June 21, 2013 – While still a very long way from ever becoming law, the Lifetime Income Disclosure Act (H. R. 2171) was introduced in the United States Congress last month seeking to amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to include disclosures on lifetime income.

The bill was referred to the House Education and Workforce committee where oddsmakers give the bill a one percent chance of getting past the committee and a zero percent chance of ever becoming law.

But whether or  not this act becomes law, if this Boston Globe article is any indication, one thing seems to be certain:

Annuities are cool again!

And this annuity coolness has been building for awhile as evidenced by this New York Times article from a few years back describing the support they’ve been receiving from the Obama Administration.

Three years ago, in the Annual Report Of The White House Task Force On The Middle Class, one of the suggestions for helping give families better choices to reach a secure retirement included (p. 27):

“Promoting the availability of guaranteed lifetime income products, which transform at least a portion of retirees’ savings into guaranteed future income, reducing the risks that retirees will outlive their savings or that their living standards will be eroded by investment losses or inflation.”

Did someone say “guaranteed lifetime income” and “guaranteed future income” in the same sentence?

Not surprisingly, the annuity effort has met with some resistance by those in the investment community who believe the only way to retirement security is to save, invest smartly and draw down their nest egg.

We don’t reject the draw down strategy out of hand since we believe in balance and are not so naive to think one size fits all.

But we are convinced that annuities remain . . .

• one of the best;
• least risky;
• most cost-effective; and,
• most under-appreciated

. . . asset classes available for anyone seeking safe, secure income that cannot be outlived.

And they deserve serious consideration for anyone seeking retirement security.

But then again, we’ve been on this bandwagon for years.  Check out the results of our research in this October, 2009 newsletter offerings:

Live Longer . . . Buy Annuities

Knowing how many people we’ve helped over the years with structured settlement, structured attorney fee and retirement annuities, we’re hopeful this bill gets some traction.

So, when you’re ready to hang up your work-life cleats and head to the beach for your retirement, remember how important annuities can be to your future security.

And give us a call.  We look forward to helping.