On September 14, 2009, Pamela Perun, Policy Director of the Initiative on Financial Security, participated in an American Association of Retired People sponsored panel titled, “Poking Holes in Conventional Wisdom: A New Look at Making Financial Decisions for Retirement.” The event, part of AARP’s ongoing “Solutions Forum” series, focused on several policy proposals to better assist Americans in the ‘draw-down’ phase of retirement.
Ms. Perun introduced the audience to Aspen IFS’s “simple, yet elegant” Security Plus Annuity product proposal. Designed primarily for low and moderate households, the proposal would offer retirees the opportunity to secure additional retirement income upon signing up for their Social Security benefits through the purchase of an affordable, “starter” annuity. Ms. Perun pointed out that a supplementary layer of annuitized income retirement has in the past been only a province of the rich. Yet, rising health-care costs and the diminishing rate of income replacement provided by Social Security threatens to leave much of America’s middle-class without adequate income in retirement. Security Plus would help fill that void. To read more about the Security Plus Annuity proposal, click here.
Other participants in the panel discussion included Lina Walker, Senior Policy Advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute, Anthony Webb of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, and George “Sandy” Mackenzi, Senior Policy Advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute. To read the transcipt or to watch a recorded webcast of the event, click here.
