From NYLife’s Brad Collins
1 in 5 Americans age 65 or older are working or looking for work. 1 Why do so many expect to postpone a typical, leisure-filled retirement? One theory points to the decline of pensions and the need to replace the income stream that used to come—guaranteed—from a past employer. Approximatley 14% of private sector employers offer defined contribution or traditional defined benefit pension plans.2 And traditional defined benefit plans are disappearing as only 16% of Fortune 500 companies offered defined benefit pensions to new employees.3
With private pensions becoming rarer, guarantees in retirement may be few and far between, but it doesn’t make them any less important. For starters, guarantees might make you happier. Research shows that retirees with some form of insurance (e.g. annuity or LTC) spend more freely and improve their quality of life in retirement.4 That’s because you’re more likely to be confident spending money when you know another check is right around the corner.
Guarantees can also help you be a more confident through market ups and downs. Guarantees can be the guardrails you need to stay the course when investing, knowing that you have some protection built into your portfolio. And, with Americans living longer than ever before, guarantees5 in your overall retirement plan, which can be provided by fixed annuities, may help assure that your money lasts as long as you do.
Just as no two retirements are alike, not all guarantees are alike, so it’s important to understand the options available to you and to identify what’s appropriate for your own retirement.
This educational, third-party article is provided as a courtesy by W. Bradley Collins “Brad”, Agent, New York Life Insurance Company.