What happens after you answer
Six questions on the site, one conversation with a licensed agent, an illustration on paper. Here's each part in more detail, including what it costs (nothing) and what happens if it isn't a fit.
Answer six questions
About a minute. No account numbers, no login, nothing moves.
- Your age range and roughly how much you've saved
- Where it's held today: a 401(k), an IRA, a brokerage account, cash
- What worries you most and when you plan to draw on it
- A ZIP code, so we can match you with an agent licensed in your state
A licensed agent reaches out
Usually by text first, to find a time. Then a call of about thirty minutes.
- Licensed in your state and appointed with multiple carriers
- They see the amount you asked to shield and the answers behind it
- You can stop contact at any point by replying STOP
An illustration, then your decision
The agent runs one or two carrier illustrations against your numbers and walks you through them line by line.
- The cap or participation rate, and the floor
- The surrender schedule and the free-withdrawal allowance
- Any income or death-benefit rider, and its fee
- How a transfer from a 401(k) or IRA would work without tax
What the conversation covers
The question the agent is trying to answer: how much of your savings needs a floor, how much should keep growing in the market, and what income you'll need from it and when.
- How much you have, and how much of it you could not stand to lose
- When you'll start drawing on it, and how much a year
- What's already guaranteed: Social Security, a pension, an existing annuity
- Your time horizon against the contract's surrender period
- Which carriers and products are open to you, and their financial-strength ratings
Worth having to hand
- A recent statement for the account you're thinking about
- A rough idea of the monthly income you'll want in retirement
- Your questions. Especially the skeptical ones.
None of it is required. The agent can work from your answers alone.
What you walk away with
- An illustration, on paper, with the cap, floor, fees, and surrender schedule
- A split: what to shield, what to leave invested
- A clear read on whether a lifetime-income option makes sense for you
- A clear next step, or a clear “stay where you are”
If it isn't a fit
Indexed contracts are wrong for money you'll need in the next few years, and for anyone who can ride out a downturn without drawing on their savings. If that's you, the agent will say so and nothing else happens. You can also stop at any stage by replying STOP to a text or telling the agent directly.
Nothing, at any point
You never pay us. If you decide to move money into a contract and the carrier issues it, the carrier pays the agent or their agency a commission. It's built into the contract's pricing, which is one reason surrender periods exist, and it isn't deducted from your deposit as a separate charge.
We only do well when a contract is still in place years later. Placing someone in the wrong product, or a bigger one than they need, is how this business loses people, so the recommendation is built to hold up over the surrender period, not just on the call.
See how much you could shield
Six questions. Sixty seconds. No cost, no obligation.