Will a Lifetime Annuity Improve Your Retirement?
For years now, financial experts have highly recommended Lifetime Annuities as a product to help retirees guarantee lifetime income and now the White House is also recommending this product as a way to promote retirement security.
Pensions once offered many Americans guaranteed retirement income, but pensions are much less common now. An annuity allows you to buy the pension that your employer has probably stopped offering, and it can help pick up where Social Security leaves off.
While annuities require an upfront payment, they can be a financially sound product. A study by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Financial Institutions Center and New York Life Insurance Co. found that income annuities can assure retirees of an income stream for life at a cost as much as 40 percent less than a traditional stock, bond and cash mix.
However, there are many different types of annuities and many options to consider. If you are interested in an annuity, study the variations very carefully and work with a trusted broker who respects your financial goals.
Find a prescreened Annuity provider.
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Retirement Issues at the Start of the Year - By the Numbers
The end and the beginning of the year is always a good time for lists. Here are a few recently published retirement, finance and health lists to consider:
- US News and World Report suggested “6 Ways to Make Your Retirement Accounts Last Longer,” including: postponing retirement account withdrawals, reexamining withdrawal rates, saving your raise instead of adding it to your monthly budget, delay claiming Social Security, revisiting your budget and working part-time in retirement.
- Centenarians - people who live to 100 or more - increased 51 percent from 1990 to 2000. If you want to extend your life, Prevention Magazine suggested “6 Ways to Live a Lot Longer” which included: increasing fiber consumption, drinking tea, not drinking sodas, eating naturally purple foods, walking more and being more social.
- Investopedia reported on the “Top 10 Financial Blessings of 2009.” which included the rise of major stock indexes, Gross Domestic Product growth, repayment of TARP loans by the banks, stabilization of home prices, first-time homebuyer tax credit being extended, corporate profitability getting stronger, growth of foreign markets, low inflation, increased regulatory scrutiny and finally . . . after being very unsure at this time last year, we can be thankful that the economy is still standing at all.
- Despite that good news, just over half the households in the U.S. are likely to see a decline in their standard of living after retirement,according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. That figure has dramatically worsened with the recession, jumping from 44 percent in 2007.
- US News and World Report documented five new proposals in the federal budget for retirement savings: automatic IRAs, a government 401k match, new 401k regulations, more Social Security funding and caregiving assistance.
Concerned about how long your money will last in retirement? Use the retirement calculator to find out.
Need your money to last longer? Have you considered a Reverse Mortgage?
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