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November 23, 2004 10:03 PM

Some New Ways To Preserve Your Retirement


Excerpt: It is a marked shift from the invest-or-perish mindset of the 1980s and 1990s, when companies focused their marketing efforts on getting people to save for retirement. The emphasis now is moving toward making those investments last. The new approach comes as the leading edge of the baby-boom generation is reaching retirement age. Those boomers, the insurers are betting, will need as much help in retirement as they did in preparing for it.


Insurance companies and mutual-fund firms are rolling out a dizzying variety of annuities and other products targeted to people worrying about running out of money in their retirement. MetLife Inc. in September introduced what it calls "retirement-income insurance," essentially an annuity you buy now that starts paying out benefits in three decades. Prudential PLC's Jackson National Life unit, a big seller of variable annuities, recently became the latest insurer to add features to its annuities that allow investors to continue investing in the market while at the same time ensuring themselves a steady stream of income.

Fidelity Investments, the world's biggest mutual-fund company, earlier this year launched its online Income Management Account -- a centralized place for investors to control their account withdrawals in retirement -- and gives it top billing on the home page of the Fidelity Web site. Ernst & Young LLP, the consulting firm, offers a similar tool called Retirement Analytics that it has begun marketing to fund companies.

It is a marked shift from the invest-or-perish mindset of the 1980s and 1990s, when companies focused their marketing efforts on getting people to save for retirement. The emphasis now is moving toward making those investments last. The new approach comes as the leading edge of the baby-boom generation is reaching retirement age. Those boomers, the insurers are betting, will need as much help in retirement as they did in preparing for it.

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Read all 23 posts in the same category of Retirement:

Bush Says Social Security Plan Would Reassure Markets - Dec 17, 2004
Are You Ready To Retire? - Dec 13, 2004
Last-Minute Retirement Planning - Dec 12, 2004
Small Change Adds Up To Big Savings - Dec 09, 2004
Bush To Borrow To Fix Social Security - Dec 07, 2004
Moving Smoothly Into Retirement - Dec 07, 2004
Get Healthy, Get Wealthy - Dec 06, 2004
Five Books to Retire By - Dec 05, 2004
Tax Policy Promotes Early Retirement - Dec 02, 2004
Fidelity Analyzes Pension Performance - Dec 02, 2004
Social Security COLA Increase Looks Puny - Dec 02, 2004
No More IRA Leniency - Nov 29, 2004
To Yield A Good Retirement, Get Real, And Work It Out - Nov 28, 2004
Social Security Reforms On The Way? - Nov 26, 2004
Living Trust Offers: How to Make Sure They're Trust-Worthy - Nov 22, 2004
How to Forecast a Lifespan - Nov 21, 2004
Be Happy, And Put Retirement Fears to Rest - Nov 21, 2004
Seven Ways to Stop Saying 'Oops!' - Nov 21, 2004
Retirees Don't Have to Be So Frugal: A Case for Withdrawing Up to 6% a Year - Nov 17, 2004
How to Avoid Living Like a Poor Student at Age 70 - Nov 09, 2004
What Social Security Might Look Like - Nov 09, 2004
Are You Retirement Ready -- Or Not? - Nov 03, 2004