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Independent Review of the Fidelity & Guaranty Life FG Guarantee Platinum 7 MYGA

What will we be going over in this annuity review?

In this review of the Fidelity & Guaranty Life FG Guarantee Platinum 7 MYGA annuity, we will be discussing the following details:
  • Annuity typefidelity fg guarantee platinum 3
  • How the annuity works
  • Pros and cons
  • Charges and fees to look out for
  • Who may be a good fit for this annuity
  • Who might not want to buy this annuity

Annuities can be complex. That’s where having an Annuity Investigator who loves math comes in. We make the complex, simple.

The purchase of an annuity can be a big decision. After all, these financial vehicles – if they are purchased properly – can help to ensure that you will have an income for the rest of your life, no matter how long you need it. Today, many people are living much longer than in the past, so knowing that you have ongoing income can be a big relief. But even though annuities can offer a long list of benefits, there can also be some pitfalls in the products themselves, as well as the way they are sold. Annuities are confusing products, so unless you really read the “fine print”, an annuity may not perform the way that you expected it to. On top of that, these products can also sometimes be mis-sold by insurance and financial advisors. This doesn’t necessarily happen on purpose, but because advisors who don’t have a focus on annuities may not fully understand them either. This is where Annuity Gator comes in.

Annuity and Retirement Income Planning Information You Can Trust

If this is your first visit to our website, please allow us to personally welcome you here to Annuity Gator. We are a team of experienced annuity professionals who focus on offering comprehensive and unbiased annuity reviews online. We’ve been doing this for quite a long time now – far longer than our competitors. And because of this, we have come to be known as a highly trusted source of annuity information. Over the past several years or so, however, many “copycat” websites have started to spring up on the Internet, mimicking what we do. While that can be somewhat confusing for consumers, we take it as “imitation being the highest form of flattery.” As you’ve spent time online researching annuity information, you may have stumbled across some highly conflicting details about these products. This really isn’t all that surprising, though, because there are lots and lots of different annuities out there today, and just about anyone and everyone has thoughts about whether they are good, bad, or otherwise. The reality is, however, that none of that matters – as long as you know whether or not a particular annuity is or isn’t right for YOU. If you want to know more about the Fidelity and Guaranty FG Guarantee Platinum 7 MYGA annuity, then you are definitely in the right place. In fact, dare we say that our website is the only place that you’ll be able to secure all of the details you need, which includes the good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly. This, however, is the only way to make a good, solid decision about whether or not to purchase it. In order to be perfectly clear here, we want to state for the record that we at Annuity Gator feel that annuities can be good products for some people – as long as they fit in with your overall financial needs and goals. So, if you’re ready to start the review, let’s get started!

The Fidelity & Guaranty FG Guarantee Platinum 7 MYGA Annuity at a Glance

Product NameNY Eagle Platinum 5
IssuerAmerican Equity of New York
Type of ProductSingle Premium MYGA (Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity)
A.M. Best RatingA- (Excellent)
Phone Number(866) 233-6660
Websitehttps://eagle-lifeco.com/

Opening Thoughts on the Fidelity & Guaranty FG Guarantee Platinum 7 MYGA Annuity

Fidelity & Guaranty Life (F&G) has been in the business of offering life insurance and annuities for more than six decades. The company offers its products through the growing independent agent market. F&G’s parent company, USF&G, launched Fidelity and Guaranty Life Insurance Company in 1959, with a mission of providing life coverage and annuities through the property and casualty insurance market. In 2001, a UK-based company, Old Mutual, acquired Fidelity & Guarantee Life Insurance Company in order to expand into the U.S. market. Since that time, F&G has added to its annuity product line, and today offers fixed and fixed indexed products. Currently, F&G has approximately 700,000 policyholders. The company is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, and as a publicly-traded company, its stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol FG. The need for fixed/MYGA annuities – which are always backed by life insurance carriers – has been steadily growing over the past few years as more and more of today’s workers are retiring without having the stability of a traditional “defined benefit” pension for future income. By choosing the lifetime income stream on such an annuity, you can essentially “replace” a defined benefit pension plan. If you have a “defined contribution” retirement plan, such as a 401(K), then upon retirement, you will need to have an idea of what you want to do with the money you’ve saved in it – as well as a way to convert those dollars over into a stable and reliable income stream (ideally that will last for the remainder of your life – regardless of how long that may be). One possibility would be a fixed or MYGA annuity. This is because these financial vehicles can offer you a set return and safety of your principal (regardless of what happens in the market), along with a lifetime income that you can count on going forward. For more information on how to compare annuities in order to determine which one may be the best for you and your financial circumstances, click here to obtain our free annuity report.

Before we get into the gritty details, here are some necessary legal disclosures…

This is an independent annuity product review. It is not a recommendation to purchase or to sell an annuity. Fidelity & Guaranty Life has not endorsed this review in any way, nor do we receive any type of compensation for providing this review. This annuity review is meant solely to be an independent review at the request of our readers so that they may see our perspective when breaking down the positives and the negatives of this particular annuity. Before purchasing any type of insurance and/or investment product, it is important that you do your own due diligence, and that you consult a properly licensed professional if you should have any specific questions that relate to your individual situation. All of the names, marks, and materials that were used for this annuity review are the property of their respective owners.

How F&G Life Describes the FG Guarantee Platinum 7 Annuity

On its website, F&G Life describes the FG Guarantee Platinum 7 annuity as a multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) that allows you to grow your retirement savings for a fixed period of time – in this case, seven years – at a fixed rate, protected from market and interest rate fluctuations. At the end of each seven-year period, you will have the option to withdraw any amount of funds within 30 days. Or, you may instead decide to withdraw the full value of the annuity, penalty-free. Alternatively, if you decide to renew the contract for another seven-year time period, a new rate of interest will be fixed. As with other annuities, the growth that takes place in the account is tax-deferred. So, there are no taxes due on the gain until the time of withdrawal. You can also receive a guaranteed income for life if you opt to annuitize the contract (i.e., convert the annuity contract into an income stream). Although the annuity doesn’t have to ever be converted to income, knowing that you have the option to do so could allow you to retire earlier than originally anticipated, or to fill in an income “gap” that you may have between your other sources of income and your expenses in retirement. To take a more in-depth look at the FG Guarantee Platinum 7 annuity, you can check out the product brochure here. You can also check out the F&G Life FG Guarantee Platinum Series annuity product page on the company’s website here.

How an Insurance or Financial Advisor Might “Pitch” this Annuity

If you are approaching retirement, you may be torn between going with financial vehicles that have more risk in order to increase your opportunity for growth, and going with something “safe” so that you don’t lose any of your hard-earned retirement funds. This is particularly the case in today’s unsettled stock market and low-interest-rate environment. Because many pre-retirees today are concerned about not losing what they’ve already saved, having certain guarantees can be comforting – so if you have been presented this annuity by an insurance or financial advisor, it is likely that they keyed in on the safety features of this product, along with the ability to earn a higher return if/or when rates rise in the near future. So, in many ways, this annuity can allow you to potentially increase the returns on your “safe money.” But there are also some tradeoffs that you need to be mindful of. For example, even though you can earn more than the guaranteed rate on this annuity, the reality is that you still may not be able to beat, or even meet, the rate of inflation. With the FG Platinum Guarantee 7 annuity from Fidelity & Guaranty, you would be locked-in to your initial rate for seven full years. Therefore, if another, better opportunity came along, you would either have to bypass it, or alternatively, take the hit on the surrender charge in order to get all of your money out.

Fees Associated with the FG Guarantee Platinum Annuity

Speaking of fees…the FG Guarantee Platinum 7 annuity from Fidelity & Guaranty has some! These can come in the form of a surrender charge if you withdraw more than 10% of the contract’s value during the surrender period (which, remember, will reset if you opt to renew future 7-year rate guarantee periods). The surrender charge on the Fidelity & Guaranty FG Guarantee Platinum 7 MYGA annuity starts out at 9% in the first year. It will then decrease annually over a period of ten years. In addition to incurring a surrender charge – as well as tax on any of the gain that you withdraw – if you are under age 59 ½ when you make such a withdrawal, you could also find yourself paying the IRS an additional “early withdrawal” penalty. With that in mind, you really should consider this – or any – annuity as more of a long-term financial endeavor and know that the funds you put into it could very well be locked up for a set period of time before you can access them penalty-free.

The Annuity Gator’s End Take on the Fidelity & Guaranty FG Guarantee Platinum 7 MYGA Annuity

Where this annuity works best: Just like all products and services, there can be some pros and cons, meaning that the item or service may work quite well for some, and not-so-well for others. If you’re still considering the FG Guarantee Platinum 7 annuity, it could work well for you if you are seeking the following benefits:
  •  Guaranteed growth (at least for the first 7 years, as well as any guarantee period that you may select after that)
  •  Protection of principal
  •  Lifetime income in retirement
Where it works the worst: On the other hand, this particular annuity may not be right for you if:
  •  You want the opportunity to earn an even higher rate of return in order to keep a better pace with future inflation.
  •  You want to access more than just 10% of the contract’s value during the surrender period(s).
  •  You do not plan to use the lifetime income feature.

In Summary

When you’re considering how to best position your savings for the future, there are a number of criteria that you should ideally take into account. For instance, with annuities, you’ll need to make sure that the product allows you the opportunity to earn a nice return (at least enough to meet or beat inflation), while also keeping your money safe. In addition to that, if you’re seeking a future income stream – including one that you cannot outlive, regardless of how long that may be – then you also need to know how the annuity will pay out when you need to convert the funds into ongoing income. So, if you are still considering a purchase of the Fidelity & Guaranty FG Guarantee Platinum 7 MYGA annuity, you can be assured that your money will be safe, no matter what goes on with the stock market. You can also count on an ongoing income stream down the road, alleviating the worry about running out of money before “running out of time.” However, while this annuity option can certainly provide you with some nice benefits, the reality is that this particular product could still fall somewhat short – and quite honestly, there may very well be a better alternative out there for you. This is even more true if you are looking for a way to keep your money safe, while still having the opportunity to earn a higher rate of return. The only way to truly get an idea of how this (or any) annuity may perform – based on your specific situation – is to have it tested. We can do this for you by running the numbers through our annuity calculator, and we can then provide you with a spreadsheet of the results. In order to receive this information, just simply contact us through our secure online form here and let us know.

Have Any Additional Questions? Are There Any Other Annuities You’d Like to Have Reviewed?

While we know that this annuity review ran a bit on the long side, we feel that providing you with “too much” information is better than not giving you enough. That being said, we appreciate you sticking with us here to the end. We also realize that, because everyone’s situation is different, there may have been some questions that went unanswered in this review. If this is the case and you still have any additional questions or concerns regarding the FG Guarantee Platinum 7 annuity, please feel free to reach out to us here. In addition, if you found this annuity review to be helpful, then please forward it on to anyone else that you think may benefit from it, as there is a lot of misconception out there about annuities and how they work. Is there any other annuity you would like to see reviewed? If so, we will get right on it! There is literally a myriad of annuities that are available in the marketplace today. So, if you don’t currently see an annuity in our online database in AnnuityGator.com that you are considering, then just let us know the name of that annuity (or the names, if there is more than just one), and our team of annuity pros will get to work on it ASAP. Best, The Annuity Gator P.S. If you would like to read more of our Fidelity & Guaranty annuity reviews here are some links to check out: Independent Review of the Fidelity & Guaranty Life FG Guarantee Platinum 7 MYGA      

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