I’ve written about “tools” in previous articles.  June happens to be “annuity awareness month” in our industry, so I thought I would cast a spotlight on them within this article.  Annuities are simply tools that offer a few distinctive and unique benefits.  Primarily, I’ve made use of annuities within client plans to the extent we’ve needed durable income.  “Durable” implies that you can neither outlive the income, nor can the market take it away.

Only an annuity can provide such an income to compliment a pension, or Social Security. 

Needs of long term care can fall upon anyone, not just those nearing or transitioning into retirement.  Some of these statistics may be surprising.  In the State of Alabama, the average cost of a nursing home private room was $76,267 per year.  The median yearly cost for all nursing homes in the United States was just over $80,000 per year in 2016.

Nearly 70% of people over the age of 65 will need long term care support services at some point in their lives according to the 2016 publication of Medicare and You. 

We could create the best, and most dynamic financial plan in the world, but it will fail miserably if your ability to earn an income is interrupted or lost completely.  Everything that we do is predicated on the idea that you will have an income, from which you will make retirement plan contributions, and pay medical insurance premiums, mortgages, utility bills, and meet other required living expenses.