(March 7, 2020 at 12:24 pm)Brian37 Wrote: I have annuities, and someone just told me that if I have "fixed annuities" I should be fine no matter what the market does. But, they also said if I have "indexed" or "variable" annuities, then I am more at risk. I honestly do not know what I have, and am going to call my bank on Monday to find out.Too general. Your step one is correct. First, find out what you DO have. Then the games may commence.
I can say though in laypersons observations, in my entire life my late mother saved throughout her life, through the slowdown in the 70s, the one day crash in the 80s, the dot com bubble in the 90s and Bush's great recession in the 2000s. I want to be able to live off of what she left me until I am eligible for social security so I can stretch it out, or I should say, I am trying to budget to stretch it out.
I can say this, I will never do something stupid, in any case, like use bullshit casino websites like E-Fraud, which is nothing more than a casino. I don't know much about finance, but I do know most of Wall Street investors are already multi millionaires or billionaires. I also know, that a portfolio of anything is supposed to be "diversified" so in case one aspect of it goes down in value, the other investments can mitigate a downturn.
Point is, when I call the bank on Monday, I just want to know they aren't going to snow me just to protect their stock market numbers just to keep me as a customer.
I am not rich, with what my mother gave me, I do have to stick to a budget each month so I can stay retired.
Outside of that, the general wisdom is a 50/50 split between fixed and variable. This, of course, is modulated by one's personal circumstance and the nature and age of the annuities you do have, their size and your ability to further invest, and indeed the nature and age of yourself and your post retirement expectations. Among a whole ton of other variables.
Frankly, nobody is going to wheel out advice on what you should do without better information.
For example. If they are old annuities and fixed, then you are probably OK. If relatively new and fixed you are toast. And so on. Too many variables, not enough data.
By the way, I am not asking that you reveal all of your finances. I am pointing out that there is insufficient data to call it. You know this, since you are intending to find out. If and when you do, this will add data to the equation.
Bear in mind that I am not criticising you. Working this stuff out is not the easiest deal in the world. It is tricksy magic quite often.