Episode 119: $7,700 to $16,500/Year: The Annuity That Pays You More Just for Waiting

What if I told you there’s a way for your retirement check to get bigger just by getting older? I don’t mean birthday cards or senior discounts at the movies. I mean real money, showing up every single month, for the rest of your life. This is the annuity that pays you more just for waiting, and I want to show you exactly how it works with real numbers.

Meet the Company Behind This Strategy

The company I want to talk about today is called Midland National. They’ve been around since 1906. That means they made it through two world wars, the Great Depression, the 2008 crash, and COVID — and they still paid their bills the whole time.

Midland National also has an A+ rating from all three of the big rating agencies. That’s about as good as it gets.

Here’s something else I like about them: they’re an employee-owned company. When a company is owned by the people who work there, they tend to think long-term instead of chasing a quick profit. That matters a lot when you’re trusting a company to keep a promise for 20, 30, or even 50 years.

And when I call them with a question? Someone picks up in under a minute. I’ve waited almost 30 minutes on hold with other companies. That’s not a small thing when it’s your money on the line.

The Annuity That Pays You More: How It Works

The product is called the Income Planning Annuity. It’s a fixed index annuity with something called an income rider attached to it.

Here’s the short version of what that rider does:

• • It guarantees you income for the rest of your life

• • You can never outlive the payments, even if your account hits zero

• • The amount you get paid grows bigger the longer you wait to turn it on

Most income riders only grow on your policy anniversary date — the date you signed the paperwork. Nobody remembers that date. Nobody celebrates it.

This one is different. It grows on your birthday.

Why Your Birthday Matters So Much

Let’s say you’re 65 years old today. With this annuity, you’d get paid about $7,700 a year, at the time of this article, for every $100,000 you put in, guaranteed for life.

But let’s say your birthday is next month. If you just wait one more month, that number jumps to almost $8,500 a year.

With most other annuities, you wouldn’t just need to wait for your birthday. You’d need to wait for your birthday and your one-year policy anniversary. That could mean waiting an extra 11 months for nothing.

What Happens If You Wait Even Longer?

Here’s where it gets really interesting. For the first 10 years, your income grows by 10% every single birthday. After that, it slows down to 2% a year until either year 25 or age 80, whichever happens first.

So let’s go back to our example. You put in $100,000 at age 65.

Age You Turn On Income	Yearly Guaranteed Income
65	$7,700
73 (waited 8 years)	$16,500

That’s more than double. Same $100,000. No extra deposits. No extra risk. The only thing that changed was time.

How Does the Insurance Company Guarantee This?

This annuity uses something called a GLWB, which stands for guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit. Once you turn your income on, the company has to keep paying you that amount every year for the rest of your life — even if your account balance eventually drops to zero.

As long as you don’t take out more than your set amount, you’re protected no matter what.

What About Growth While You Wait?

This is a fixed index annuity, which means your money is never directly invested in the stock market. Instead, your account can earn interest credits based on how certain market indexes perform, like the S&P 500.

Here’s the trade-off:

• • If the index goes up, you can earn interest credits

• • If the index goes down, you don’t lose a dime of your principal

• • Once you earn an interest credit, it’s locked in for good — a bad year later can never take it back

You give up some of the unlimited upside you’d get from investing directly in the market. In exchange, you never experience a loss from a downturn. For a lot of people getting close to retirement, that trade feels like a fair deal.

What If You Need Money Before You Turn On Income?

Life happens, so here’s the flexibility built into this annuity:

• • Starting just 30 days after you sign up, you can pull out up to 5% of your original deposit every year with no penalty

• • That 5% is based on what you originally put in, not on what your account is worth later — some annuities only let you pull from the smaller, reduced number

• • If you ever end up in a skilled nursing facility, Midland will release 100% of your money with no surrender charges

A Bonus Protection Most People Don’t Know About

There’s also something called an LPA multiplier. If you’re ever unable to do at least two of six basic daily activities — things like bathing or feeding yourself — your guaranteed income payment can actually double for up to five years, or until your account runs out, whichever comes first.

What Does This Cost?

Nothing is free, and I always want to be straight with you about that.

The income rider costs 1.25% of your original premium every year. This fee comes out of your accumulation value/death benefit, not your income payments. A lot of other annuities charge their fee based on a separate, bigger number that keeps growing every year — which means your cost quietly grows too. With this one, the fee stays the same the whole time.

One more detail: the fixed interest rate Midland offers is currently higher than that 1.25% fee. So while you’re waiting to turn on your income, your account can still grow even after the fee is taken out.

Is This the Best Annuity Out There?

Honestly, I don’t know — and that’s not me dodging the question. That’s the wrong question to ask.

The real question is: “Is this the annuity that pays you the most for your situation?”

Every person who comes to me has a different situation. I don’t hand out the same recommendation to everyone like the guy at the free dinner seminar does. Instead, I shop the entire marketplace to find out which company will actually pay you the most for your specific situation. It might be Midland. It might not be. But you’ll know you’re getting the full picture before you decide.

The Bottom Line

With the right strategy, time isn’t just something that passes by — it can actually work for you. Every birthday becomes a choice. And the longer you wait, the bigger your guaranteed paycheck can get for the rest of your life, no matter what the market does.

Podcast Episode 119: $7,700 to $16,500/Year: The Annuity That Pays You More Just for Waiting

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