Deferred Income Annuities
You buy the income now and it starts years later, on a date you pick. Bought inside a qualified account under the Treasury rules, the same contract is called a QLAC.
Read this first
This is a fixed annuity. It is not a variable annuity, not a registered index-linked or “buffer” annuity, and not a security. We do not offer securities.
Guarantees are backed by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. They are not insured by the FDIC or any federal agency.
Income is generally irrevocable once elected, and the premium is not available as a lump sum during the deferral period unless the contract provides for it.
A qualifying longevity annuity contract must satisfy Treasury requirements on premium limits, the latest start date and permitted features. Whether a contract qualifies, and the tax effect for you, is a question for your tax adviser. Nothing here is tax advice.
The problem it solves
Planning for a thirty-year retirement is guesswork; planning for the last ten years of it is harder still, and it is where the risk actually concentrates. Most people manage that by under-spending early, which is an expensive way to insure against something an insurance company will insure directly.
A deferred income annuity puts a known payment in place starting at, say, eighty. Once that is guaranteed, the money you hold for your sixties and seventies has a defined job and a defined end, which makes the rest of the plan dramatically simpler.
Three things happen, in this order
You pay a premium now and name a start date
Often ten to twenty years out. The longer the deferral, the more income each dollar of premium buys, because the insurer holds it longer and fewer buyers reach the start date.
Nothing happens during the deferral
There is no account you watch and, on most contracts, no access to the premium. You are buying a future payment, not an account balance.
Income begins on the date and continues as the contract says
For life, or for life with a refund or period certain if you chose that. The same payout shapes as an immediate annuity apply.
Who this suits, and who it does not
The second list matters more than the first. An agent who only writes the first one is selling, not advising.
Worth considering if…
- You want to solve the last decade of retirement now, so the rest of the plan has a defined horizon instead of an open-ended one.
- You have qualified money and want to consider a QLAC, which under Treasury rules can defer required minimum distributions on the amount used, within limits.
- You will not need this particular money in the meantime and can genuinely treat it as committed.
Probably not for you if…
- You may need liquidity. The deferral period usually offers none at all, which makes this less flexible than almost anything else you could buy.
- You want to see growth. There is no account value to watch, and for a long deferral you will be waiting many years with nothing visibly happening.
- You have not checked the QLAC rules against your own situation. The premium limits, the latest permitted start date and the permitted features are specific, and getting it wrong undoes the tax treatment you bought it for.
Who we are appointed with
We are independent and appointed with the annuity companies below. Which of them we would approach for you depends on the product, your age, your state and what the contract has to do — rates, caps and payout amounts move constantly and differ sharply between companies, which is the practical reason for working with someone who can approach more than one. They are quoted for you directly rather than published here, where they would be stale within days.
- Allianz Life
- American Equity
- American National
- Americo
- Ameritas
- ASPIDA
- Athene
- Atlantic Coast Life
- AuguStar Financial
- Brighthouse Financial
- CL Life and Annuity
- Clear Spring Life and Annuity
- Columbus Life
- Corebridge Financial
- Delaware Life
- ELCO Mutual Life & Annuity
- EquiTrust Life
- F&G Annuities
- Fidelity Security Life
- Global Atlantic (Forethought Life)
- Guaranty Income Life (GILICO)
- Ibexis
- Knighthead Life
- Lafayette Life
- Liberty Bankers Life
- Lincoln Financial Group
- MassMutual Ascend
- Midland National
- Mutual of Omaha (United of Omaha)
- Nassau (Phoenix Life)
- National Integrity Life
- National Life Group (Life Insurance Company of the Southwest)
- National Western Life
- Nationwide
- New York Life
- North American Company for Life and Health
- Oceanview
- Oxford Life
- Pacific Life
- Penn Mutual
- Principal
- Protective Life
- Prudential
- Puritan Life
- Reliance Standard
- Revol One Financial
- Royal Neighbors of America
- S.USA Life / SBLI USA
- Sagicor
- Securian Financial (Minnesota Life)
- Sentinel Security Life
- SILAC
- Symetra
- Talcott Financial Group
- The Standard
- Upstream Life
Being appointed with a company does not mean that company offers every product on this page, and we do not represent every insurer. Which company suits you depends on the product, your age, your state and your health history. We publish no benefit, rate or feature for any company here until we can cite it to that company's own current material.
Servicing only — not available for new business
We can help with an existing contract from these companies — reviewing it, taking income from it, or understanding what you already own. We are not appointed to write new business with them, so if a new contract is what you need, it would be placed with one of the companies above.
- Genworth
- Security Benefit
- Transamerica
- Venerable (formerly Voya annuities)
Questions people actually ask
What exactly is a QLAC?
A qualifying longevity annuity contract is a deferred income annuity bought inside a traditional IRA or a qualified plan that satisfies Treasury requirements on the premium amount, the latest income start date and which features it may include. Meeting them lets the amount used be excluded from the balance that determines required minimum distributions, deferring RMDs on that portion. Whether a contract qualifies, and what it means for your taxes, is a question for your tax adviser.
What if I die before the income starts?
That depends entirely on what you chose. A pure life-deferred contract with no death benefit pays nothing, which is why it buys the most income. Contracts with a return of premium or a cash refund pay your beneficiaries, and cost you income in exchange. This is the single most important election in the contract and it is made at purchase.
Can I change the start date?
Many contracts allow the income start date to be moved within a window, sometimes earlier and sometimes later, with the payment adjusted accordingly. It is a common and useful feature, and it is not universal. Ask specifically how much flexibility a given contract gives before you choose between two that otherwise look alike.
How is this different from a lifetime income rider?
A deferred income annuity is the contract itself — you buy income and there is no account value to speak of. A lifetime income rider sits on top of a deferred annuity you already own, guarantees withdrawals for life, and lets you keep the account value and its liquidity, for a charge. The rider costs more for the same guaranteed income; the flexibility is what you are paying for.
Ask for a quote on Deferred Income Annuities and QLACs
Tell us how to reach you and which state you are in. A licensed agent calls back, usually the same business day, and will tell you plainly if a fully underwritten policy would serve you better.
The other three
Same family, different jobs. Match the product to how long the need lasts.
Fixed Annuities
A contract that credits a stated interest rate for a stated period. A multi-year guaranteed annuity locks the rate for the whole term; a declared-rate contract resets periodically above a contractual minimum.
Worth a look if you have money you will not touch for a set number of years and want the rate in writing.
Fixed Indexed Annuities
A fixed annuity whose interest credit is calculated from the movement of a market index, limited by a cap, participation rate or spread, and floored so that a falling index credits zero rather than a loss.
Worth a look if you want more than a fixed rate but will not risk principal to market movement.
Immediate Annuities
You hand over a single premium and income starts almost straight away, for life or for a chosen period. The simplest annuity there is, and the one with the least to go wrong.
Worth a look if you want a guaranteed income floor under your essential expenses for life.
Lifetime Income Riders (GLWB)
An optional rider that guarantees a withdrawal amount for life even if the account runs to zero, while you keep ownership of the account. It runs on a second number that is not your money.
Worth a look if you want lifetime income but will not give up access to the principal.
Enhanced Income Riders (Income Doublers)
An optional rider that increases your guaranteed withdrawal, often doubling it, for a limited period if you cannot perform activities of daily living or are confined to a qualifying facility. It is often mistaken for long-term care insurance. It is not.
Worth understanding before anyone sells it to you as care coverage, because it is not.