Mike Papedis speaks with a Pacific Life executive on how fee-based annuities are being repositioned inside fiduciary advice models — covering RILAs, longer retirement horizons, and the structural innovations making annuities more compatible with fee-only practices. The core argument: annuities aren't a product category to avoid or default to — they're a planning tool whose role is defined by client objectives, not advisor preference.
Mike's Take
"The advisors who are losing the retirement income conversation aren't the ones who got the products wrong — they're the ones who never built the planning framework that tells you which tool belongs where. An annuity isn't a recommendation. It's an answer to a question your plan already asked. If you're not starting with the client's objectives and working backward, you're not doing fiduciary planning. You're doing product selection with extra steps."
This interview was originally published in Financial Advisor Magazine.
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