Press review
Actuarial Post
"(...) In response to these concerns, a number of so-called retirement products have been proposed by insurance companies and asset management firms. Asset management products offer a wide range of investment options, but none of these options really address retirement needs because they neither allow investors to secure a given level of replacement income, nor explicitly intend to do so. This is also true for target date funds, even though they are often used as default options by individuals saving for retirement. In contrast, insurance products, such as annuities and variable annuities, can secure a fixed level of replacement income throughout retirement. However, this security comes at the cost of a severe lack of flexibility, because annuitization is an almost irreversible decision, unless one is willing to bear the costs of high surrender charges, which can amount to several percentage points of the invested capital. This rigidity is a major shortcoming in the presence of life uncertainties such as marriage and children, changing jobs, health issues, changing locations to lower or higher cost cities or countries, decisions about retirement dates, etc."(...)
Copyright Actuarial Post
http://www.actuarialpost.co.uk/article/the-need-for-flexicure-retirement-soluti…
2019
