Guaranteed Income Archives - Page 5 of 9 - Jerry Golden on Retirement

Consumer Reports on the benefits of income annuities

December 2, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity Tags: Annuities, Guaranteed Income, retirement income

More and more members of the financial establishment are discovering income annuities and their benefits.

Consumer Reports wrote an article late last month about the “The New Rules of Retirement Planning.” In that article, they offered a quiz to have readers find out what they really knew about retirement planning. The quiz – which I recommend to my followers – contains three questions about income annuities. I thought they did a good job of explaining what income annuities are and how they operate.

As the quiz stated in one of its answers, income annuities are the closest you can get to a company pension, which guarantees you a check every month for the rest of your life. More

What to pay retirees who delay Social Security

October 12, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity, Social Security Tags: Annuities, Guaranteed Income, retirement income, Social Security

Especially during the political silly season, I suppose I should be accustomed to statements that are ridiculous or plainly wrong. But I find they drive me crazy, and compel me to respond to at least some of them.

A recent example was a September opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. It argued that retirees who wait until 70 (instead of 66) to collect Social Security should not benefit from that delay with a premium that amounts to a 32% increase in monthly payments.

$Retirees who delay Social Security$ I decided to write a blog rather than respond with a letter to the editor, since I doubted the Journal would admit its vetting process was flawed, as pointed out below. More

Build your retirement plan with the Three L’s

October 5, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity, Social Security 4 Comments Tags: Annuities, Guaranteed Income, retirement income, Social Security, Three L's

You know about the Three R’s of schooling — reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic – that continue to form the foundation of education even as it becomes much more complex and sophisticated.

There are also “Three L’s” that are just as foundational as you plan for retirement: Lifetime Income, Liquidity and Legacy.

These Three L’s address your objectives, and will drive your investment strategies and tactics. Just like a business plan, if you prepare and decide first on the objectives of the Three L’s¸ you will significantly improve your chances for a successful retirement. More

At Go2Income you educate yourself on retirement

September 28, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity, Two-stage retirement 1 Comment Tags: Annuities, Baby Boomers, Guaranteed Income, retirement income

One of our Golden Retirement websites, Go2Income.com, was launched as a place for consumers to gather information about income annuities and how they make retirement better. I recently decided to personally speak with visitors there to learn more about the challenges they were facing in planning for their retirement income.

I learned a few things from those conversations.

First, the visitors had done their homework. They had studied their options and needed just a little more information to make a decision about an important financial purchase.

Second, I confirmed something I already suspected: income annuities are not a turn-off to these individuals and they understand their unique benefits.

Third, they appreciated speaking with someone knowledgeable in this space. One caller told me his advisor explained that the advisor wasn’t licensed to sell annuities and so couldn’t discuss them. Another brought up the topic with an insurance agent — who is able to sell income annuities – but the agent admitted he didn’t know anything about the new IRS-approved QLAC. More

Kiplinger’s recognizes the value of a QLAC

September 13, 2016 By Jerry Golden in Annuity, Two-stage retirement Tags: Guaranteed Income, QLAC, Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contract, retirement, Social Security

Kiplinger’s September issue of the Retirement Report featured the Golden Retirement website, Go2Income.com, in an article about Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contracts, or QLACs. Here’s what the article said about the website.

Golden’s firm, Golden Retirement Advisors, created go2income.com to help consumers shop for QLACs. If you’re interested in a QLAC, you’ve got homework to do and may need the help of an adviser. Golden emphasizes that the first step is to design the policy. Death benefit or no? Single or joint life? Cost-of-living adjustments or not? Then shop for the best deal.

During his interview with me, the reporter and I discussed why QLACs are not more popular. As he wrote, in the first quarter of 2016, only $87 million of the $729 million invested in deferred annuities went to QLACs.The view that I expressed to him is that while the product and tax features of a QLAC are attractive, QLACs should be positioned as a component of an overall retirement plan – not as a standalone product. That’s when it makes sense: As an addition to most retirement plans.

As I wrote in the blog post QLAC Introduction, “the IRS published regulations in July 2014 that allow savers to use a portion of their rollover IRA or 401(k) to purchase a QLAC, which will provide guaranteed lifetime income starting at an age you choose (but not later than age 85).” More