Annuities for Women

Who lives longer, men or women?  The answer has long been known, women are in first place in the longevity test. Statistically, they live longer  by 6.5 years.

In a 2011 survey asking Baby Boomer-aged women about their retirement plans and their investible assets, single women had substantially less money saved for retirement than did single men. In addition to less money saved for retirement, a high percentage (86%) of women surveyed planned to retire earlier than men.

The other important fact discovered from the survey results was that women had a much greater fear of running out of money during their retirement years. While on 52% of men are concerned about retirement shortfalls, 70% of women list this as their number one concern.
According to the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER): http://www.wiserwomen.org/

Top Five Retirement Challenges For Women

1. Three out of five working women earn less than $30,000 per year.
2. Three out of four working women earn less than $40,000 per year.
3. Half of all women work in traditionally female, relatively low paid jobs without pensions.
4. Women retirees receive only half the average pension benefits that men receive.
5. Women’s earnings average $.77 for every $1 earned by men – a lifetime loss of over $300,000.

Realities as listed above put retirement in jeopardy and makes planning a difficult task. The Institute goes on to say that women are twice as likely as older men to become poor.

The important first step for women with their financial planning is to take control and be in charge of their financial future. Making sure your financial future has basic guarantees is the first step.  Annuities can help provide that important base. Here are a few benefits of using an annuity as the foundation of retirement planning.

• Funds in an annuity accumulate as deferred.
• Annuities can avoid probate when a named beneficiary is used. Many annuities now contain a death benefit provision which allows for a larger inheritance to be received by the named beneficiary.
• Many annuities now contain long term care riders which will assist in nursing home expenses. Generally the LTC rider is less expensive than a long term care insurance policy.
• The right type of annuity (fixed) allows for protection from loss (and risk) and the proceeds are fully guaranteed.
• Unlike an IRA or 401 (k), annuities have no limits in regards to annual contributions.

And finally, women statistically live longer than men and annuities have an income feature that will provide an income for as long as the annuitant lives, regardless of how long that may be.  So a woman can provide the foundational structure of long-term guaranteed income without any concern of outliving her money.

Safety, guaranteed income, annuities could be the key for women who want an insured retirement income.$