Annuities: Easing Concerns Over Retirement
May 12, 2025
Annuities: Easing Concerns Over Retirement
May 12, 2025
Middle-class Americans are increasingly concerned about their finances in retirement, especially those in the later stages of their careers.
A new Harris Poll conducted in connection with ACLI’s Financial Resilience Index showed that 33% of middle-class respondents are either not confident or not sure they will have enough retirement savings to last throughout their retirement and live comfortably.
Americans 50-to-64-years-old were particularly pessimistic. Just 9% were very confident they would have enough retirement savings, less than half any other age group.
The survey results dovetail with the Financial Resilience Index findings from the fourth quarter of 2024 that show a decline in the index used to measure household resilience. While the overall index remains positive, it contracted due to slower wage growth, lesser asset growth, and increased debt delinquency expectations.
These findings underscore the quandary middle-class households face: they can’t fall back on massive wealth like the upper class, and they’re too well off to qualify for government safety nets.
But they can rely on the life insurance industry. America’s life insurers have been providing middle-class families with financial certainty for generations, including through the guaranteed lifetime income from annuities. A study by economists Mark Warshawsky and Gaobo Pang revealed that annuities provide retirees with a steady flow of income, while easing the burden on their remaining retirement balance and still accommodating ongoing principal growth.
In any market condition, life insurers are there, absorbing risk and providing guaranteed security for their customers.
Andrew Melnyk
Andrew Melnyk is Vice President, Research and Chief Economist at the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). He holds a doctorate in economics and is a Certified Business Economist. His functions at ACLI include authoring white papers; managing the production of statistical publications; and managing ACLI’s Research Department. Prior to joining ACLI in 2005, he held positions in academia, government, and the private sector, both in the U.S. and abroad.
