Annuity vs. 401(k): What Your Insurance Agent Isn't Telling You

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:00:00 -0500

A woman I’ll call Margaret came to see me in 2019. She was sixty-eight, recently widowed, and she had $280,000 in a 401(k) her late husband had built over twenty-six years at a manufacturing company in Oshkosh. She also had Social Security survivor benefits, a paid-off house, and a level of financial anxiety that was entirely reasonable for someone who had never managed the investments herself.

Three weeks before our meeting, an insurance agent had come to her kitchen table. A friend from church had recommended him. He was polite. He brought a folder. He told Margaret that her 401(k) was “exposed to market risk” and that she could “protect her retirement” by moving the money into a fixed indexed annuity. He showed her a brochure with a chart that went up and never came down. He used the phrase “guaranteed lifetime income” four times in twenty minutes.

Income Annuity on Sunday Evening Review

Annuity vs. 401(k): What Your Insurance Agent Isn't Telling You