Annuity

Question

I have two accounts paying monthly guaranteed amounts. Does not seem to be an investment category for these.

NotACPA · Answer

I have an annuity, that a former provided when they went from a "Defined Benefit" to a "Defined Contribution" retirement plan.It's set up in Q as just an Asset type account.  Metlife, the company that issued the annuity, provided the info about the increase in account value each year, and I adjusted the value of the account accordingly.When I started withdrawing from it, the transaction was a simple transfer to my checking account.  The Tax Attribute of the annuity was set so that these transfers had a tax line of: "Form 1099-R Total Pension Taxable Dist", which agrees with the annual 1099 that I receive from MetLife.Approximately 6 years from now, the annuity will Zero out.  I'll transfer whatever value is left in the account (as above) and split the receiving transactions to show the balance, and all future transaction as coming from a new Income category, that I'll set up at that time.

Tom Young · Answer

There really isn't such an Account Type or Security Type for annuities.  Singular annuities are pretty difficult to account for as you don't know when you're going to die (presumably) so the ultimate dollar payout is unknown except statistically.  The annuities are definitely "assets" and properly should be on your balance sheet, (particularly if you want to present your balance sheet when applying for a loan).I suppose one approach is that you initially value them at the cost of purchase, and periodically adjust their value based on your statistical age of death and an appropriate discount rate.  You could do that by making each annuity a "security" within their Account(s), maybe selecting a number of shares that when multiplied by $1equals your out of pocket costs, and then periodically adjusting the "quote."