Retirement Income/Annuities/Pensions

Immediate/Longevity Annuity Payment Calculator: Enter your age, sex and how much you want to invest, and this calculator will show you how much lifetime income an immediate annuity or longevity annuity will pay.

BlackRock LifePath Spending Tool This tool will estimate how much you can spend each year in retirement based on the value of your savings, its market forecast and longevity assumptions.

BlackRock Retirement Expense Worksheet This worksheet covers more than 50 separate expenditure items in eight categories ranging from personal living expenses to medical costs to taxes and transportation .

National Organization of Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA)   This organization’s site explains how the state insurance safety net works and provides links to each state’s guaranty association.

Retirement Withdrawal Calculator  This American Institute For Economic Research tool helps you estimate the level of inflation-adjusted withdrawals you can take from retirement savings based on your age and other factors.

Insurer Financial Strength Ratings  This web page provides insurer ratings and links to three major ratings firms.

Retirement Income Calculator This T. Rowe Price tool allows you factor in such information as Social Security payments, pensions, part-time work to determine whether you have enough resources to support your planned retirement lifestyle.

Villas, Castles and Vacations: How Perks And Giveaways Create Conflicts of Interest In The Annuity Industry  This report from the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren details the fees, rewards, prizes and other inducements many annuity purveyors provide to insurance agents to spur annuity sales.

Retirement Income Dashboard  This section of Wade Pfau’s Retirement Researcher site provides sustainable withdrawal rates based on current market conditions.

Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data  This seminal 1994 study from financial planner William Bengen is the basis for what’s become known as the 4% rule.

A More Dynamic Approach To Spending For Investors In Retirement  This Vanguard study discusses different withdrawal methods, including a “floor-and-ceiling” approach.

Decision Rules And Maximum Initial Withdrawal Rates  In this paper financial planner Jonathan Guyton and software developer William Klinger show how one may be able sto start with a higher withdrawal rate by following a detailed set of rules for adjusting withdrawals later on.

Vanguard’s Retirement Nest Egg Calculator A handy tool if you just want a quick estimate of the probability your savings will support you throughout retirement at different withdrawal rates and mixes of stocks, bonds and cash. Adjust the sliders and the portfolio pie chart, click Run Simulation and you get an estimate of the odds that your nest egg will last 20, 25, 30 or however many years you choose.

The Consumer Financial Protection Board’s Pension Payout Guide  This eight-page guide from the CFPB explains the key issues you must weigh in deciding whether to take your pension as a lump sum or series of lifetime monthly payments and provides links to a variety of resources.

Boston College Center For Retirement Research Social Security Claiming Guide  This free 28-page guide can help you sort through and evaluate your options for claiming Social Security benefits and answers common questions people have about how Social Security works.

General Accounting Office (GAO) Report On Pensions And Lump Sums  Among other things, this 2015 report details weaknesses in the information about payout options provided by private pension plans to their participants. The report also shows how much less monthly income one would receive, on average, by taking a lump sum and buying an insurance company annuity vs. accepting the monthly payment option from a company plan.

Dynamic Choice and Optimal Annuitization  This study published by Morningstar head of retirement research David Blanchett in the Journal of Retirement examines how much of their retirement savings retirees should convert to immediate annuities and when they should do so. One key finding is that retirees can take advantage of immediate annuities’ guaranteed lifetime income while investing less money upfront if they’re willing to adjust their spending and withdrawals from the rest of their savings throughout retirement based on how the financial markets are performing. Another is that you don’t have to rush into an annuity. Blanchett shows that you give up very little of the benefit of buying an annuity as long as you do so within 10 years of retiring.

Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLACs)  In July, 2014 the Treasury Department waived the required minimum distribution (RMD) requirement for longevity annuities meeting certain criteria. These longevity annuities are called QLACs (Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts). This Q&A explains how QLACs work.

Vanguard Retirement Expenses Worksheet   An interactive worksheet that allows you to enter up to 31 different expenses spread among eight categories to help you get a handle on what your expenses may be in retirement.

RetiredBrains and RetirementJobs.com These two sites provide job listings from employers looking to hire older workers as well as information on how to start a business in retirement and find volunteering opportunities.

Using Your House For Income In Retirement This guide from the Boston Center College For Retirement Research provides specific examples that allows you to compare downsizing vs taking out a reverse mortgage as a way to tap your home equity for retirement income.

Treasury Department-Longevity Annuities Here, in all their splendor, are the final rules that spell out what longevity annuities can and can’t do in order to qualify as QLACs, or qualified longevity annuity contracts. If a longevity annuity complies with these rules, you can invest up to $125,000 or 25% of the combined balances of all your qualified accounts (401(k)s, IRAs, etc) without having to worry about required minimum distributions for the money invested in the longevity annuity.

TIAA-CREF 2015 Lifetime Income Survey  This study examines consumer attitudes toward retirement income and what steps Americans are taking to convert their retirement nest eggs into sustainable income.

Retirement Income Planner (and Retirement Budget Worksheet) With this Fidelity Investments calculator, you can plug in estimated retirement expenses using an interactive budgeting worksheet and run scenarios to see how long your nest egg might last with different combinations of stocks and bonds in both good and poor markets. A related tool, the Income Strategy Evaluator, will also tell you whether devoting a portion of your assets to an income annuity might boost your retirement income and your nest egg’s longevity.