Americans are working less

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

It's interesting to me that annuities still exist, as they're essentially a self-funded pension. So they've obviously found a way to make the model work.

On paper, annuities make a ton of sense to me. As an individual, I have to worry about a market that goes south for a decade. As a perpetually living corporation, an annuity (or a pension plan) doesn't need to worry about that. I guess there are some variables such as life spans that could be a risk, but it seems like those could be built in.

I'm not necessarily advocating for the return of pensions, but my own observations is that people who get them feel much more secure in retirement, rightly or wrongly.

I'm also a big fan of society putting $1,000 into a long-term deferred investment fund for every kid that's born. It's not a huge cost, and it confers huge long-term benefits to the kid.

There is really good white papers out there that have researched and surveyed thousands of retirees and those that have guaranteed income are much happier, and travel and recreate much more than those that don't. Even if the dollar equivalents are the same for those without lifetime income.