From bull to bear and back again

How to Build Retirement Income Security in Any Type of Stock Market Environment Generating a predictable stream of incoming cash flow can require a number of variables, which typically include stock market performance and/or interest rates. So, how can today’s (and tomorrow’s) retirees go from bull to bear and back again without it disrupting the flow of their retirement income stream? One way is to set up one or more generators of “protected” retirement income that will continue to flow in regardless of what is happening in the market, or even in the economy overall.

More than Seven Decades of Ups and Downs for Baby Boomers

The Baby Boomer generation has made an impact from their very beginning, when approximately 10,000 children were born into the world each day starting in 1946, following World War ll. Over the past 7+ decades, this generation of men and women has created the need for economic change, in large part due to their sheer number – which today is estimated to be roughly 73 million. As the Boomers moved through life, more schools were built to accommodate them, and likewise, more housing was needed as they entered into adulthood. This massive group has also seen a plethora of changes in the financial markets, such as the:

• 1987 crash of the Dow Jones Industrial Average – which included a 22.6% single-day market drop in October of that year.
• Burst of the dot.com bubble in the year 2000.
• 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
• Great recession of 2008 – 2009 (and the corresponding housing market crash).
• Post-2008 economic recovery – only to see a 30% drop in the Dow in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 worldwide health pandemic.

Each and every one of these events – and more – has had an impact on the way that Baby Boomers plan for retirement, with one of the biggest concerns being the need to maintain assets for as long as they are needed.

The Reliable Retirement Income Solution for Baby Boomers

While many financial advisors still stick to traditional portfolio drawdown strategies for retirement income generation, these techniques just simply don’t work today, given the unpredictability and volatility of the stock market, coupled with continued low interest rates. So, how can Boomers set up an income that they can rely upon for as long as they need it in retirement? One way is to purchase an annuity. Annuities are designed for paying out income, either for a set period of time (such as 10 or 20 years), or even for the remainder of your lifetime – regardless of how long that may be. Not all annuities are the same, though, so using this retirement income strategy is best accomplished by working in conjunction with a specialist in this area. At Annuity Gator, we make learning about annuities easy. We can also help you with comparing different annuities side-by-side, whether you are considering the purchase of one, or you already have done so. With that in mind, feel free to contact us with any annuity or retirement income questions you may have. We can be reached at (888) 440-2468 or via email using our secure online contact form. We look forward to hearing from you.