A recent study revealed that 70% of Americans plan to continue working once they’re “retired”.1 Why do so many expect to postpone a typical, leisure-filled retirement? One theory points to the decline of pensions and the need to replace the income stream that used to come – guaranteed – from a past-employer. Today, nearly half of all American workers are not covered by a pension plan2 and only 11% of Fortune 100 firms offer a traditional defined benefit.3
With private pensions becoming more rare, guarantees in retirement may be far and few between, but it doesn’t make them any less important.
For starters, guarantees might make you happier. Research suggests that retirees get more satisfaction from each dollar of Social Security and pension income than they do from any other source of income. 4 That’s because you’re more likely to be confident spending money when you know another check is right around the corner.
Guarantees can also help you be a more confident investor through market ups and downs. Guarantees can be the guardrails you need to stay the course when investing, knowing that you have some protection built into your portfolio. And, with Americans living longer than ever before, guarantees in your overall retirement plan may help you make sure your money lasts as long as you do.
Just like no two retirements are alike, not all guarantees are alike, so it’s important to understand the options available to you and to identify what, in your own retirement, you want to guarantee.
- com, “15 Reasons the U.S. Retirement Crisis Is Even Worse Than You Think”, Nov 2012
- Towers Watson, 2012.
- org, “Boomers Report No Savings At All”, Feb 2011
- “What Makes a Successful Retirement?” Research Magazine. Feb 2014