Understanding Available Options for Retirement

By Kim O’Brien, NAFA President & CEO

You’ve heard the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council talk about the benefits of including indexed annuities in your retirement plan, but I wanted to share thoughts from an outside perspective.

Well-known Certified Financial Planner Ray Lucia wrote The Buckets of Money Retirement Solution, outlining a system of buckets that include lifetime payout annuities, as well as short term, mid-term and long-term investments. Annuities are mentioned a few times throughout the book, including the following excerpts:

“…many financial pundits and self-proclaimed money experts constantly beat down annuities as an investment.  They do this because most insurance products aren’t clearly understood, and most of the pundits haven’t taken the time to understand them.”

“Getting a better understanding of annuities may actually change your view of them.  I know it did for me……I softened my skepticism.”

Lucia recently had a segment on CBS 8 San Diego and spoke about how annuities can help people reach their retirement goals. Check it out here.