This week my podcast guest is Mary Beth Franklin, one of the nation’s best-known experts on Social Security. A columnist for Investment News and a long-time financial reporter and author based in Washington, D.C., Mary Beth travels the country extensively giving talks about Social Security, and she is the author of a book for financial planners on Social Security strategy.
My interview with Mary Beth is paired with a new guide to Social Security claiming strategies that paid newsletter subscribers received last week. The guide explains why Social Security is such a critical part of your retirement plan, how benefits are calculated, and how to get the most from your benefits.
This is part of a series of guides on the key challenges in planning for retirement that I’m featuring in the newsletter. Each guide is paired with a podcast interview with a top expert on the subject. Earlier editions have focused on the transition to Medicare and how to hire a financial planner; up next will be guides on the cost of health care in retirement, aging in place, working longer as a retirement plan and much more.
Subscribe to the newsletter during the current Spring sale to receive 50 percent off your first year. Check it out using the little green button below, or click here to learn more about the newsletter. You also can subscribe to periodic free editions of the podcast on Apple podcasts or Stitcher.
Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this free excerpt from my interview with Mary Beth Franklin. Click the player icon at the top of the page to hear our conversation.
Join me for a free webinar on retirement health care
Join me and a panel of experts the evening of June 5th for a free webinar discussion on how to navigate the transition to Medicare, and other key aspects of health care in retirement.
We’ll be taking your questions on these topics and more:
Making the most of healthcare while you are still working
How to afford pre-Medicare healthcare (if you don’t have a company plan)
Choosing the right original Medicare or Medicare Advantage plan
Medigap
The webinar is hosted by Steve Chen, founder of NewRetirement.com. Among the healthcare experts joining us will be Fred Riccardi, new president of the Medicare Rights Center.
The webinar will be held live on Wednesday June 5th at 8pm eastern time. Click here to sign up.
Annuities are staging a rebound - here’s why
Annuities are sold, not bought, the old saying goes. If so, someone is doing a pretty good sales job on fixed annuities.
There are two main types. Fixed-rate deferred annuities provide a CD-like guaranteed return for maturities of three to 10 years. Indexed annuities provide protection of principal and participation in some upside, usually tied to the performance of a stock market index.
Both are enjoying healthy growth. According to the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute, fixed-rate deferred annuity sales jumped 34% in 2018; fixed indexed annuities were up 27%. Both were well ahead of a healthy 15% rise in sales of all annuity products. The trend continued in the first quarter this year: LIMRA SRI reported last week that fixed sales were up 38% compared with the same period last year. Variable annuity sales were down 7%.
In part, those strong gains reflect a bounce-back following the demise of the U.S. Department of Labor fiduciary rule, which has removed the threat of litigation against insurance companies and brokers if they sell products that don't meet fiduciary best-practice standards.
But the fast growth for fixed products suggests something else may be going on, too: They are being purchased for their liquidity features. As such, these products may be starting to overcome one of the biggest annuity purchase objections: turning over a large lump sum of cash in return for an uncertain lifetime return.
Learn more in my column this week for Morningstar.
