Insured Annuities

Annuities are one of the simplest investment vehicles one could acquire.

Simply put, when you establish an annuity ¹, you are purchasing an income. Examples of annuities are, Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, or your retirement pension from your former place of employment.

Non-Registered Annuities can help greatly in reducing tax and increasing retirement income.

An annuity is essentially a mortgage in reverse. You will transfer a specified amount of money to an insurance company and in exchange they may pay you a specific amount of money (typically either monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) every year for the rest of your life depending on the type and term purchased. This payment represents both a principal portion of your capital which is totally tax free and a prescribed interest portion which will remain the same each and every year and will be the amount you will include in your income.

Because the bulk of the payment is principal, your taxable income will be reduced. However depending on the Annuity type, payments may stop at death and no capital will be passed on to your heirs. Life insurance is commonly used to replace this capital upon death. Even with the added expense of the life insurance premium, this strategy can significantly increase your after-tax income and guarantee it for life while at the same time, preserve capital for your heirs.

How much annual income could you be losing if you are an investor who is rolling over 1-year GICs, year after year, waiting for the rates to increase? The amount of additional annual income that you could have is significant!.

For those who are not concerned with capital preservation to their heirs, you can simply purchase an annuity. Depending on the type and term purchased, it can greatly increase your annual after tax income for life.

Advantages of Insured Annuities over Traditional Interest-Bearing Investments:

Increased After-Tax Income

The insured annuity will give a significant increase in after-tax income compared to traditional interest bearing investments such as GICs or Government of Canada Bonds.

Lower Taxable Income

Taxable income is lowered significantly as most of the annuity income is a tax-free return of principal. The annuity can be established on a prescribed taxation basis which spreads out the income portion of the annuity over the lifetime of the annuitant. The T4A that the annuitant receives each year will be the same for their lifetime.

Possible Reduction in Old Age Security (OAS) Clawback

As mentioned above, the majority of the payment received from a non-registered Prescribed Annuity is a tax free return of principal. This will lower your annual taxable income each year and if you are experiencing clawback on your OAS payments, this can reduce (or possibly eliminate) this clawback.

No more re-investment risk

With an insured annuity, you don’t have to worry anymore about how long to lock your money in with a GIC or a bond. Or better yet, no more rolling over those 1-year GICs each year waiting for the interest rate to go up.

Fully guaranteed income

Annuity income is guaranteed 100% up to $2,000 per month of income. This is insured by Assuris which is the equivalent to the bank’s CDIC coverage. You can find out more about this at their website: Assuris.

Lifetime guarantee

No matter how long the annuitant(s) live, the income will pay them for their lifetime regardless of how long that is. If desired, the annuity can be structured to have a minimum guarantee payment period in order to recoup some or all of the principal regardless of when the annuitant(s) die.

Creditor proof

Financial products with insurance companies may be protected from creditors, provided that the investment is made before any creditor issues are apparent and the decision is a sound investment decision, then the creditor protection applies. As long as you were solvent at the time of establishing the plan, the funds are protected from creditors.

No probate, legal or other administration costs

At death, as long as there is a named beneficiary on the plan, these funds will pass directly to the named beneficiary without forming any part of the estate. This will then bypass all probate, legal, trustee, and any other administration costs associated with winding up an estate.

Prompt Payment to Named Beneficiary(s)

When there is a named beneficiary on an insurance policy, payments are paid directly to them without having to wait for the estate to be settled. This gives the beneficiary(s) the funds immediately so that they can use them as they see fit. These funds will be paid usually within 10 business days of the proper claim forms being submitted. With traditional bank-held GICs, beneficiary(s) of an estate normally have to wait for the will to be probated and the estate to be settled before receiving the funds. This can often take more than a year.

Pension Tax Credit

If you’re over 65 and you don’t have any other qualifying income vehicles, annuities qualify for the pension tax credit which means that your first $2,000 of income is tax free.

¹Investopedia