THE CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->

All the experts who shouted that it was stupid to put IRA funds into a variable annuity must now be re-evaluating their recommendations. Their solution was to simply invest in no-load funds or index funds, and let the stock market do its thing over the long haul.

The reasoning that it was totally wrong to 'put a tax shelter inside a tax shelter' ignored one simple truth: GUARANTEES ARE WORTH SOMETHING!

Woe to those who trusted this advice and are now wondering what to do about their retirement income.

Now is the time for those who ignored the 'expert' advice and took advantage of the 'costly' guarantees offered by annuity companies are congratulating themselves for being so stupid as to listen to that greedy planner who recommended using an annuity alternative for that IRA or 401k plan.

In the meantime, those with the index funds have seen their accounts diminish by 40% or more. How long will they have to wait to retire now? How long before their account values return to the balance they saw at their 2008 peak?