Money: Ways Annuities Can Help Your Retirement Plan

Not all annuities are bad for your financial health

Photo by Wolfgang Halliwell: https://www.pexels.com/photo/an-elderly-man-standing-on-a-mountain-with-trekking-poles-12431188/

I’m finally in the home stretch.

After four and a half decades, I’m perhaps two to three years from becoming “work optional” and downshifting my career from full-time to half-time or less.

At that point, besides writing online, I’ll only work when I find an interesting project that lets me work with people I like, with compensation a far second consideration (if even that).

Of course, if the recent market turmoil continues, I may choose to put off “pulling the trigger” on this change for a little longer.

My (financial) concerns around “the ‘R’ word”

This brings up the question — how do we optimize the following three things:

1. The likelihood of not running out of money, even if we live into the three-digit age bracket
2. The amount we can spend in retirement
3. The predictability of our retirement income

This reminds me of former NASA Administrator Daniel Gordin, who coined the motto “Cheaper, Better, Faster,” which led to many NASA people jokingly adding “… pick any two.” I later privately added, “… and you may get it.”