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From the Back Cover
Use annuities to build your own pension
Will annuities work for you? Get the nitty-gritty on these financial tools
Are you a baby boomer who’s with regards to to retire? Are you concerned when it comes to your financial future? Relax. This plain-English guide will walk you through the ins and outs of using annuities to fund your retirement years. Find out what annuities are, whether they’re the right financial vehicle for you, and which of the numerous choices might have your name on it.
Discover how to:
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Make sense of annuities
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Weigh all the masters and cons
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Figure out how much cash to commit
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Create an income you can’t outlive
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Avoid mutual annuity pitfalls
About the Author
Kerry Pechter is the senior editor of Annuity Market News. As a reporter who writes with regards to annuities and the annuity industry full-time and as a former merchandising writer who specialized in annuities at The Vanguard Group, he brings both an outsider’s and an insider’s perspective to the writing of this book.
A financial journalist for some years, Kerry has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and a lot of other national and territorial publications. His former books include two career guides, A Big Splash in a Small Pond: How to Get a Job in a Small Company (Fireside) and An Engineer’s Guide to Lifelong Employability (IEEE). He is a graduate of Kenyon College.
Why look into annuities? If you’re a Baby Boomer with little or no pension and most of your cash in low-interest savings accounts, an annuity may be the key to a secure and comfortable retirement. How may you find out whether an annuity is right for you? Read Annuities For Dummies, 3rd Edition.
This exclusively revised and updated, plain-English guide is packed with the latest data on choosing the best annuity for your retirement needs. You’ll find out precisely what annuities are, whether they’re the right financial vehicle for you, and which of the numerous annuity choices might have your name on it. You’ll learn the ins and outs of using annuities to fund your retirement years, figure out whether to stress investments with insurance or insurance with investments, and find out how the right combining of annuities may support you squeeze more income out of your savings that any other financial tool. Discover how to:
- Identify the main types of annuities
- Weigh the masters and cons of annuities for yourself
- Minimize the complexity and cost of your annuity investment
- Figure out how much cash to commit
- Avoid mutual annuity pitfalls
- Create an income you can’t outlive
The time to start out securing your financial future is now. Annuities For Dummies, 3rd Edition, gives you knowledge, insider tips, and expert counsel you need to make your cash do it is best for you.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #17085 in Books
- Published on: 2008-01-03
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.30″ h x .80″ w x 7.40″ l, 1.20 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 364 pages
Reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
Helping Make Sense of Annuities
By T. L. Jones
Annuities For Dummies by Kerry Pechter is a very readable guide to annuities that makes sense of a very complicated insurance product (and what insurance products are NOT complicated?) Pechter guides the reader through a brief history of annuities to a broad view of how they work, and on to specific facts about the various kinds of annuities available. The only slight criticism is that his presentation is a bit overly favorable toward annuities, bolstered by selective statistical examples, like the one on p. 21. Hypothetical retiree “Smith” was over-invested in bonds and cash, which do not provide protection against inflation. That is partly why hypothetical retiree “Jones” with his annuity and stocks did better. Was it the annuity or the stocks that made the difference? The logic behind the example is undoubtedly that without an annuity, Smith would want very secure investments, hence, bonds and cash. All in all, the book will help any reader make better choices regarding annuities. And it’s a fun read!
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
A first-rate and understandable overview of a very complex subject
By John L. Olsen
“Annuities For Dummies”, by Kerry Pechter, is a wonderful book! Annuities can be wickedly complicated (and are often far more complicated than they ought to be), but Pechter’s explanation is uniformly clear and understandable. That, alone, would make his book unusually valuable. But it’s also accurate and fair, which makes it darned near unique among writings about insurance products by financial journalists.
I’m an annuity expert (co-author of “The Annuity Advisor” and author of numerous articles, in various journals, about annuities), and I found this book informative. (I wish I’d made certain points as clearly as Kerry does). I’ve recommended it to insurance agents and consumers and will continue to do so.
- John L. Olsen, CLU, ChFC, AEP
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.Real good overview of all kinds of annuities
By JYoder
I’ve read a number of books on retirement planning, and this one covers the annuities angle really well. If you are considering annuities this is a must read. There are a lot of various annuities, and you need to understand the pros and cons of all of them before making a decision. I will say that I am a little more skeptical on the variable annuities than the author, and I would like a little more info on the longevity annuities.
If you are considering adding an annuities to part of your retirement planning (and most people probably should) you really need to read this book so you have an idea what your planner is talking about when discussing this topic. This book helps you understand the risk, terminology, and profit incentives a sales rep has for the various annuities.
Here is a list of some of the books I have read in preparing for retirement, and a one-liner, and ranking for each. I will order them in the order I would read them:
1. The AARP Retirement Survival Guide: How to Make Smart Financial Decisions in Good Times and Bad (Julie Jason)
Rank: 5/5
Summary:Real good overview and introduction to the many considerations for retirement.
2. Buckets of Money: How to Retire in Comfort and Safety (Raymond Lucia)
Rank: 4/5
Summary: Interesting concept on planning for retirement. Although I’m not sure I will use the plan Raymond lays out here, I think the general concept is a real good idea on how to think about tapping your assets as you plan for retirement.
3. Annuities For Dummies (Kerry Pechter)
Rank: 4.5/5
Summary: Great details on the highly complex subject of annuities, a critical tool for your retirement planning to alleviate longevity and market risk.
If you read the books above, I don’t think there is a need for reading the books listed below since either they don’t have the depth, or have already been covered in sufficient detail in the books above.
The Bogleheads’ Guide to Retirement Planning (Various Aurthors)
Rank: 3.5/5
Summary: I think this book tries to cover a little to much, and as a result has topics that I don’t think are appropriate for the retirement planning. Since the book attempts to cover so many topics, it really doesn’t give real good details on any one topic. I think of this book, more as an executive summary for the various topics it covers.
Can I Retire? How Much Money You Need to Retire and How to Manage Your Retirement Savings, Explained in 100 Pages or Less (Mike Piper)
Rank: 2.5/5
Summary: What do you expect for 100 pages? Although the author does seem to stay on-topic in this book, its just to broad to really give you any actionable information. Perhaps a decent book if you are just wading into the whole concept of retirement and don’t want to put alot of thought into details(IE the big picture). This book does not answer the question it poses in the title.
Hope this helps
James
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