[Slings and Arrows]

I appreciate the advice. I’ll add annuities to my list of things to research.

[TheArizona]

A wise decision. If you are in AZ I would be happy to help you with that although I am primarily a life & health insurance agent. (If Obama gets his way, I will probably only be a life agent only). I specialize in senior stuff mostly Medicare Supplement, Final Expense, and Critical Illness insurance. But I do it all.

The important thing is to pick the right company. I would stay away from the following.

Aviva Not on stable ground
New York Life
The Hartford
Genworth
The Prudential
Principal Financial
Lincoln National
Allstate

All but Aviva have taken or were considering accepting TARP funds. Aviva has some shadey practices and they had to stop issuing annuities temporarily a while back because they had depleted assets below the minimum levels.

Also, don't use A.M. Best as a basis for ratings. the street dot com. They are the only truly unbiased rater out there. A.M. had listed AIG as an A rated company before they fell apart. The street had them as a C+. Google “the street.com ratings screener.”

TheArizona