Younger wife,... lump sum or annuity??

[racy]

I expect to live longer than average which suggests I should take a guaranteed income stream. But I'm planning to go with lump sum because there is no guarantee the insurer will be around/solvent for 30-40 years. I might get a fraction of the guaranteed income or none at all. Didn't used to be much of a concern before the 2008 meltdown, but after that it seems anything is possible. My 2¢...please don't misunderstand, I wish you all the best. It's a decision we all have to make and there is no right answer.

I share your concern about the insurer. Actually I plan to take the lump but then purchase immediate annuities from the strongest 5 to 7 insurance companies.

The 2008 'meltdown' was in stocks, not insurance companies. The stock market goes up and it goes down.. always has, always will.

Interesting article here ( Are Annuities Offered by Insurance Companies Safe? :Retirement Blog- Retirement Planning Blog ). From the article, "The part of the financial services industry that has largely escaped financial trauma has been life insurance companies. Granted, AIG Corporate failed but their troubles were not related to “insurance” but to unregulated Credit Default Swaps".

 

[Midpack]

I share your concern about the insurer. Actually I plan to take the lump but then purchase immediate annuities from the strongest 5 to 7 insurance companies.

Very smart idea IMHO.

The 2008 'meltdown' was in stocks, not insurance companies. The stock market goes up and it goes down.. always has, always will.

Interesting article here ( Are Annuities Offered by Insurance Companies Safe? :Retirement Blog- Retirement Planning Blog ). From the article, "The part of the financial services industry that has largely escaped financial trauma has been life insurance companies. Granted, AIG Corporate failed but their troubles were not related to “insurance” but to unregulated Credit Default Swaps".

I was going to mention AIG, but I see you acknowledged same. Credit default swaps were/are an insurance product!

And I wish I was confident we've seen the worst the broad financial sector (incl insurers) and an ever larger clueless public can do. Lending has tightened up, but little has been done on the regulatory front to prevent a recurrence or another "legal" but highly destructive series of events.
Not sure what you mean by 'the meltdown was in stocks.' While "Wall Street" and financial services (CDO's and the unbelievable synthetic CDO's) get most of the media attention, it was decidely also:

• mortage providers (questionable qualifying),
• insurers (credit default swaps),
• government agencies (Fannie & Freddie fell into the same traps as private mortgage companies),
• government policy (forcing banks to lower their standards, the Fed & Treasury refusing to act sooner despite plenty of warnings),
• rating agencies (thinking CDS's would protect them),
• investors (if it sounds too good to be true...)
• and many private citizens (if you make $20K/yr and you don't know you can't afford a $700K home despite what a mortgage company tells you, you aren't qualified to make decisions without supervision).

These are just some of the participants with some examples...

Again, I am only giving my POV. I hope you're retirement plans succeed beyond your expectations, along with everyone else here. And the right answers will only be known after the fact...