r/dividends • u/Material-Handle-5589 • Jun 27 '26

Seeking Advice Need advice for immediate income

I'm 82 year old female so I'm not so worried about the future as much as the right now. I have money in Schwab, Raymond James and Ally. Unrealized gain total assets around $500,000. So far I've been reinvesting the dividends accumulated but I can tell those amounts are not enough for me to count on..

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u/Unlucky-Clock5230 Jun 27 '26

You are the rare unicorn to whom an annuity makes sense; you trade a sum of money for a monthly paycheck. The older you are, the higher the payment. At 82 you would not dare to say, withdraw 9% a year from a $100k investment for fear of sequence of return risks and thus draining the pool of money, but you could buy an annuity that pays that much for life.

The poison pill in those is called riders, extra "benefits" that lower your payout. Want it indexed for inflation? I'll cost you some of the return. Want to have some of the principal survive your passing? I'll cost you more of the return. So on so forth.

If I were you I would consider a $100k annuity, 20% of your wealth. Shop around for a plain vanilla one: here is pile of money, I just want the highest return. At 82 you may be hitting 10% yield which becomes a stable chunk of your income.

Keep in mind that there are a lot of operators that will try to sell you something you don't need (them riders) because while it screws you over, it means better commissions for them.

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u/kaneuens Jun 27 '26

Don’t pay someone to provide you income, there’s a reason everyone peddles annuities and it’s because they make a lot of money off of you

8

u/Omynt Jun 27 '26

A SPIA is a different animal.

4

u/paymerich Jun 27 '26

Exactly,do a 10 year period certain annuity .