The market performing poorly reminds us that we need to be cautious with the risks we take so we navigate market crashes well. Defend against recency bias by having a financial portfolio that will do what you need it to do through all kinds of market cycles.

Navigate Market Crashes with Retirement in Mind

With retirement approaching, reviewing your goals will ensure that you are on track for retirement. Here’s a quick checklist of the what you should be doing to prepare during your 60s.

Staying on Track for Retirement in Your 60s

After working and saving for so many years, it’s finally time to retire. Here’s a quick to-do list to make sure you’ve done everything to prepare.


How You Can Prepare for Retirement During Your 70s

The most prevalent retirement options today present a great risk: you could outlive them. Here we present five retirement options you can't outlive.

Retirement Options To Not Outlive Your Retirement Savings

Should You Get a Fixed-Index Annuity?

Higher life expectancies mean longer retirements. It’s important to consider these tools and strategies to ensure that you don’t outlive your retirement savings.

Thumb - Smart Planning for a Long Retirement

Smart Planning for a Long Retirement

401(k)s have become the predominant way to prepare for retirement, which leaves retirement savings exposed to market volatility. As a result, we are more sensitive to changes and drops in the markets. Knowing how stock market drops affect your retirement means it's important to protect your investments from movements in the market. 

How Stock Market Drops Affect Your Retirement

What Is a Fixed Index Annuity?

A longevity annuity is like a pension you can buy for yourself from an insurance company using your pre-tax or post-tax retirement savings, generating a guaranteed income that lasts as long as you do. It’s a great way to diversify your portfolio, and make sure that all, or most, of your basic retirement expenses will be covered for as long as you live.

What's a Longevity Annuity?

There are many features you can add to your QLAC so it best fits your needs. We’ve broken down the options you can select to customize your QLAC.

Customizing Your QLAC

Longevity annuities are comparable in many ways to low-risk fixed income investments, which provide steady, reliable income that doesn’t depend on the stock markets. We’ve laid out how a longevity annuity fits well in a diversified portfolio.

Diversify Your Portfolio with a Longevity Annuity

Do Immediate Annuities Have Beneficiaries?

The kind of savings used to purchase your longevity annuity will determine the taxes owed on the income payments you receive. We’ve broken down how you may be taxed.

How Will My Longevity Annuity Be Taxed?

If one's goal is to avoid running out of money in retirement while leaving the largest possible legacy behind at death, then income annuities play a crucial role. In Blueprint Income's recent white paper, we demonstrate that portfolios made up of just stocks and annuities produce the best outcomes.

Optimizing a Retirement Portfolio Using Annuities

To make the process of buying an annuity as seamless as possible, prepare to go through the following steps and be familiar with the following terminology. In addition to providing free, real-time annuity quotes, Blueprint Income will take care of the rest of the annuity buying process for you.

Ready to Buy an Annuity? Here's How the Process Works

Find the answers to your questions when buying an annuity. 

Tips When Buying an Immediate Annuity

A longevity annuity can provide you with peace of mind during retirement. While not right for everyone, find out if a longevity annuity fits your retirement needs.

Should You Buy a Longevity Annuity?

Traditionally we're told to save for retirement, but we don't have security of income and no one tells us about how much is enough, when to start spending our retirement savings or how long we should plan to make it last.  This is why at Blueprint Income we value an income-focused retirement plan.

Security of Income in Retirement is Our Secret

Comparing the exact financial value of a longevity annuity to a traditional investment product is like comparing apples to oranges. But it’s important to make some assumptions and run the numbers. 

The Financial Value of a Longevity Annuity

Fixed Index Annuities Reasons To Consider

To maximize your retirement, you should try to maximize guaranteed income available to you. Here are 4 ways to increase your pension check.

5 Ways To Increase Your Pension Check

The answers to the most important questions for when you purchase a QLAC.


Tips When Buying a QLAC

Comparing the exact financial value of an immediate annuity to a traditional investment product is like comparing apples to oranges. But it’s important to make some assumptions and run the numbers. So here it goes! 


The Financial Value of an Immediate Annuity

Should you hate annuities? Yes, some types. Others? No, not if you believe the federal government, trusted academics or Ken Fisher himself.

Should You Hate Annuities like Ken Fisher?

Not all annuity websites are created equal. Do your homework.

Online Annuities: How (and How Not) to Buy an Annuity Online

One part of the The Retirement Plan Simplification and Enhancement Act, calls for making upward revisions of the QLAC limit. Under the new proposed rules, you could contribute up to $200,000 or 100% of your 401(k) or IRA account balance to a QLAC, but it is still up in the air as to whether this will get passed. 

New Legislation, If Passed, Would Increase QLAC Limits

Immediate annuities have many financial benefits that help make retirement planning simpler, but also some drawbacks. Find out what an immediate annuity has to offer before you purchase. 


The Pros and Cons of an Immediate Annuity

QLACs have many financial benefits which make retirement planning simpler. But, it’s important that you know all they have to offer to determine if it’s right for you.


The Pros and Cons of a QLAC

A QLAC provides steady, reliable income that doesn’t depend on the stock market. We’ve laid out how a QLAC could fit into your portfolio.

A QLAC in a Diversified Portfolio

A QLAC offers you a guaranteed income stream to give you peace of mind during retirement. We’ve created this quick checklist so you can know if a longevity annuity is a good fit for you.


Should You Buy a QLAC?

What Happens to an Immediate Annuity When You Die?

The immediate annuity (sometimes also referred to as a Single Premium Immediate Annuity or SPIA) is a pension-like product you can buy for yourself from an insurance company using your retirement savings. An immediate annuity generates a guaranteed income stream that lasts as long as you do with income starting no more than a year from your purchase. It’s a way to diversify your portfolio, and make sure that all, or most, of your basic retirement expenses will be covered for as long as you live. 

What's an Immediate Annuity?

Annuity adoption is less than would be expected in traditional economic models, as economists have shown that purchasing an annuity can lead to higher retirement income than a self-managed portfolio. Reframing annuities as a mechanism to improve consumption in retirement can improve utilization of annuity products. 

Can We Solve the Annuity Puzzle by Reframing Annuities?

There are many features you can add to your immediate annuity so it properly fits your needs. We’ve broken down the options you can select to customize your immediate annuity.

Customizing Your Immediate Annuity

There are many features you can add to your longevity annuity so it properly fits your needs. We’ve broken down the options you can select to customize your longevity annuity.

Customize Your Longevity Annuity

There are optional features you can choose so that your QLAC fits your needs. We’ve outlined how these options can affect your QLAC rates here.


These Features Can Affect Your QLAC Rates

A QLAC is not only financially valuable, but it offers something traditional investments cannot: peace of mind. We’ve laid out how to determine your financial return from a QLAC.

The Financial Value of a QLAC

Planning for your retirement can be broken down into three primary objectives: liquidity, growth, and income. There are different financial products to use to meet each of those needs.

Finding the Right Financial Product for Your Retirement Objectives

By transferring money out of your Traditional IRA and into a QLAC, you reduce the Traditional IRA balance subject to RMDs, deferring them until the QLAC income starts.

How Does a QLAC Defer Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)?

You have a few options if you'd like to purchase a QLAC with a 401(k).

How to Purchase a QLAC with 401(k) Funds

The kind of savings used to purchase your immediate annuity will determine the taxes owed on the income payments you receive. We’ve broken down how you may be taxed. 

How Will My Immediate Annuity Be Taxed?

Instructions for how to purchase a Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC) in a 401(k), 403(b), IRA or other plan.

Purchasing a QLAC in a Tax Deferred Plan

Household spending generally drops at retirement and then continues to decline throughout retirement. Here’s how people’s spending changes the most and how it can effect your saving plan. 

Thumb - How Your Spending Changes in Retirement

How Your Spending Changes in Retirement

Annuities without cash value, a.k.a. income annuities, offer you protection from running out of money by providing guaranteed retirement income. These are the 5 reasons why income annuities are the best option for your retirement plan. 

5 Reasons Why Annuities Without Cash Value Is Best

An annuity is a way to turn your savings into guaranteed income you can’t outlive, no matter what happens in the market or how long you live.

Fixed and Income Annuities Overview

Find the answers to your questions when buying a longevity annuity. 

Tips When Buying a Longevity Annuity

Your personal attributes and the extra features you choose to customize your immediate annuity with will affect the income you can generate. We’ve broken down how each option will impact your rates.

These Features Will Impact Your Immediate Annuity Quotes

Your personal attributes and the extra features you choose to customize your longevity annuity with will affect the income you can generate. We’ve broken down how each option will affect your rates.


These Features Can Affect Your Longevity Annuity Rates

The Federal Reserve recently raised short term interest rates by 0.25%, but how does this impact annuity payouts? Learn what factors, in addition to changes in interest rates, can affect your annuity payout.

Impact of the Fed's Interest Rate Increase on Annuity Rates

We have recently identified parameters where certain indexed annuities with income riders generate more lifetime income than longevity annuities (a.k.a. deferred income annuities or DIAs). 

Longevity Annuity vs. Indexed Annuity Income Analysis

Early in our careers, we think about retirement in terms of assets, but as we get closer to actually retiring, it’s important to shift and focus on income. Why? Assets run out. Lifetime income doesn’t.


Thumb - Planning for Retirement with Income and Assets

Planning for Retirement with Income and Assets

Although QLACs are similar to longevity annuities, they differ in a few key ways. We’ve clarified the four unique features of a QLAC here.

Product Details of a QLAC

Longevity annuities have several financial benefits to help make retirement planning simpler, but also have some drawbacks. Find out what a longevity annuity has to offer before you purchase. 

The Pros and Cons of a Longevity Annuity

QLACs’ special designation means that the income you receive can start later than age 70 1/2, reducing your RMDs and associated taxes. We’ve laid out the tax treatment your QLAC can receive. 

How Will My QLAC Be Taxed?

We've expanded our real-time income annuity calculator to include Period Certain annuities. Unlike other income annuities, Period Certain annuities are not life contingent. 

Real-Time Period Certain Quotes Now Available on Blueprint Income

An immediate annuity can provide you with peace of mind during retirement. While not right for everyone, find out if an immediate annuity fits your retirement needs.

Should You Buy an Immediate Annuity?

For most Americans, Social Security only accounts for a portion of their retirement income. Here’s how you can fill this gap to ensure you have enough income during your golden years. 


Allocation to Social Security for Just a Part of Retirement Income

Understanding Fixed Indexed Annuities

Understanding Rate Lock and How It Differs Between Income Annuities and Fixed Annuities

What Happens to the Money in an Annuity When You Die?

A Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC) is a pension-like product you can purchase with qualified savings that will provide you income for as long as you live. We’ve outlined the key components of QLACs and how they work here.

Income Annuities

RETIREMENT INCOME

Navigate Market Crashes with Retirement in Mind

RETIREMENT PLANNING

Staying on Track for Retirement in Your 60s

RETIREMENT PLANNING

How You Can Prepare for Retirement During Your 70s

RETIREMENT PLANNING

Retirement Options To Not Outlive Your Retirement Savings

ANNUITIES 101

Should You Get a Fixed-Index Annuity?

RETIREMENT PLANNING

Smart Planning for a Long Retirement

RELATED TOPICS

BLUEPRINT PICKS