June 18, 2015 – So you’ve saved a bunch of money during your working life and are finally getting serious about making some decisions about how to make sure this gob of money lasts for as long as you do.

Maybe you’re lucky and worked for an employer that still offered a pension.

Social Security or its public employee equivalent or both will cover some of your future needs.

But in addition, you have this lifetime accumulated mass (larger for some, smaller for others) of dollars you need to stretch out over your golden years.

What do you do with your money?

Who can you believe?

If you put any stock into recent research by someone qualified to speak intelligently on the topic, you might want to read the latest coming out of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Government Policy on Distribution Methods in Individual Accounts for Retirees: Life Income Annuities and Withdrawal Rules is an excellent Working Paper, authored by visiting scholar Mark J. Warshawsky, PhD.

The paper gives additional support to the long-standing (but frequently maligned by the financial planning community) notion that many people can benefit by choosing life annuities to meet some portion of their overall retirement income needs.

“The life annuity is indeed an effective instrument for distributing retirement assets to produce lifetime income; it functions generally somewhat better than the withdrawal rules in widespread use.”

The paper itself is chock full of supportable reasons why it might make sense for you to give annuities serious consideration for some of your retirement funds.

Assuming you’re not a policy wonk inclined to read the 48 page findings cover to cover, this summary by RealDealRetirement.com editor Walter Updegrave which appeared in yesterday’s online edition of CNNMoney gives a good common sense perspective:

“Which Generates More Retirement Income – Annuities or Portfolio Withdrawals?”

For the record, we’re completely on board with the “don’t put all your (nest) eggs in one basket” approach to retirement income planning.

We’re cash flow advocates!

As such, we just think that locking up some portion of your money to make sure it lasts for the rest of your life regardless of how long you live makes too much retirement sense to overlook.

It’s always reassuring when we come across supportable information that reinforces something we’ve been telling clients for years.

Annuities, whether it be through a structured settlement, structured attorney fee, structured sale or simple retirement fund rollover, just seem to simplify the whole idea of taking care of your future needs for so many people.

Happy Annuitizing!

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