 exchange is a tax-free transfer of funds from one annuity contract to another — or from a life insurance policy to an annuity — without triggering a taxable event. It allows retirees with older annuity contracts to move to a newer product with better crediting strategies, lower fees, or stronger income guarantees without paying tax on the accumulated growth. Not every old annuity warrants a 1035 exchange — surrender charges, loss of existing benefits, and timing all matter. A policy review is the starting point for determining whether an exchange makes sense for your specific contract.
Serving Annuity Clients Across the Tri-Cities and Eastern Washington
My Safe Money Matters provides annuity planning and guaranteed retirement income guidance to residents of Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, Prosser, and West Richland, and communities throughout Benton, Franklin, and Yakima counties. In-person and virtual consultations are both available. If you are approaching retirement in eastern Washington and want to understand how a fixed indexed annuity fits your income plan, we are ready to walk through it with you.
Find Out If an Annuity Belongs in Your Retirement Income Plan.
A free 20-minute consultation with Mark Rogers gives you an honest look at whether an annuity fits your situation — with no obligation and no pitch in the first call. We explain every option in plain English before any product is discussed.