FAQs
1. Is ALEX.fyi a Life Insurance Company? No, we are a Digital Life Insurance Agency. We are partnering with Life Insurance companies, selected from the most highly regarded in the industry. If a company or its products don’t pass muster with us, they won’t be offered on our platform.
2. Why do you only focus on Annuities? We are laser-focused on Annuities because they are one of the last remaining options available to make sure that you won’t outlive your income.
3. What kinds of Annuities do you sell? We sell income Annuities. We do not offer variable and other complex annuity products.
4. Will my income checks come from you? No. Any the Annuities that you purchase through ALEX.fyi will be provided, backed and serviced by one or more of our curated Life Insurance Partners.
5. Do you offer financial planning or tax services? No, we do not. For comprehensive portfolio management, we recommend that you consult a financial advisor, a tax attorney or both.
6. Are Annuities subject to any government guarantees? There are state guaranty associations that provide some safety net coverage. The level of that coverage varies on a state by state basis. To learn more, visit NOLHGA. Annuities are not guaranteed by the FDIC or other Federal agencies.
7. What commission does ALEX.fyi receive when I purchase from you? All prices provided to you already incorporate commission. We do not charge any additional fees for the purchase of an annuity. We deliberately focus on products that have much lower embedded commissions and we deal directly with our insurance partners. We typically earn less than 4% commission and we are committed to disclosing our economics. By contrast, complex annuities can have total distribution costs as high as 8-12%, comprised of agent commissions, special sales incentives, and fees to other middlemen that stand between the consumer and the Life Insurance Company. Importantly, these commissions and fees are rarely disclosed to consumers.
8. How much of my nest egg should I devote to purchasing an annuity? The long answer is this: we recommend that you carefully consider all of your predictable expenses in retirement and compare them against your sources of guaranteed income, such as Social Security and a defined benefit pension. You might want to consider an annuity to fill in the gap. The short answer is less than you might think. Our general view at ALEX.fyi is that you should allocate less than a third of your retirement assets to an income annuity purchase.
