Hi. I just found this site. Looking for some advice. I just retired and have a good nest egg. Currently I have the $s divided into 2 strategies...1 a typical diversified portfolio-50/40/10. The larger portion is a tactically managed dividend income interest portfolio.
I am 62...have enough cash for 3 years of spend so I wasnt hitting the $s for 3 years.
The nervous side of me is starting to think of getting a deferred annuity that can start in 3 years....sort of making sure that with SS and the annuity my essentials are covered for life....I wonder whether to have the major bulk of my $s in the market....maybe ladder the strategic $s into CDs?
Just looking for any assistance at this point
Well, you won't find many annuity fans around here--but many of us would grudgingly go that route if forced into a corner. Annuities have high costs, they are only as safe as their issuing company, obviously they reduce the value of what will be passed to your heirs, and the present low-interest rate environment is not a great time to be buying them. But if a retiree can't maintain a sufficient income flow with SS, pensions, and the expected safe withdrawal from their investments, then it may make sense to enhance the annual take from those investments by using an inflation-adjusted annuity.
Search the threads here for discussions about Jim Otar, his book gives some good discussion and ways to analyze the situation. If you are in Otar's "Green Zone", then an annuity probably isn't for you. If you are in his Red Zone, it may be time to bite the bullet: the significant negatives of an annuity may be outweighed by their value in these cases. Interest rates are much more likely to rise than to fall, so if you can wait, that together with your increasing age might increase the amount an annuity would pay monthly.
Welcome to the board!
Last edited:
