wife and I sold one of our rental units..
we have 50k on hand

want to invest it in annuities or buy another rental..looking at Allianzlife.. aware of others..
not wanting to play in market, we're retired and income is what it is...not gonna get rich anytime soon or be abled bodied enough
to work 75 hours a week ever again..

My Mother-in-law has done well with this.

Hybrid Financial Freedom
Fort Worth
(682) 262-1270

I have no connection with them.

Call Vanguard, they have a straightforward annuities division offering simple annuities. They just don't promote it a lot. Get a single premium Simple Annuity. RUN AWAY from anyone that is offering anything that is an Indexed Annuity or a Variable Annuity. If offered an Annuity ask if its a SIMPLE, INDEXED, or VARIABLE type. If its not a Simple Annuity RUN AWAY from that huckster.

Edited to add; Vanguard Annuities phone: 1-888 249 2347
or try 877 418 1385 or the general number at 800 345 1344

These guys do some interesting things with annuities.

Mattson Financial Service
5400 Bosque Blvd # 453
Waco, TX 76710
(254) 772-6383

Did you do any tax projections to see if you'll need some of that $50k to pay taxes on the real estate sale?

we'll be taking our one time exemption..

For rental/investment properties, there is no exemption from tax on the gain.

Sec. 121 pertains to the exclusion of gain on the sale of your primary residence.  Plain english

If the property sold was a duplex (for example) and you lived in one half, you'd be able to exclude the portion of the gain attributable to your half but the gain attributable to the rental half would be taxable.

To make matters worse, if you were depreciating it for tax purposes, that will get recaptured.  I looked at selling a rental that I have held for about 15 years.  Between the tax on the gain, recapturing depreciation and the real estate fees....to hell with that.  When my wife and I go to retire if we want to move and I don't want to keep it then I will sell my house (assuming there is still an exemption), claim the rental as primary for two years (use the exemption again), wash rinse repeat for others.  The only way to avoid the taxes is to do a 1031 exchange into another property.  I don't know when you closed or if you can elect to do an exchange after, but I would call a tax person ASAP if you are considering another rental.  I think that there are some REIT's that you can do an exchange into also.  Might kick off some cash without having a tax issue.

1031 might be an option if the window hasn't closed on identifying and purchasing the replacement property.  The other wrinkle with 1031 exchanges are the qualified intermediary rules, which generally means you need to get an attorney or specialty firm involved.  Last 1031 I did involved about $750,000 of farm ground and cost the client $6k in attorney's fees.

There is also risk with a 1031.  Since you're deferring the gain, it is possible that it will be deferred into a year that the taxpayer is in a higher bracket, resulting in more tax being paid.

OK, so out of the IRS RABBIT HOLE...

back to what to do with the money..

We were trying to make sure that you didn't get surprised when it comes tax time.  If you are saying that you have no tax consequence and $50k free and clear then what do you want out of the money?  You said you don't really care about growth.  Do you want/need income out of it?

Also, how old are you?

Allianz is a solid company and I like their annuities/life insurance platform.  There are a lot of products and they all work differently.  Saying you want to buy an annuity from Allianz and asking about other options is like saying I want to buy a ford and want to consider other options.

fully aware of the IRS Issues, trust me...not my first rodeo..and yes we do want to "have growth" nominal but something and yes it'd be nice if there was a
few hundred a month coming out of it IF THE NEED arise's.
we''re 65 and 70 and still walking around and our combined current income with S/S and investments of old is OK..not living life of Riley, but OK..
but tomorrow, gas is gonna be $4 again..not the $1.80 I paid today..

so some added sheckles are OK..just not open to RISK this is her money, OUR money is in annuities that have done fine and slow growth funds and safe...more or less.
she wants soemthing else with this ..
thank you

Ok....growth is good and income potential is key.  65 and 70 so probably not wanting to mess with things like rental properties that could cost you money.  An annuity probably suits you pretty well.  I would look at indexed options.  Keep enough in the fixed account to cover annuity fees.  Get the rest in some of the index options.  Strategy depends on the the options available.

The downside, as you know if you have others, is that there will likely be a surrender schedule.  So, cashing it out in full could be costly in the immediate future.  If that isn't a concern them go for it.

An indexed option will give you a 0% floor i.e. the market tanks you just get 0% return.  The flip side is that if the market pops for 25% you ware probably getting 10-12%.  It usually something like full participation up to that range or 75% participation up to that range.  Participation meaning your returns are derived off of the market.  They are designed for what you are talking about.  Some growth is great but you aren't trying to hit homeruns and you don't want to lose sleep over losses.