The honest survey

Annuity alternatives, compared without a sales agenda

If you want income without buying a new annuity contract, you have five real options: CDs, Treasuries, bond ladders, dividend portfolios, and secondary market payment streams. Each trades something for something. Here is the whole menu, including the options we do not sell.

View payment-stream inventory Why new annuities cap out

Five doors

The full menu

Swipe sideways for the full table →

Alternative	What it pays	What backs it	Liquidity	Best fit
Bank CDs	Tracks prevailing bank rates	FDIC-insured up to $250,000	Early withdrawal with penalty	Money you may need on short notice
U.S. Treasuries	Tracks market rates by maturity	Full faith and credit of the U.S.	Sellable any business day	Maximum safety with daily liquidity
Bond ladders	Blended market yield across maturities	Credit and rate risk by issue	Sellable, at market prices	Hands-on investors who want control
Dividend portfolios	Variable; dividends can be cut	Full market risk on principal	Fully liquid	Growth investors who accept swings
Secondary market payment streams	4–7% effective, fixed by schedule	Carrier strength; no guaranty coverage	Limited; resale not guaranteed	Committed money seeking the highest fixed yield

CD, Treasury, and bond yields move with the market, so compare live quotes. Payment-stream yields are fixed per listing at purchase and shown on our current rates page.

Our lane

Where payment streams fit

We only sell the last row of that table, so here is the honest placement. Payment streams are for the money you will not touch, the sleeve most retirees currently park in a long CD or a new annuity. In exchange for locking it up, you collect the highest fixed yield on the menu, from schedules funded by carriers such as Berkshire Hathaway and New York Life and assigned to you by court order.

They are the wrong answer for emergency money, and we say so on every listing. They are also not annuities, even though the industry calls them secondary market annuities, and the difference matters enough that we wrote a full page on exactly what you own. Buying inside a retirement account works through a self-directed IRA, covered step by step in our IRA guide. For where these sit among bonds, see our fixed income alternatives ladder.

Questions income investors ask us

What is the best alternative to an annuity?

It depends on which annuity problem you are solving. If the problem is liquidity, CDs and Treasuries beat any annuity. If the problem is yield, secondary market payment streams typically pay the most fixed income per dollar because you buy an existing schedule at a discount, though you give up liquidity and guaranty coverage to get it. Most of our investors hold both types: liquid instruments for flexibility, payment streams for the yield sleeve.

Why not just buy a longer-term annuity for more yield?

Stretching the surrender period is the annuity industry's standard answer, and it costs you the same thing the secondary market does, which is liquidity. The difference is what you get paid for that sacrifice. A longer MYGA term typically adds fractions of a percent. Stepping into an existing schedule at a discount typically adds whole percentage points, because you are capturing a discount another party already accepted.

Do these alternatives work inside retirement accounts?

CDs, Treasuries, bonds, and dividend stocks fit any standard IRA. Payment streams require a self-directed IRA with a custodian that handles alternative assets, which is a routine setup our team coordinates regularly. Our self-directed IRA guide walks through the four steps.

How do I compare a specific listing against my annuity quote?

Pull the effective yield, the payment window, and the carrier from any listing on our inventory, then set it next to your quoted annuity rate for a comparable term. If you want a second pair of eyes, talk with our team at (800) 449-6311 and we will do the comparison with you, including the honest reasons an annuity might be the better fit for part of your money.

PSA does not provide tax advice; consult your tax advisor or IRA custodian.

What these assets are, and what they are not

Guaranteed and life-contingent structured settlement payment rights, and lottery payment rights, represent the right to receive factored payments that Pacific Structured Assets purchases and assigns to investors through a court-approved process. They are purchased at a discount to their total scheduled payments.

These payment rights are NOT annuities, NOT insurance products, and NOT securities registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They are not bank deposits, are not FDIC-insured, and are not protected by any state insurance guaranty association. The industry term “secondary market annuity” refers to these payment rights and does not mean you are purchasing an insurance annuity contract.

You acquire the right to receive the payments, not the underlying annuity. The annuity itself does not change hands. Unlike the original structured settlement annuity, which may be shielded from creditors under applicable law, the assigned payment rights you purchase generally do not carry that creditor or bankruptcy protection.

Assigned annuities, offered as a separate product line, are existing insurance annuity contracts reassigned to a new owner through a change of ownership or an irrevocable change of payee.

These are long-term holdings with limited liquidity, and may not be suitable for every investor. There is no public trading market and no daily price. Resale or reassignment of a payment stream to another buyer may be possible, and Pacific Structured Assets can assist, but a resale is not guaranteed and the price it would bring is not guaranteed. Because the payments are fixed, that resale value moves with prevailing interest rates: an investor could realize a gain if rates have fallen since purchase, or a loss if rates have risen. These holdings are best suited to capital an investor can commit for the long term. Nothing on this website is tax, legal, financial, or investment advice. Consult your own advisors before investing.

Pacific Structured Assets, Inc. does not provide tax, legal, financial or accounting advice. The material on this website has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, financial or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal, financial or accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction, including the acquisition of factored structured settlement payments. Pacific Structured Assets is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not licensed to sell insurance in any state.

Pacific Structured Assets

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Every offering is public: carrier, price, schedule, and estimated yield. Full payment schedules and available pricing come with a free account.

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