The articles that caught my eye this week as being worthy of comment are diverse, but each touches on an important aspect of planning your retirement income.
Robo-advisors face first reckoning in downturn
Today’s market volatility shows the importance of communication as robo-advisors look to get out in front of their nervous clients.
The response by robo-advisors of sending out e-mails and going on Twitter and other social media may be helpful for the millennials who are adopting this strategy, but what about the unlucky Boomers who are close to or in retirement?
They need more than 140 characters to discuss their options. They need a better strategy.
This is a good article, not only because it follows our thinking, but also because it introduces readers to a “new way” of addressing retirement income, by purchasing longevity annuities.
It also walks the reader through considerations they’ll have to address in deciding whether a qualified longevity annuity contract (QLAC) is right for them or not.
While a QLAC isn’t for everyone, it is an option that investors should be aware of. Advisors who don’t mention QLACs are doing their clients a disservice.
Canadians unprepared for unexpected retirement
You may be asking yourself, “Why is Jerry reading about Canadians?” The answer is simple. They have a retirement system that ought to respected, if not emulated. It is essentially a universal, portable IRA.
However, the general consensus among those working Canadians polled between the ages of 45 and 64 is that they wouldn’t be able to cover their cost of living beyond five years if they unexpectedly had to retire tomorrow, including 16 percent who said they wouldn’t be able to cover their costs for less than one year.
Not much different than here really. Even though the Canadian market in total is smaller than the segment of the US market whose greatest fear is running out of money in retirement – the Boomer with a reasonable amount of savings – there’s still a lot of work to be done to ensure that those savings are generating a sufficient amount of income to retire on.