Anyone who is looking into retirement planning has probably come across the words retirement annuity. When mixed in with words like term life, variable, investment and insurance it can seem to be a confusing and intimidating word. Many of the terms used in retirement planning are intimidating, unless you are an accountant most of these words are not part of your everyday vocabulary. However, truthfully, a retirement annuity is nothing to be afraid of; in fact, it could be a retiree’s best friend.
A retirement annuity is an agreement between you and an insurance company. This agreement involves you making payments into an investment account that the insurance company controls. The insurance company will manage your investments and when you retire will pay out to you all the earnings of the investments in a periodic payment of a set amount. You have the choice to may your payments in a periodic manner over many years (such as through a paycheck deduction) or in a lump sum.
What this really boils down to is that you will have a guaranteed regular income after you retire and you will not have to worry about supplemental income. After all, we all have heard the warnings about counting on social security for our retirement, and we know that we need to have a back up plan in place.
The sooner you set up an annuity, the longer it will have time to earn money for you before you reach retirement age, which means either larger payouts for you, or more income for your family for a period of time after your death.
Retirement annuities offer many different structures, levels, and types, to match whatever retirement plan you have, whether you are going to rely on your annuity as your main retirement income or of you have many other investments, residual incomes, and supplemental incomes. This is one of the reasons so many people include annuities in their retirement plans. Between the flexibility and the reliability, there is not a lot in the cons list for a retirement annuity.
If you are planning for your retirement and are not sure if an annuity is the right choice for you, contact your insurance provider and have them prepare a prospectus for you. A prospectus details all the options of the annuity and will show you the benefits and drawbacks that you will need to know about before purchasing an annuity. If you have any questions about the prospectus, discuss it with your insurer or financial planner before making a final decision.
When planning for your future it is important to take into account the fact that you will need a regular income, no matter what the source of that income is, it is imperative that you plan ahead or you can face the perils of not having money for groceries, medicine, or even house payments. Take the time to find out about all of your options and choose what works for you as you plan your retirement.
