The number one reason that people purchase an annuity in the first place is income protection, protection from living too long. Think of it as an insurance to protect you from outliving your assets. It is not uncommon, and it is becoming more common, for people to outlive their retirement funds, people are living longer. For many people, it just makes solid sense. With the purchase of an annuity come contractual benefits known as settlement options.
In a 2011 survey asking Baby Boomer-aged women about their retirement plans and their investible assets, single women had substantially less money saved for retirement than did single men. In addition to less money saved for retirement, a high percentage (86%) of women surveyed planned to retire earlier than men.
Buying a US Treasury EE Bond can be a great idea if you want your funds held long term and have no need for the funds prior to their 20 year maturity. EE Bonds offer fixed interest rates for the life of the bond. The maturity period for EE Bonds is 20 years, if you redeem the bond in the first 5 years of ownership, there is a penalty affixed. EE Bonds offer safety, market yield and tax deferred interest compounding.
Welcome to the age of safety, for the discretionary must have retirement funds needed to secure a lifelong income with no worries of running out of money before you run out of time.
The stock market goes up and goes down. Think YOYO. Many investors finally understand what YOYO means when investing: You are on your own! When it goes up the financial planners, and the stockbrokers tell us how much money we have made and how great the market is. The economy is fine, and everything [...]
Wall Street made promises to all of us. They promised to provide us with products that had value and an agreed upon level of safety. They failed in that promise. The reason is very simple; they are greedy and placed their own needs and goals over the people who trusted them and their products. I happen to feel the blame is very narrow on the Wall Street category and responsibility really lies with only a handful.
Bulls, bears, up, down, who knows? There are numerous indicators that the current stock market could be subject to a slip into a full-blown “Bear” market. This would convert to longer-term losses in equities as well as a significant shift in investments to bonds and annuities. With a bear market can also come exposure to [...]
(Private conversation between a stock broker and a client) Client: Mr. Broker, since the first of the year, my account invested with your recommendation, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost almost 10%, why? Broker: Don’t worry, the market always comes back. Client: Yes, but I was planning on retiring sometime this year and you [...]
Fixed Indexed Annuities are valuable tools for many who are planning their retirement. Along with a company pension and social security, a Fixed Indexed Annuity can provide the basis for guarantees in a retirement plan. Fixed indexed annuities are excellent investments that allow you to enjoy the benefits of interest linked to the market without being affected by market risks.
Selling bonds as an income is ok, but other options are much better and using them does not mean your account can be affected by increasing interest rates, actually the opposite is true. Fixed Indexed Annuities can provide the very income Boomers are looking for and without compensation being charged directly to the Boomer. Plus a variety of options exist especially the BIG one, income can never be outlived.
