According to a survey conducted by LIMRA, the key age group is the 55-59 year old American population of pre-retirees (see table below).  The survey found that this group has 146 billion in annuity business and almost half of this group (48%) said they are interested in purchasing an annuity for guaranteed income.  The members [...]

According to a new Pew Charitable Trust report, members of Generation X are on track to replace a median of just half of their current salary in retirement.  This is a much smaller portion of income than early baby boomers who were around 82%.  Here are some reasons why Generation X is expected to be [...]

A recent study by LIMRA, reported that nearly $9 billion in immediate annuities were purchased in 2012.  The study also concludes that insurers were hoping to beef up immediate annuity purchases by offering some new feature such as flexible income options, death benefits, and enhanced liquidity.   The insurers believe these changes will encourage consumers [...]

I am sure that most of you have seen the popular film Jerry Maguire, but for those of you who haven’t there is a memorable scene between Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) and Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.).  Rod Tidwell is a professional football player and Jerry Maguire is his agent.  Rod is looking for a [...]

Annuities often have what is called an income rider.  The income account will show a different value than your accumulation account.  The income you receive for life is based on this income value.  Typically the income rider works like this…   Your income account continues to build value based on a pre-determined rate of growth [...]

We all want to know that we will retire comfortably and live out the retirement we’ve always dreamed of.  Since we were young, we have always been ingrained with the idea that we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up.  For most of us, we probably aren’t living out the lives [...]

Is an annuity a good idea for me? First of all, there are many different type of annuities and a lot of misconceptions about them. I personally think annuities can be a good fit for a portion of assets that you may be looking to protect, but choosing the right one or combination of annuities [...]

One of the number one reasons individuals do not purchase income annuities is the concern of liquidity.  A recent study entitled “Features in Income Annuities: Immediate and Deferred Income Annuity Designs”, hopefully puts that concern to rest.  The survey conducted by LIMRA and CANNEX, found that a lot of the income annuities being sold today [...]

The IRS allows for penalty-free withdrawals from a Non-Qualified Annuity. The rule requires that, in order for the annuity owner to take penalty-free early withdrawals, he or she must take at least five “substantially equal periodic payments” or equal periodic payments until age 59 1/2 whichever comes later.  The amount depends on the owner’s life [...]

A recent article in U.S. News and World Reports talks about 5 ways to avoid running out of money in retirement.  This happens to be the number one fear for retirees, the idea that they will run out of money in their retirement.  The article highlights the following items as key to avoiding this fear [...]