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A Guide To Selling An Annuity
Some people opt to buy annuities as investment funds whilst others have no choice but to buy them. In some countries, for example, certain types of pension funds dictate that you use your funds to buy annuities when you retire as the source of your retirement income. Or, you may choose to take the annuity route in a compensation case to get a quick structured settlement.
In many circumstances owning an annuity can be a useful source of regular income. Once you buy one of these investment products you are guaranteed either a fixed or variable return/income at regular times for the terms of the annuity.
But, sometimes our circumstances change and we would rather have a one-off lump sum than an investment that pays out a smaller regular income. You could, for example, have accepted a structured settlement based on one or more annuities when you won an injury compensation case. At the time the regular income may have looked good to you but now you'd rather have a bigger cash sum.
In this instance many people will look into selling their annuity to a third party. Here, you are given a cash lump sum for your annuity. The product is then no longer yours and any future payments that are made under its terms will go to the person or company that purchased it from you.
You do not have to sell all of an annuity at once if you do not want to. Many people prefer to sell part of their investment here and to keep part of it. This way they get a lump sum and keep the regular income that the annuity gives them.
There are various ways to sell annuities. You can, for example, approach an annuity buyer direct or you can use an annuity broker. A broker is often the preferred selling route taken by many people especially if the broker deals on a market wide basis as they can often hook you up with more potential buyers which could see your returns rise.
Do be aware that you will not get your 'ticket' value when you sell your annuity. The person/company that buys it from you will want to make their own profits here. So, you should expect to sell your annuity for less than it is actually worth.
For this reason it is always a good thing to shop around to see the offers that are made for your annuity. This way you will hopefully be paid more for it than if you simply sell to the first buyer you come across.
It is also important to make sure that selling your annuity is really worth while for you financially. Most people selling this kind of investment product will do so on the basis that an immediate cash lump sum is worth more to them than the regular income that the annuity will give them. But you should be certain here before you consider selling.
Bear in mind as well that not all annuities can be sold. You will, therefore, need to take advice on the situation with your own annuities to see if you can sell part or all of them in the first place.
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