ANOTHER LOOK AT ANNUITIES
Now that the Treasury Department has changed the tax rules, allowing workers to invest some of their 401(k) and IRA money in certain types of annuities without having to take required minimum distributions, there may be reason to give this investment a new look. While there are many available choices in annuities, the simplest way to guarantee lifetime income is an “immediate annuity,” which promises to pay a fixed amount of income annually for the rest of the investor’s life. Because the payouts are based on current interest rates and never change, investors may want to protect themselves against inflation. One way of doing so involves “laddering” immediate annuities, which spreads out the investment, perhaps each year for five years.
Laddering immediate annuities not only takes advantage of rising interest rates in succeeding years, but it also means larger annual payouts that come with investing at an older age.