Using Only an Annuity to Plan for Retirement Could Jeopardize Inheritances to Children

The Wall Street Journal recently featured an article on the use of annuities when planning for retirement and inheritances:

• According to the article, immediate fixed annuities are touted by many.
• Immediate fixed annuities provide regular payments to the annuity purchaser for life but could provide nothing after the annuity purchaser’s death. 
• The article suggests purchasing both a life insurance policy and an immediate annuity.  The annuity could provide for the annuity purchaser’s expenses while alive and the life insurance policy could provide for the purchaser’s heirs after the purchaser dies. 

See Wall Street Journal, A Tough Choice: You or Your Kids, Feb. 20, 2010.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this to my attention.