Help strike the right balance with a RILA

Today’s retirees face the challenge of trying to grow their savings, while protecting those assets from market uncertainty. Careful planning and the right strategies are more important than ever to help secure their financial future and make it possible to retire their way. For example, how can an individual help navigate this challenge and help balance protecting their savings with the opportunity to keep growing their assets for the future?

• Sophie is a 55-year-old woman who wants to retire at age 62
• She’s counting on her retirement savings to cover all of her expenses until she’s ready to start claiming Social Security 
• Her current retirement income plan includes investments and savings, but not an annuity
• She is worried about the impact a potential market decline could have on her portfolio 

Sophie is comfortable with some financial risk, but wants a portion of her retirement savings to have a level of protection from loss if the markets go down.

• Sophie’s current plan only protects a portion of her savings from a potential market downturn
• If the stock market declines close to her retirement date, she may not have time to recover the losses

If Sophie’s retirement income falls short of covering estimated expenses, she may not be able to retire when she had planned to at age 62.

• Sophie’s financial professional discusses diversifying her portfolio to help balance downside protection with the need for accumulation
• They explore different types of annuities to supplement her retirement plan
• She wants to limit downside exposure. But since she is willing to accept some market risk in exchange for higher growth potential, they decide on a registered index-linked annuity (RILA)
• With a RILA, she'll receive interest credits based on the positive performance of a stock market index, but since her money is not invested directly in the index, she will also have a level of downside protection from market risk
• She also gets tax-deferred growth potential, so she won’t pay taxes until she withdraws money from the annuity

Sophie is able to achieve her retirement planning goal of growth combined with some level of protection from market swings.

Sophie’s strategy needed to change as she moved closer to retirement to bring a more balanced approach to helping manage risk, while still growing savings for the future.

By diversifying her portfolio and adding a RILA to her retirement income plan, she can stay in her financial comfort zone and feel more confident that she can retire how and when she chooses.  

Before purchasing an annuity, it’s important to speak with a financial professional to discuss your goals and retirement timeline. Since there’s a variety of annuities that can meet different needs, you’ll want to consider each option to help ensure the annuity aligns with your risk tolerance, helps address income gaps and allows you to pursue the growth opportunities that fit your overall strategy. 

A financial professional can also help you understand the terms of the annuity contract and what to keep in mind. For example, if you choose to surrender an annuity early, you could lose retirement income payments, face penalties or owe additional taxes, so it’s good to explore all the details upfront so you can make informed and confident decisions.

Learn how a RILA from Athene can help enhance growth and step-up protection   

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Registered index-linked annuities have a risk of substantial loss of principal and related earnings. They are designed to be a long-term investment product used to help provide income for retirement and are not suitable as a short-term investment.

Registered index-linked annuities can only be marketed and sold by securities licensed financial professionals. Any discussion of this product must be preceded or accompanied by the product brochure and prospectus which provides more detailed product information, including all charges or limitations as well as definitions of capitalized terms.