Life only annuities

[GTM]

I've read alittle about life only annuities and from what I understand they will pay you x amount of dollars for as long as you live. If you die the insurance company keeps the money.

I believe the payment would be higher than a regular annuity since there are no beneficiary payments.
These may be worth considering for someone who is concerned about about out living their money and is not concerned about leaving a big estate.

Is anyone familiar with these annuities?

[brewer12345]

You have accurately described the product. Some people buy life annuities with a portion of their assets to be sure of a bedrock layer of income and then invest the rest.

[JWR1945]

For GTM:

You can check everything out and get quotes by visiting Vanguard's Retirement Center. I followed this sequence of links.

http://www.vanguard.com/

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/PersonalHome

http://flagship3.vanguard.com/web/pl...=spotlighton04

http://flagship3.vanguard.com/web/co...nuitiesOV.html

Most likely, you are interested in a Vanguard Lifetime Income Program. To come up with an example, I requested a quote with information similar to my own. I selected a $500000 one-time balance with payments beginning on January 1, 2005. I assumed the use of Non-qualified (i.e., after tax) funds. I selected a Life Only policy for a single male of an age close to 59. I had the payments increase by 3% per year as a hedge against inflation.

I received a quote that my annuity payments would start at $2112.62 per month.

I believe that TIAA-CREF offers low fee annuities as well as Vanguard.

Have fun.

John R.

[charlie]

I have been monitoring "immediate annuities" as well.
They are very sensitive to long term interest rates so
you might want to wait until long rates go up as I am
doing.

Cheers,

Charlie

[Beachbumz]

Thanks for the links JWR, that is a great site.
The bum