Annuities provide a form of “longevity insurance” that assures a stream of income no matter how long you live. But converting investments to annuities right now mean locking in at historically low interests. In this audio podcast, Mercer actuary Malcolm Hamilton pinpoints who may need to annuitize or partly annuitize and who won’t need to. In the latter camp: those with inflation-indexed Defined Benefit pensions or those who will be living modest enough lifestyles that they can live on government pensions in old age: which are in effect inflation-indexed annuities. But if you’re in the mid-range, haven’t saved a lot of money and have long-lived parents, you might want to investigate annuities further.

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