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Planning & Retirement
General information description if needed. Leverage Financialize’s platform to gain access to premium leads, advanced tools, and expert guidance - all designed to help you grow your annuity and better serve your clients.
The "Red Zone" is the period just before retirement where "Sequence of Returns Risk" is highest. A 20% market drop during this time can devastate a portfolio's longevity. Purchasing a Deferred Income Annuity (DIA) or Fixed Index Annuity during this window can "insulate" a portion of your wealth, ensuring that even if the market crashes, you have a guaranteed income stream active for your later years.
- List Essential Expenses: Housing, food, utilities, Medicare premiums, insurance. (e.g., $5,000/mo).
- List Guaranteed Income: Social Security + Pensions. (e.g., $3,000/mo).
- The Gap: $5,000 - $3,000 = $2,000/mo.
Financial best practice is to cover this $2,000 gap with an annuity, ensuring your basic needs are met regardless of stock market performance.
The Bucket Strategy divides assets by time horizon:
- Bucket 1 (1-3 years): Cash/Liquidity.
- Bucket 2 (4-10 years): Fixed Annuities (MYGAs) and Bonds for stability and yield.
- Bucket 3 (10+ years): Stocks for long-term growth.
Annuities anchor Bucket 2, preventing you from having to sell Bucket 3 stocks during a downturn to pay bills.
A Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC) allows you to use up to $210,000 (2026 limit) of IRA funds to buy an annuity that doesn't start paying until age 85. This not only defers taxes but acts as "longevity insurance," providing a massive income boost in late life to cover potential long-term care or enhanced medical costs.
Yes. This is a powerful strategy. If you retire at 62 but want to delay Social Security until age 70 (to get the max 132% benefit), you can purchase a Period Certain Annuity or use a "bridge" withdrawal strategy from an annuity to provide income for those 8 years. This protects your other assets while maximizing your government inflation-adjusted income.
Standard fixed annuities pay a flat amount, which loses purchasing power over time. However, you can purchase COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) riders which increase payments by 1-3% annually, or use "CPI-linked" annuities. Alternatively, retirees use the "laddering" strategy—buying annuities that mature at different times to reinvest at potentially higher rates.
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