nun
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2006
- Messages
- 4,872
I worked for a non-profit and TIAA-CREF handled our retirement funds. In this case it is easy to use annuities as part of one's retirement funds. I annuitized about 40 percent of my retirement assets (some at age 66 and the rest at age 70). This, together with my SS covers my basic needs. I invest the rest of my funds fairly aggressively because my basic needs are safely met.
This has worked out well for me. The alternative was to buy something safe like bonds and I don't like to have too many bonds in today's environment.
If you are under age 70 you might consider waiting to buy an annuity. This takes away some of the inflation risk as you are no longer planning for such a long period.
I worked in academia and have TIAA-CREF and use TIAA-Traditional. I have considered using some of it to buy a life time annuity as the rates they offer are substantially better that the open market. However, I like keeping control of my principal and just take the 4% interest and use TIAA-Traditional in place of a bond allocation. I definitely don't see bond funds as "safe" anymore.