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- Phone : 1-(800) 239-0356
- URL :
- Global Rating
- Very Good
User Rating
- 1 Reviews
Annuity Advantage has been in business since 1999. Ken Nuss leads the firm and the organization prides itself on educating customers about all forms of annuities.
The customer reviews featured on TrustPilot are one of the biggest strengths of Annuity Advantage's story. Find out if its the right provider for you.
Pros:
- Top-notch reviews
- Clear-cut quotes and rates
- Strong Leadership
Cons:
- No public information on fees
john christofJimmy founder Ken Nuss and his company have been serving prospective investors since 1999 with some of the best annuities America has to offer. In trying to cover the company as best we can, we went ahead and reviewed what customers are saying about the firm. We also took a look at the products that Jimmy offers to investors and found out that customers can earn anywhere between 1.1 7% and11.4% annually on their annuities depending on the level of risk they’re willing to take on. Those are really good returns that are particularly accessible if you’re willing to expose your money to some risk in the market.
Aside from a strong leader and a strong group of products, Jimmy does a really good job of educating potential clients about how annuities work and how they can fit a broader retirement portfolio.
In this comprehensive review we talk about rates and the different types of products as Jimmy offers many different categories of annuities, and we also discuss some of the most frequently asked questions people have about working with insurance companies through providers like Jimmy to try to supplement your retirement income.
Feel free to take a look at some of the other reviews we’ve done here at Sophisticated Investor and make the best decision for you.
Table of Contents
What is Annuity Advantage?
Annuity Advantage is a company that specializes in selling only annuities and nothing else. One of the things America’s top annuities providers do well is offer investors and prospective clients some form of education is to way the industry works in the way annuities can provide a path forward to retirement for anybody working towards their golden years and recognizing that those years are getting closer and closer.
Annuity Advantage does a great job of this. One way the company puts this on public display is by offering access to two different financial calculators. One that deals with immediate annuities and another that deals with something called Income Rider, a product designed, marketed and sold by Annuity Advantage. We’ll talk about the latter product in a lower section in this review.
Founder and Management Team at Annuity Advantage
Ken Nuss is the Founder and CEO of Annuity Advantage.
Ken Nuss, Founder and CEO, Annuity Advantage
Nuss founded the company in 1999, but he actually started working in finance way back in 1986. That means the company is headed by a leader that has no less than 34 years of experience in the business.
Nuss became a full-time investment advisor at a brokerage firm in 1992 where he first gained exposure to annuities and began to recommend it to clients. Throughout his time with that brokerage firm, he realized that clients were getting more satisfaction out of investing in annuities overall than they were in stocks, bonds or mutual funds. That’s why seven years later he decided to build his own company.
He holds insurance licenses in all 50 states across America meaning that Annuity Advantage can sell to anyone.
Other than listing Nuss as the founder of Annuity Advantage on its website, but we were unable to find any information on any other staff members at the company. Not even LinkedIn contains a list of employees or managers of the company. With that said, we’ll let the rest of this review do the talking as to whether or not you should choose Annuity Advantage for your annuity investing needs or not.
Types of Annuity Investments Offered at Annuity Advantage
Annuity Advantage lists no less than 12 different types of annuities on its website. Let’s go over a few of them.
Immediate Annuities
Immediate annuities allow you to earn an income within 30 days of buying your annuity. It’s also referred to as a single premium immediate annuity.
Fixed Indexed Annuities
Fixed Indexed annuities are a type of deferred annuity that pays out interest based on the performance of an index fund like the S&P 500. The benefit is that you get exposure to the upside of the index, but you don’t take any losses if it goes down.
Traditional Fixed Annuities
A Traditional Fixed annuity might pay out a bonus in the first year, but guarantees a certain minimum for the life of your deal. It’s possible that you can earn more, but only the minimum is guaranteed. This can otherwise be known as a bonus annuity.
A Split Fund Annuity
Split fund annuities allow you to take advantage of tax-deferred growth but can still give you income. It’s really to annuities in one.
Multi-Year Guarantee Annuities
Multi-year guarantee annuities guarantee a specific rate for several years in a row just like the name says. This is good for investors who want certainty but the ability to earn greater interest year-over-year on the upside is limited.
Essentially, other types of annuities mix variability with guarantees and offer different kinds of exposure to the market. The overall goal is the same. Turn your guaranteed money and lower your risk generally speaking.
Rates and Quotes
Multiyear guaranteed annuities at Annuity Advantage pay from 2.6% to 3.6% annually. A traditional fixed annuity pays between 1.17 and 1.6%. A fixed indexed annuity can pay anywhere from 2% to 11.4%, but a large chunk of that growth of course depends on the performance of the market.
To get the rates on an immediate annuity with Annuity Advantage you actually need to fill out a contact form to talk to one of their advisors and get a quote. That’s because a lot of the rates that have to do with an immediate annuity related to how much are willing to invest in how soon you’re willing to invest it as well as how soon you plan to withdraw from it.
Overall the fact that Annuity Advantage can get you a rate as high as 11.4% depending on the annuities product you choose is very competitive in comparison to other providers. Again, in order to get the most out of an annuity you really have to know what your retirement goals are and what your level of risk tolerance is. You can get help deciding all of this by talking to an advisor.
Customer Reviews
Annuity Advantage probably takes the cake when it comes to customer reviews. At least based on one particular website. TrustPilot.com lists 742 reviews on its website and they are all five-star ratings. In any industry across any form of investing on any particular customer review platform, that is simply an amazing number of positive reviews!
Nearly all of the reviews explain that the walk-through process is amazing and that the customer feels very well-informed in dealing with Annuity Advantage. Education and hand-holding is really important in a category like annuities as even most retirees don’t necessarily know that much about the features, advantages and benefits of having an annuity as part of a diverse retirement portfolio.
Unlike most annuities competitors, Annuity Advantage does indeed have a Better Business Bureau profile. However, the profile only lists one review and it’s a complaint that gives the company a one out of five-star rating. Obviously we can’t put too much stock into that because it’s based on one review, but it’s still not a good thing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Annuity Advantage does a great job of providing prospective investors with the right information but if you still want to get some questions answered, reading below might help.
Is Annuity Investing Right for Me?
There’s no doubt that deciding if annuities are right for you is an important decision that affects your retirement. It’s hard to answer that question for you individually but you can start by asking yourself some of these questions:
- When do I hope to retire?
- How old am I going to be when I retire?
- How long do I think I’m going to live?
- What do I want to do during retirement and how much is that going to cost?
- What do I want to leave behind to my loved ones?
- What other investments do I have in my portfolio?
- How much of my wealth can I afford to lose?
- Will I be okay if something happens to my annuities and the market crashes?
What’s the Commission Fee for an Annuity Investment?
While many forms of investing work on a commission basis and people do need to get paid, annuities are different. Annuity investments are managed by insurance companies, not banks or account managers. Instead, insurance companies pay commissions to Annuity Advantage and other providers and those commissions are not forwarded to the customer. The customer simply gets the rate of their return doesn’t have to worry about anything else.
Are Annuities Locked in for Set Amounts of Time?
As mentioned in this review, an annuity from Annuity Advantage can pay up to 11.4% per year depending on the degree of exposure you’re willing to accept with regard to how much of your money is actually in the market. That is to say that risk is always tied to reward. Locking up your money for a long time is certainly a risk because it means you can’t take that money and invest it somewhere else, and you get rewarded accordingly. The longer you leave your money invested the more compound interest you learn. You are certainly annuities you can buy that allow you to earn income right away and you can cash out, but there often surrender fees involved.
What Will Annuities Do for My Income Tax?
Annuities are tax deferred, meaning you can earn interest and compound that interest without having to income tax until you are ready to actually use the money. This is one of the main benefits of investing in an annuity aside from getting the income regularly. That said, annuities are not tax-free. When you do take the money out of your retirement fund, you will have to paying him tax on it.
Should You Invest with Annuity Advantage?
In all of the reviews we’ve researched and all of the products listed on Annuity Advantage’s website, it’s obvious that the company really cares about helping investors succeed. The rates of return extend above what many competitors would offer and the company’s reputation speaks for itself when you look at what customers have to say about Annuity Advantage.
If word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of advertising, it’s obvious that Annuity Advantage has to rank among the top annuities companies in America. We do recommend you do your research, but at the end of the day what the customers have to say speaks for itself.
Apart from that, we do like the way the company explains the different types of annuities available and we also like the look of the website because it facilitates offering investors and potential clients tools they can use to figure out how to annuities serves their retirement goals the best. Ultimately, where the tools might fall short, there are plenty of opportunities to speak to somebody over the phone and try to learn more about what Annuity Advantage has to offer.
- Phone : 1-(800) 239-0356
- URL :
- Global Rating
- Very Good
User Rating
- 1 Reviews
Annuity Advantage has been in business since 1999. Ken Nuss leads the firm and the organization prides itself on educating customers about all forms of annuities.
The customer reviews featured on TrustPilot are one of the biggest strengths of Annuity Advantage's story. Find out if its the right provider for you.
john christof
