Is The Industry At The Center Or The Edge Of Retirement Planning?
The entire financial services industry is beginning to gear up to tap the huge market that will develop when the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age over the next few years.
We have seen estimates that the amount expected to flow out of qualified retirement plans alone will equal many trillions of dollars over the years this huge population segment reaches retirement age. While this is certainly a great opportunity for the providers of retirement products, we wonder if the life insurance industry is going to be the hub of this retirement bonanza, or merely one of the supporting spokes.
The annuity industry has commissioned studies that clearly demonstrate the importance of including an annuity as part of
anyones retirement package. No other product guarantees that retirees and their funds will run out at the same time they do. However, merely providing useful products to supplement retirement may not be enough.
Admittedly, retirement planning is a complex subject. "One size" does not necessarily fit everyoneeither in the purchase of clothing or of retirement products.
Yet, browsing various Internet sites to see what is available to help consumers with retirement planning provides an important reality check. Some sites are very good, others are unduly simple-minded, and even more seem to take the "one size fits all" approach.
With some Web sites, no matter what information is provided, the output is always that the consumer should buy the particular products that the sponsor sells.
In this information age, it seems strange that it is difficult to access information that will afford prospective retirees the ability to trace methodically the elements necessary to plan for retirement. The Web will give you step-by-step information on how to build bombs, but step-by-step information on how to convert your lifes savings into a secure retirement is more difficult to extract.
It is even difficult to get information that demonstrates how much a person actually needs to provide a secure retirement.
The life insurance industry is at a crossroads. It either can be merely a support spoke to the retirement process in this country, or it can be the hubthe central player in this huge developing market.
What is needed? The industry should support the efforts of its trade associations that are trying to develop consumer-friendly retirement planning Web sites. These are sites that enable retirees to access step-by-step procedures for determining what they need for retirement security and how to implement the steps once they are determined.
