Earning guaranteed income with an annuity can be a great way to bolster your retirement plan. Before you buy, you need to decide whether a qualified or non-qualified annuity is best suited to your needs.
What Is an Annuity?
The purpose of an annuity is to provide guaranteed income in retirement. They can strengthen your financial plan by giving you confidence that you won’t outlive your retirement savings.
Technically, an annuity is an insurance contract that supplies you with guaranteed income, starting either immediately or at a time in the future. You can purchase an annuity with just one payment or a series of payments, known as premiums.
Handing over money now for the prospect of small, but steady income payments is a big ask for many people, especially those who want to leave the lion’s share of their savings to their families.
While this is an understandable hesitation, it’s worth considering that annuities can be an effective component of a comprehensive financial plan. Moreover, some annuities do pay death benefits to beneficiaries.
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What Is a Non-Qualified Annuity?
Whether or not an annuity is non-qualified has little to do with how the annuity pays out income. Instead, it refers to where you get the money to purchase the annuity contract and how the payments are taxed.
Non-qualified annuities are purchased with after-tax dollars. That’s money on which you’ve already paid taxes.
Contrast this with a qualified annuity, which is paid for with pre-tax dollars. Recall that you can contribute to a traditional individual retirement account (IRA) with pre-tax funds.
How Does a Non-Qualified Annuity Work?
A non-qualified annuity is funded with money that’s already been taxed. That confers certain advantages: There are no contribution limits, and income payments from the principal are free of income tax. Only the funds derived from income growth in the annuity are taxed.
Contrast this with a qualified annuity, which is funded with pre-tax dollars. All income payments—from both principal and investment growth—are taxed as ordinary income. In addition, qualified annuities have contribution limits and some additional restrictions.
Features of a Non-Qualified Annuity
- Federal income tax is paid on the earnings from a non-qualified annuity. The principal and premiums aren’t taxed.
- A non-qualified annuity isn’t tied to an employer-sponsored retirement account, such as a 401(k) or IRA. Among the vehicles for buying a non-qualified annuity are mutual funds, savings accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs).
- The buyer of a non-qualified annuity doesn’t need to have earned income, whereas the buyer of a qualified annuity does. Earned income is all work-related taxable income, such as salary and tips.
- The IRS doesn’t limit annual contributions to a non-qualified annuity, although the provider of the annuity might set its own limits. The IRS caps annual contributions to qualified annuities.
- Under federal rules, the owner of a non-qualified annuity never needs to take required minimum distributions (RMDs). Once withdrawals begin, the owner initially gets interest or earnings. After that, the owner receives the money deposited upfront—the principal—as well as the premiums they paid. By contrast, most owners of qualified annuities must start RMDs by age 72.
- Early withdrawals from a non-qualified annuity normally take less of a tax hit than early withdrawals from a qualified annuity do. Withdrawals from a qualified annuity that are made before age 59½ usually face a 10% tax penalty, which might apply to the entire sum. But with an early withdrawal from a non-qualified annuity, only earnings and interest are subject to a 10% tax penalty.
“You should always consult your tax advisor to make sure you are aware of any adverse tax consequences either during the purchase of an annuity or when you need to make a withdrawal,” said investment advisor Jeff Bush, a partner at Lift Financial in South Jordan, Utah.
Should You Buy A Non-Qualified Annuity?
A non-qualified annuity isn’t necessarily better than a qualified annuity. However, your financial situation may dictate whether one stands above the other.
What Are The Tax Consequences?
Contributions to a non-qualified annuity have already been taxed, while contributions to a qualified annuity have not been taxed.
Meanwhile, only the earnings—not the principal and premiums—from a non-qualified annuity are taxed when withdrawals start, but all the money taken out of a qualified annuity is taxed.
Which Type of Annuity Can You Purchase?
Qualified annuities usually are purchased in conjunction with an employer-sponsored retirement plan, while non-qualified annuities aren’t connected to workplace benefits.
If you don’t have access to a workplace retirement plan, your only option very well could be a non-qualified annuity.
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How Popular Are Annuities?
In 2021, U.S. sales of fixed and variable annuities reached $233 billion, representing the highest yearly total since 2008 and up 12.3% from 2020, according to the Insured Retirement Institute.
Qualified annuities attracted more money in 2021 ($131 billion) than non-qualified annuities ($102 billion).
| Non-qualified annuity sales in 2021 | Qualified annuity sales in 2021 |
|---|---|
|
Fixed annuity sales: $55 billion
|
Fixed annuity sales: $59 billion
|
|
Variable annuity sales: $47 billion
|
Variable annuity sales: $72 billion
|
|
Total sales of non-qualified fixed and variable annuities: $102 billion
|
Total sales of qualified fixed and variable annuities: $131 billion
|
Sales in 2022 are building off the momentum from the year.
In the second quarter of 2022, total annuity sales rose 22% to $77.5 billion, according to preliminary data from LIMRA, an insurance industry trade group. That marked the highest quarterly sales number since LIMRA began tracking annuity sales. The total in the second quarter of 2022 bested the previous record, set in the fourth quarter of 2008, by nearly $9 billion.
LIMRA attributes the sales spike to volatility in the stock market and still-rising interest rates. The organization predicts annuity sales will climb from a range of $267 billion to $288 billion in 2022 to a range of $294 to $314 in 2024. LIMRA says the projected increase aligns with the aging of the U.S. population, as most annuity sales happen around the traditional retirement age of 65.
Do You Need an Annuity?
In some cases, buying either a non-qualified annuity or qualified annuity might be a smart move. Your best bet is to visit with a fee-only financial advisor before selecting an annuity.
“In today’s volatile bond market, annuities have been used as a safe alternative to bonds,” Bush said. “If you are looking for the security of knowing your future income in retirement is secure, then annuities may get the job done for you.”
Younger investors need to maximize the growth of their portfolio, making stocks and other investments a better choice than an annuity. Additionally, if you need to take cash out of a non-qualified or qualified annuity before age 59½, you face tax penalties.
“Annuities, like any other savings or investment vehicle, should be assessed on a personal basis, as they will be right for some people and not for others,” said Aaron Freedman, a MassMutual financial advisor in Meridian, Idaho.
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