Guaranteed Income Strategy

Kathleen Owens | Fiduciary | Certified Financial Planner candidate

Would you like a portion or all of your investment portfolio to have:

Income certainty that the amount that you receive each year will not change.

An income guarantee for the rest of your life.

You will receive the same amount of income throughout your life time, even if the account value is reduced to zero.

You're now probably wondering, "how is this possible?'

Navigating the road to retirement has more bumps in the road

Financial products have changes a lot over the years. Investment providers realized that they needed to do more to help retirees maintain consistent income in their retirement years and not risk running out of money.

Retirees are facing many more challenges than there used to be. Here's a quick run-down of what these challenges are.

People are living longer, and while this is a good thing, there is a risk that you may outlive your retirement savings. You may need your retirement savings to last 30 years or more. How will you make your investments last this long?

Many employers no longer offer guaranteed pensions to their employees. The work of saving and investing for a persons eventual retirement now falls on the shoulders of each person.

Social Security is tightening it's belt, and making people nearing retirement age have to wait longer to receive full benefits. Social Security has been in trouble for decades because it has been paying out more benefits than it takes in. Whereas in the past, a person reaching the full retirement age of 65 years old would receive their full benefits. Now, a person born in 1960, will have to wait till age 67 to receive full benefits.

The financial crisis of 2008, and the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 have derailed many Americans retirement plans. Loss of income has forced many to scramble to come up with a new retirement plan or think that they will just need to work longer to offset the losses. However, that may not work out as planned.

Older workers are experiencing workplace age discrimination and being forced into "early retirement" through layoffs. It's not so easy to get a new job when you are over fifty years old. Though this practice is illegal, it's hard to prove, leaving older workers with less choices.

A new solution for guaranteed income

There is good news however. With the creation of financial products that are available through registered investment advisers, we can offer a fiduciary solution. What I'm talking about is a type of managed annuity product that has no commissions because it is created just for registered investment advisers, and has a feature that increases your success rate by making your money go farther by 14%, compared with a typical investment portfolio.

I've always been a skeptical person and I was never a fan of traditional annuities. This is not a traditional annuity and I'm very excited that this product is now available. I feel this is an ethical solution to a difficult problem: guaranteed income.

As a fiduciary, I've been reluctant to recommend an investment in an annuity when it could increase taxes for my clients. With this type of investment there is no tax on the fees.

The other benefits to this investment are: include participation in the equities market on a tax-deferred basis, tax-free rebalancing, deferring tax until retirement when the client will most likely be in a lower tax bracket, and creating additional sources of guaranteed income to help cover essential expenses in retirement.

I've tried to poke holes in this investment, but I can't find any features that would cause me concern. I think this is something you should at least, take a look at.

The other benefits to this investment are: include participation in the equities market on a tax-deferred basis, tax-free re-balancing, deferring tax until retirement when the client will most likely be in a lower tax bracket, and creating additional sources of guaranteed income to help cover essential expenses in retirement.

I hope you found this information helpful. Please contact me to set-up a time to talk to determine if this guaranteed income strategy is right for you.