You want to know how to sell more annuities? You do it by selling less of them. At least that's the way it sounds if you read a new study about to be published in the Journal of Public Economics.
Here's the deal. For some reason, those fellows in ivy-covered halls seem to think it's in the mathematically calculated best interests of retirees to annuitize their savings rather than take a single lump-sum payment. In real life, the vast majority of retirees – assuming they even have the option to annuitize – would rather go through the headaches associated with a considerable amount of paperwork just to avoid annuitization. Government regulators believe this lack of adoration for annuities is a problem.
A normal person might say this behavior signals a rather stark dearth of enthusiasm for annuities. Apparently, a vast majority of retirees have neglected to determine their mathematically calculated best interests. Researchers call this the "Annuity Puzzle." Much like Modern Portfolio Theory's "Equity Premium Puzzle," the Annuity Puzzle has perplexed finance professors for some time.
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Christopher Carosa
Chris Carosa has been writing a weekly article and monthly column for BenefitsPRO online and BenefitsPRO Magazine since 2011 and is a nationally recognized award-winning writer, researcher and speaker. He’s written seven books, including From Cradle to Retire: The Child IRA; Hey! What’s My Number? – How to Increase the Odds You Will Retire in Comfort; A Pizza The Action: Everything I Ever Learned About Business I Learned By Working in a Pizza Stand at the Erie County Fair; and the widely acclaimed 401(k) Fiduciary Solutions. Carosa is also Chief Contributing Editor of the authoritative trade journal FiduciaryNews.com and publisher of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, a weekly community newspaper he founded in 1989. Currently serving as President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and with more than 1,000 articles published in various publications, he appears regularly in the national media. A “parallel” entrepreneur, he actively runs a handful of businesses, including a small boutique investment adviser, providing hands-on experience for his writing. A trained astrophysicist, he also holds an MBA and has been designated a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. Share your thoughts and story ideas with him through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christophercarosa/)and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisCarosa).
