Leverage Planning is a nationwide broker of annuity and long-term care insurance dedicated to helping clients navigate retirement income planning. Annuities can be an excellent investment choice if you seek a safe and reliable means to generate income for retirement or enhance your Social Security benefits. Unlike stocks and bonds, annuities offer a predictable income stream for life and are backed by the issuing insurance company’s full faith and credit.
However, annuities are expensive, inflexible and complex financial products that require careful consideration to align with your long-term financial goals. Leverage Planning simplifies retirement earnings by connecting you to the best annuity companies based on your financial situation, risk tolerance, goals and investment horizon. The company empowers you to make informed financial choices via a comprehensive educational resource.
Leverage Planning boasts a team of expert licensed insurance advisors specializing in complex insurance products, asset protection and planning to secure your retirement. The company’s dedication to understanding each client’s goals and circumstances is unparalleled. This ensures personalized strategies that align with long-term objectives. Leverage Planning aims to help individuals achieve financial security and peace of mind through robust expertise and a client-centered approach.
Benzinga’s Leverage Planning review will help you decide whether it is the ideal broker for your annuity investing.
- People nearing retirement age seeking stable income streams
- Investors looking to diversify their retirement portfolio with low-risk investments
- Those concerned about outliving their retirement savings
- People with long-term care needs seeking financial protection
- Those looking for tax-deferred growth and guaranteed income options
- Boasts an expert team of licensed insurance advisors specializing in complex insurance products, asset protection and planning, ensuring secured retirement earnings
- Offers access to competitive pricing and comprehensive coverage through strategic partnerships with top-rated insurance carriers
- Provides tailored solutions or personalized planning to address individual financial needs, preferences and goals
- Prioritizes transparency and integrity, ensuring clients are well-informed about their options
- Empowers clients to make informed decisions about their financial future via comprehensive education or learning resources
- Impressive opportunities to earn predictable and guaranteed income at retirement or protect savings and assets
- Only available in the U.S.
Leverage Planning Ratings at a Glance
Leverage Planning Product Offering
Whether you're planning for retirement or seeking immediate income, Leverage Planning provides access to a diverse marketplace of top-rated insurance carriers and annuity solutions. To grasp its core services, you must understand the nature of these two products.
Understanding Annuity and Annuity Types
Annuities grant you a stream of income over a given period or lifetime in exchange for a lump-sum payment or series of contributions. Because of their reliability and stability, annuities are typically employed for retirement planning. However, they can also be an excellent investment choice for long-term financial stability, portfolio diversification or supplemental income.
Annuities are sold by insurance companies.
You can make regular payments or deposit a lump sum into your annuity account. Upon purchase, the insurance company invests the money, and you receive regular payments in return. Your annuity account grows tax-deferred, meaning you will only pay earnings taxes once you withdraw.
The features and benefits you enjoy depend on your type of annuity. A fixed annuity provides a guaranteed rate of return, regardless of market conditions. In contrast, variable annuities let you select from multiple investment options, including stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Unlike fixed annuities, variable annuities potentially yield higher returns but carry greater risk.
Indexed annuities blend features of fixed and variable annuities with returns tied to the performance of a specific market index, like the S&P 500. Other annuity types include immediate annuities, which offer prompt income upon depositing a lump sum, and deferred annuities, which allow extended investment periods before payouts.
Multiyear guaranteed annuities (MYGAs) and qualified longevity annuity contracts (QLACs) are also popular. MYGAs offer fixed and guaranteed interest rates for a set time, typically three to 10 years. At the same time, QLACs let you defer a portion of your retirement savings to a later age (normally 80 to 85 years) to provide guaranteed income in those years.
Remember, once you lock in the annuity's interest rate and duration or terms, you can only access your money once the surrender period elapses. Otherwise, surrender charges will apply. A surrender period refers to a specified duration during which you cannot withdraw funds without facing a penalty. Annuities are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.; instead, they're backed by the insurer's claims-paying ability.
Leverage Planning Annuity Solutions
Left on your own, choosing the right annuity type can be challenging, let alone finding affordable insurance companies that offer your selected option. Leverage Planning employs technology to help you navigate the annuity market by providing guidance and facilitating the purchase of annuities from carriers that best suit your financial goals and needs.
The company assesses your financial situation and risk level to recommend the ideal annuity type. Then, it connects you with appropriate insurance companies from its marketplace that meet those needs. Leverage Planning partners with some of the most reputed insurance companies to streamline its services.
These include Athene, Allianz, Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Co., Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and Pacific Life Insurance Co. The company may also assist in filling out paperwork, smoothing communication between you and the insurance companies and ensuring transparency throughout the annuity purchase process.
Understanding Long-term Care Insurance
Long-term care insurance covers the costs of long-term care services, such as assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) like bathing, dressing and eating at home or in a care facility as you approach your golden years. It can also be an excellent insurance option if you require extended care resulting from chronic illness, disability or cognitive impairment.
Long-term care insurance policies vary in coverage and cost, but generally, they provide benefits for services not typically covered by health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. These services may include home care, assisted living facility and nursing home care. The policies usually have a waiting period (elimination period) before benefits start, during which you pay for care out-of-pocket.
Once the waiting period ends, the policy covers eligible long-term care expenses up to a specified limit per day or month and for a set benefit period (like two years, five years or lifetime coverage). Premiums are based on your age, health status, the amount of coverage selected and any optional riders or benefits included in the policy. While you may not need long-term care as you age, life's unpredictability means a private policy can provide a safety net.
That way, you won't leave the burden of your health expenses to your loved ones or dip into your retirement savings if such needs arise. Considering the skyrocketing cost of long-term care and the potential financial burden it could pose in the future should you need it, having long-term care insurance now makes financial sense.
Hybrid long-term care also offers death benefits, meaning the policy will provide a death benefit to your beneficiaries if you die without requiring long-term care.
Leverage Planning Long-term Care Services
Navigating the complexities of long-term care services and finding suitable providers can be challenging. The hardest part might be determining the coverage level, as predicting the amount of care you'll need in the future is impossible. Thanks to Leverage Planning, you needn't worry about these issues.
The company's expert team of insurance advisors will help you explore options, evaluate benefit caps, wait periods and exclusion and find the best coverage based on your financial situation. Through Leverage Planning's insurance marketplace and assistance from its experts, you can find an insurance service that satisfies all your needs.
Leverage Planning Educational Resources
As a reflection of its commitment to transparency, Leverage Planning offers comprehensive learning resources via its blog or guide. The articles are well-crafted and highly insightful. Suppose you lack knowledge about the core insurance products available on the Leverage Planning marketplace. In that case, the available articles will provide you with an easy-to-understand introduction, types and more.
Benzinga considers it a compelling addition to Leverage Planning's offerings. Detailed reviews of Leverage Planning's partner insurance companies also are on the menu. These reviews offer firsthand insights into the offerings of these insurance companies, giving you an excellent understanding of their products and services.
You can speak with the company's team of experts directly via phone at 855-233-3185 or by scheduling a free consultation after completing the initial form. Live Chat is not available. However, direct phone calls are possibly the most effective customer support solution, as you can easily discuss your concerns and resolve your complaints while enjoying human interaction. The company's full agent support also reflects its client-first approach, ensuring you have a trustworthy plan.
You also can access some basic information on Leverage Planning and its services via the FAQ section. The company has not established a solid footprint on major social networking platforms — you can only connect with the company via Facebook and LinkedIn. The company has a 4-star rating from four reviews on Trustpilot. While this may not be significant enough to gauge the depth of its services, the comments from these reviewers were overwhelmingly positive.
Leverage Planning is not an insurance or investment company, so it doesn't have access to your funds or sensitive data. As an insurance broker, it only connects you to the insurance company; it doesn't directly provide coverage or underwrite policies. Leverage Planning is licensed nationwide via LeverageRx to offer life insurance, annuities and long-term care insurance. This means it meets the necessary legal requirements to provide its services.
When filling out the consultation form, you'll typically provide your email and contact details. The company employs standard encryption protocols to protect such information in transit or at rest on its network. Leverage Planning will never sell or share your information with a third party without legal consent. You can review the privacy policy to better understand how the company stores and secures your data.
Leverage Planning charges zero fees for its services, including consultation. Your selected insurance company compensates the company once you purchase a policy. Of course, you might wonder whether this raises a conflict of interest in the services it offers. This is understandable, but there's no reason to be alarmed. The company's agents maintain a level compensation model across all carriers to ensure unbiased and neutral advice. All applicable fees come directly from your chosen insurance service providers.
The annuity fees may include sales commissions, administrative fees, surrender charges, mortality and expense-risk charges. The long-term care costs may vary depending on your age and health status, coverage amount and benefit period, elimination and waiting period and inflation protection options. The minimum investment for both products varies, but the average is $20,000. Leverage Planning is committed to helping you find the best choice in terms of pricing, features and benefits.
You can download the monthly annuity rate from the website to assess the current annuity rate by carrier and product, financial strength, age and amount limitation and withdrawal and surrender charges.
Leverage Planning delivers a streamlined user experience. To start with, its services are free. Shopping for reputable insurance companies that meet your core annuity or long-term care insurance needs at no cost is highly appealing. You can seamlessly compare options from the marketplace, while the experts provide personalized guidance throughout the insurance selection process. The company facilitates learning via its blogs, enabling clients to better understand complex insurance products.
The company's expert team employs a level compensation model across all carriers to ensure transparency and neutrality and avoid conflicts of interest with its partner insurance companies. Getting started is easy; just fill out the initial form by answering six questions.
You'll then receive a link to schedule a consultation with an agent. The agent will explain your insurance options and rates and guide you through the process until you make a purchase. You should feel free to ask any clarifying questions during the video call.
It's all free. Customer service is also readily available via phone. Overall, Leverage Planning strives to empower you with the knowledge and tools to make informed decisions about your insurance needs. Benzinga considers the company recommendable.
Leverage Planning vs. Competitors
Finding an insurance broker that offers flexible services like Leverage Planning at no cost seems hard. Besides its zero fees, the company's bold strategies, years of experience and client-first approach ensure you gain a trusted insurance partner, not just a policy.
Suppose you're seeking complex financial products like long-term care insurance and annuities for your retirement needs or to supplement your earnings. In that case, Leverage Planning can help you select highly rated insurance carriers that'll satisfy your core needs. The company's specialist insurance advisors provide an unparalleled and personalized solution that makes for an excellent user experience. Leverage Planning’s remarkable commitment to client education and transparent and unbiased insurance options is unmatched. The best part is that the company offers these services at zero cost.