What do the Rolling Stones and annuities have in common? We’ll explain later in this post.
Back in January, we brought you an article on the annuity you should be selling right now. If you didn’t take action because you’re still not sure how to talk to clients about annuities, this post is for you. Now, there’s a place to turn for help.
No time to read? Watch our video overview:
The nonprofit Alliance for Lifetime Income was created to help educate the public on annuities and their role in retirement planning. Specifically, their role in helping clients avoid outliving their retirement savings. Founded in 2018, the alliance includes AIG, Brighthouse Financial, Lincoln Financial, Pacific Life, Protective, Transamerica, and more.
The good news for you? They’re providing materials you can use to talk to your clients about annuities, hosted on two websites. We’ll go over these materials below.
Oh, and that little tidbit about the Rolling Stones? The Alliance for Lifetime Income is the sole sponsor of their 2019 “No Filter” U.S. tour. There’s a nifty tie-in with some Stones lyrics on the website: “you can’t always get what you want, but you can get what you need when you have protected lifetime income in retirement.” Nice.
PRO TIP: Follow the Alliance on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and share their posts with your audience. Their content is all consumer-appropriate, featuring quotes, stats, videos, articles and more. While the Stones are on tour (Spring/Summer 2019), their feed will also have concert-themed content. Might be just the thing to catch your audience’s attention!
Materials on AllianceforLifetimeIncome.org
On their website, the Alliance has original content you can use during discussions with clients, as well as an article hub that contains curated content about annuities and retirement planning.
White Paper
Protected Lifetime Income: A New Formula and Category for Today’s Modern Retirement Plan
This paper explains how annuities can help hedge against today’s two biggest threats to retirement security: longevity and market risk. It explains the idea behind annuities (risk pooling), and how it can help your clients enjoy a higher standard of living during retirement.
The paper compares annuities to both bonds and a traditional diversified portfolio. In the bonds scenario, for example, the hypothetical client can spend $45,184 per year during retirement if she invests her nest egg in bonds. On the other hand, she can spend $58,704 if she invests the same nest egg in an annuity. The best part? It’s carrier-agnostic, so it works as part of a generic education campaign or discussion.
Article Hub
If you need more material to post on social, bookmark this site and grab an article to share with your audience. Scan it, pull out a relevant quote or summarize it briefly, and share – that’s all there is to it.
Materials on RetireYourRisk.org
This site has two components, the client side and the advisor side. Most of the materials are available on the client side, so feel free to direct your clients here for more information. Better yet, go over them together during an in-person meeting, video call, or via screenshare.
Client-Facing Materials
Available at: https://www.retireyourrisk.org/#resources
- Quiz. This quick quiz lets clients match their retirement goals with the benefits of an annuity. You can direct a client to do this as prep work for an appointment, or go through the questions together and use it as an exploratory exercise to get the ball rolling.
- Profiles. These 5 stories profile people with interesting stories about risky careers, retirement, and how they made the choice to include annuities in their planning. These stories feature a jet car driver, ocean conservationist, volcanologist, doctor, and smokejumper. Bonus points for the fact that the jet car driver and smokejumper are women!
- Checklist. Download this checklist for your client during your meeting, or ask them to download it beforehand. It’s an easy place to start if you’re not sure which questions to ask.
- Articles & studies. Browse through a series of articles from the Signature Series and the Expert Opinion series. The Signature Series contains useful information about annuities, including myths and misperceptions. The Expert Opinion series tackles specific questions and issues like, “Will you run out of money in retirement?” Use these as a refresher course for yourself, or direct clients to them as a resource.
Agent-Facing Materials
Available at: https://www.retireyourrisk.org/advisors
This site also has a section just for financial advisors. However, it mostly duplicates the client-facing resources, with one exception. In the resources section, you can also access interviews with other financial advisors and see how they’ve incorporated annuities into their retirement conversations with clients.
That’s our look at new annuity resources!
What resources have you used to help educated consumers about annuities? Tell us in the comments!
