How to Not Run Out of Money in Retirement
How to Not Run Out of Money in Retirement
Jason Stolz CLTC, CRPC, DIA, CAA
The answer to how to not run out of money in retirement is guaranteed income — and the most direct and powerful source of guaranteed income available to American retirees is an annuity. Not a portfolio withdrawal strategy. Not a bond ladder. Not a “rule” about withdrawal percentages that was derived from a specific historical data window and never intended to function as actual insurance against longevity. The 4% rule does not guarantee anything. A well-structured lifetime income annuity does. It pays for as long as you live — whether you live to 78 or 103 — because the guarantee is contractual rather than statistical, and because the carrier’s obligation to continue payments is backed by the carrier’s capital, not by the vicissitudes of market performance. At Diversified Insurance Brokers, Jason Stolz, CLTC, CRPC, DIA, CAA works with retirees and pre-retirees to build retirement income architectures that put annuity income at the center of the guaranteed expense floor — and investment assets in their appropriate role serving discretionary spending, growth, and legacy. The question is not whether annuities belong in a retirement income plan. The question is how much, what type, and structured how. Our resource on how much income do I need in retirement covers the expense-based planning framework that determines the size of the guaranteed income floor, and our resource on guaranteed income from annuities covers how the annuity income floor is built from available products in the competitive private market.
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Why the Portfolio-Only Approach Fails — and How Annuity Income Solves Each Risk
Every retiree faces six specific risks that can cause a retirement plan to fail even when the assets are substantial and the planning was disciplined. Each of these risks has a direct structural solution in annuity income. The table below is the core of the retirement sustainability argument — matching each failure mode to what happens without guaranteed income and what happens when annuity income is properly positioned.
Sample rates for illustrative comparison. Actual premiums depend on carrier, health class, state, and plan details.
| Retirement Income Risk | What Happens Without Guaranteed Income | What Happens With Annuity Income Floor | The Bottom Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Longevity Risk Outliving your money by living longer than the math assumed |
If a portfolio lasts 25 years and you live 32, the portfolio is gone — there is no mechanism that extends payments past zero balance. Retirement math fails when the human outlives the calculation. | Lifetime income annuities pay for as long as the annuitant lives — whether 25 years or 45 years — because the contractual guarantee is unconditional on lifespan. The payment continues regardless of how long survival extends. | Longevity risk is the only retirement income risk that an annuity eliminates entirely. No other financial product provides this guarantee. |
| Sequence of Returns Risk A bad market in early retirement permanently impairs the portfolio |
A 30% market decline in year 2 of retirement, combined with ongoing 5% annual withdrawals, depletes the portfolio so severely that even strong subsequent returns cannot restore it. Assets liquidated at depressed prices never compound back. The sequence matters as much as the average. | When essential expenses are covered by annuity income, portfolio withdrawals can be suspended or reduced during market declines. The portfolio is not forced to liquidate at the bottom. The sequence of returns problem only affects the portfolio — it cannot touch the annuity income floor. | The annuity income floor converts sequence of returns risk from a catastrophic portfolio threat into a manageable portfolio condition. This structural protection is the most underappreciated benefit of annuity income in retirement. |
| Inflation Erosion Fixed purchasing power loses 40–50% of real value over 25 years at 3% inflation |
A portfolio that is not growing fast enough to outpace inflation and withdrawals shrinks in real terms each year — meaning the same $5,000 monthly withdrawal covers progressively less of actual living costs over a 25-year retirement. | SPIA contracts with COLA riders provide annual payment increases (1%, 2%, or 3% per year) that offset inflation over time. Deferred annuities with income riders often include step-up provisions. The investment portfolio in parallel provides growth assets that hedge broader inflation above the guaranteed floor. | Inflation erodes fixed income — which is why inflation-adjusted annuity provisions exist, and why the growth-oriented investment portfolio serves as the parallel inflation hedge for discretionary spending above the essential floor. |
| Healthcare & Long-Term Care Shock The expense category most likely to exceed projection by the largest margin |
Healthcare costs inflating at 4–5% annually, combined with long-term care costs that can exceed $100,000 per year, create the single largest category of unexpected retirement expense — the one that most often causes retirees to exhaust savings faster than the plan assumed. | When essential living expenses are covered by guaranteed annuity income, the investment portfolio is specifically preserved for the contingency of healthcare and long-term care costs — rather than being depleted by ordinary living expenses that should have been covered by guaranteed income. | The annuity income floor frees the investment portfolio to serve as the healthcare shock absorber. Without the guaranteed floor, ordinary expenses deplete the same portfolio that needs to absorb extraordinary healthcare costs. |
| Withdrawal Rate Miscalculation Taking too much, too fast, under optimistic return assumptions |
The “4% rule” derived from a specific historical data set is widely misapplied as a guarantee rather than a historical observation. Retirees who set their withdrawal rate based on optimistic return projections discover the error too late to correct it without painful lifestyle reduction. | When the guaranteed income floor covers essential expenses, the required portfolio withdrawal rate for essential spending is zero — the portfolio serves discretionary and legacy needs only, which are genuinely adjustable if circumstances require. Flexible spending is managed from variable assets; non-negotiable spending is covered by guaranteed income. | The annuity income floor eliminates the withdrawal rate calculation problem for essential expenses entirely. The 4% rule only matters for the discretionary portfolio above the guaranteed floor. |
| Behavioral Risk Panic selling at the bottom; poor timing decisions during stress |
A retiree whose only income source is a declining portfolio faces maximum behavioral pressure to sell during downturns — the “I need to preserve what’s left” response that locks in losses at the worst possible time and permanently impairs recovery. Behavioral risk compounds market risk. | A retiree whose essential expenses are covered by guaranteed annuity income can hold the investment portfolio through market declines without behavioral pressure to sell. The guaranteed income floor removes the financial urgency that creates panic selling — the market can recover because no liquidation was required. | The annuity income floor is the most effective behavioral guardrail available in retirement — because it eliminates the financial pressure that causes panic selling before the investment portfolio has a chance to recover. |
The table makes the central argument of annuity-anchored retirement income planning concrete: annuity income does not just add a nice income stream to a retirement plan. It structurally eliminates or transforms each of the six risks that most commonly cause retirements to fail. Longevity risk is eliminated because lifetime payments are contractually unconditional. Sequence of returns risk is removed from the essential expense equation because essential expenses do not require portfolio liquidation. The annuity floor frees the investment portfolio to serve discretionary spending, growth, and legacy — functions it serves far better when it is not being depleted by the non-negotiable costs that guaranteed income should be covering. This is why structuring the retirement income plan around guaranteed income first — and portfolio assets second — consistently produces better long-term sustainability outcomes than treating all assets as interchangeable withdrawable capital with a generic percentage rule applied uniformly.
The Income Floor Architecture — Building the Retirement That Cannot Run Out
The income floor is the conceptual foundation of a durable retirement income plan. The floor is the guaranteed monthly income that covers all essential non-negotiable expenses — housing, utilities, food, Medicare and insurance premiums, transportation, and minimum debt obligations — regardless of what markets do, how long the retiree lives, or what unexpected expenses arise. When the income floor fully covers essential expenses, the retirement plan cannot “run out of money” in any meaningful sense — because the essential financial foundation is guaranteed rather than variable. The investment portfolio above the floor serves important purposes (discretionary spending, healthcare contingencies, legacy), but its performance in any given year does not determine whether the lights stay on or the mortgage is paid.
Building the income floor starts with Social Security — optimized to its maximum possible amount through strategic claiming. Social Security’s COLA-adjusted, government-backed lifetime guarantee is the strongest baseline income source available to most retirees, and delaying claiming to age 70 maximizes the monthly benefit permanently. Our resource on maximize Social Security benefits covers the claiming optimization strategy that most retirees leave money on the table by not executing. Once Social Security is optimized, the gap between Social Security income and the essential expense floor is the annuity gap — the specific income shortfall that a lifetime income annuity needs to fill. This gap calculation drives the appropriate annuity premium rather than a product-first conversation about which annuity is popular or which carrier is offering a bonus.
The type of annuity that best fills the income gap depends on timing. A retiree who needs income immediately should evaluate a Single Premium Immediate Annuity (SPIA) — which converts a lump sum into guaranteed lifetime payments starting within 30 days. A pre-retiree who wants income starting in 5–10 years should evaluate a Deferred Income Annuity or a Fixed Indexed Annuity with a GLWB income rider — both of which allow the income base to grow during the deferral period, producing a higher monthly payment at the chosen income start date. Our resource on what is an income annuity payout rate covers how income annuity payout factors are calculated and what determines the monthly income at different ages and premium levels. Our resource on pension alternative covers how private income annuities serve the same function that defined benefit pensions serve for government and union employees — providing the guaranteed lifetime income that most private-sector retirees must independently purchase rather than inherit from an employer.
Why the 4% Rule Is Not a Guarantee — And Why It Should Never Be Treated as One
The 4% withdrawal rule originated from research analyzing historical U.S. portfolio returns over rolling 30-year periods and identifying the maximum withdrawal percentage that would not have depleted a diversified portfolio over that window in the majority of historical scenarios tested. It was never intended to be a universal guarantee for every future retiree under every possible market scenario. It is a historical observation that, under specific conditions, 4% withdrawals historically worked most of the time. “Most of the time historically” is not a guarantee — and its limitations are most severe precisely when retirees face the most dangerous conditions.
The 4% rule fails most consequentially in three conditions: when returns in the first 5–10 years of retirement are below the historical average (sequence of returns risk), when the retirement extends beyond 30 years (longevity risk), and when inflation is higher than the historical average used in the research (inflation risk). Each of these conditions is not a theoretical edge case — they are documented risks with significant historical occurrence and with plausible near-term relevance given current demographic, economic, and geopolitical conditions. A retiree who builds their retirement plan around a rule that fails under exactly the conditions most likely to occur has built a plan on a foundation that is fundamentally unsuited to providing genuine security. Our resource on sequence of returns risk covers the statistical mechanics of how early-retirement market declines interact with withdrawal rates to produce permanent portfolio impairment — the risk that is most clearly eliminated by the annuity income floor.
The practical alternative to the 4% rule is not a “3% rule” or any other modified percentage. The alternative is to cover essential expenses with guaranteed income — removing them from the portfolio withdrawal calculation entirely — and then applying a flexible withdrawal strategy to the remaining portfolio for discretionary spending. When essential expenses are covered by Social Security and annuity income, the portfolio withdrawal rate is determined by the retiree’s discretionary spending goals rather than by the mathematical necessity of covering the mortgage and utility bills. The plan is structurally resilient because the essential spending is unconditional and the discretionary spending is genuinely adjustable. Our resource on how long will my savings last in retirement covers the projection framework for evaluating how different withdrawal rates and asset allocations interact with the guaranteed income floor over different retirement timelines.
Fixed Indexed Annuities — Building the Income Floor While Preserving Growth Potential
For pre-retirees in the 5–15 years before retirement, Fixed Indexed Annuities with income riders are the most commonly used tool for simultaneously building the income floor and preserving growth potential. The FIA structure provides principal protection — the account value cannot decrease due to negative index performance — while crediting interest linked to an index benchmark when the index performs positively. The income rider adds a separate income base that grows at a contractual rollup rate (typically 5–8% annually) during the deferral period, building a larger guaranteed withdrawal foundation by the income start date. Our resource on are annuities guaranteed covers the specific contractual guarantees that FIAs and income riders provide — both the principal protection guarantee and the income guarantee that governs how the lifetime withdrawal amount is calculated and maintained. Our resource on what are the best fixed annuities covers the carrier comparison framework for evaluating which FIA products currently offer the most competitive combination of crediting terms and income rider design.
Bonus annuities represent a specialized application of the FIA structure. A bonus annuity provides an upfront premium enhancement — often 5–15% of the deposited premium — that is immediately added to the income base or account value, increasing the starting point for income base growth during the deferral period. Our resource on bonus annuity with lifetime income covers how the income base bonus interacts with the rollup rate to determine the eventual guaranteed withdrawal amount, and what trade-offs in surrender period or crediting terms typically accompany the bonus enhancement. Our resource on 10% bonus annuity covers the specific mechanics of high-bonus designs and how to evaluate them against non-bonus alternatives with different crediting structures. Our resource on why affluent retirees use structured income solutions instead of bonds covers the investment case for annuity income relative to traditional fixed-income alternatives — particularly relevant in the current rate environment where the income efficiency of annuity structures increasingly competes with or exceeds what bonds can provide for retirement income purposes.
Inflation — The Risk That Makes Flat Income Plans Unsustainable
Even with a perfectly structured income floor at retirement, inflation erodes the real purchasing power of fixed payments over a 20–30 year retirement in ways that compound progressively rather than linearly. A $4,000 per month payment that felt comfortable at age 65 covers significantly less actual purchasing power at age 85 — particularly if healthcare costs, which inflate at above-general-CPI rates, represent an increasing share of monthly spending as the retirement extends. The retiree who built their income floor on flat fixed payments may find by age 80 that the income floor no longer actually covers essential expenses in real terms.
The annuity solution to inflation is explicit: SPIA contracts with Cost of Living Adjustment riders provide annual payment increases of 1%, 2%, or 3% per year, building in the purchasing power protection that flat payments cannot provide. The trade-off is a lower initial monthly payment — the annuity that starts at $4,000 and grows 3% annually begins lower than the flat annuity that starts at $4,200 and never grows — but the growing annuity eventually exceeds the flat annuity in cumulative payments and provides meaningfully better protection over a long retirement. Our resource on annuity with inflation protection for seniors covers the COLA rider mechanics and the cumulative benefit analysis that determines when the lower starting payment of an inflation-adjusted annuity produces better total income than the higher starting payment of a flat annuity. Our resource on single premium deferred annuity with inflation protection covers the deferred annuity structure that builds inflation adjustment into the accumulation design before income begins.
Tax Management — The Retirement Income Discipline That Extends Plan Longevity
Tax management is the silent income engineering discipline that most retirees underestimate. Required Minimum Distributions force taxable income from pre-tax retirement accounts starting at age 73, potentially pushing retirees into higher marginal brackets — increasing Medicare IRMAA surcharges, triggering Social Security taxation, and accelerating portfolio depletion through unplanned tax payments. Planning the distribution sequence across account types (Roth IRA withdrawals first in certain scenarios, pre-tax IRA withdrawals in strategic amounts, annuity income flowing from the guaranteed floor) determines the total tax paid over the full retirement period as much as any investment decision. Our resource on how are annuities taxed covers the tax treatment of different annuity types — qualified vs. non-qualified, SPIA exclusion ratio, deferred annuity taxation — that affects how annuity income integrates with the broader retirement tax picture. Our resource on stretch IRA 10-year rule covers the post-SECURE Act distribution framework that affects how inherited retirement accounts are distributed to beneficiaries — relevant for retirees whose estate planning includes qualified annuity assets. Our resource on does inheritance affect RMDs covers the interaction between inherited assets and required minimum distribution calculations. Our resource on what is a non-spousal inherited IRA covers the specific distribution rules for non-spouse beneficiaries inheriting qualified retirement accounts — retirement income planning that begins with the annuity owner’s plan and extends to the beneficiary’s tax obligation.
Healthcare — The Budget Category That Destroys Underprepared Retirement Plans
Healthcare costs are the single most common reason that carefully-built retirement plans fail. Even with comprehensive Medicare coverage, retirees face Part B premiums, Medicare supplement or Advantage plan premiums, prescription drug plan premiums, dental, vision, hearing, copayments, and the deductible accumulation that occurs when healthcare utilization increases with age. Healthcare inflation has historically run at 4–5% annually — faster than general CPI — meaning the healthcare budget line grows disproportionately as the retirement extends and medical needs intensify. And long-term care costs — the extended care scenario that requires home health aides, assisted living facilities, or nursing facility care — can exceed $80,000–$100,000 per year in most U.S. states and represent the single largest contingent liability in any retirement plan. Our resource on the Medicare Playbook covers the Medicare coverage structure and the premium, deductible, and out-of-pocket exposure that a realistic retirement budget must account for. When the guaranteed annuity income floor covers basic essential expenses, the investment portfolio can be specifically reserved for the healthcare contingency and long-term care risk — rather than being depleted by housing and food expenses that guaranteed income should be handling.
When to Act — The Planning Window That Makes Annuity Income Most Effective
The most effective annuity income planning happens before it is urgently needed — in the 5–15 years before retirement when the planning window is still wide, health is still good enough to qualify for favorable annuity terms, and the income base deferral period is long enough to allow the rollup rate to build a meaningful guaranteed withdrawal foundation. Purchasing income annuity solutions after retirement has already begun — at the point when income is immediately needed — still works, but the options are more constrained. The SPIA is available at any age and provides immediate income, but the deferral advantage that builds larger guaranteed withdrawals through a rollup period is only available when there is still time between purchase and income start.
Our resource on when to meet with a financial advisor covers the planning inflection points where a comprehensive retirement income review — including the annuity income floor analysis — is most valuable. The five-to-ten years before retirement are the prime window for most pre-retirees, and the earlier the annuity planning conversation begins, the more options are available. Our resource on best annuity rates for seniors covers the current competitive landscape for seniors specifically evaluating income annuity options in the near-retirement window, and our resource on common annuity myths addresses the objections most commonly raised when annuities are introduced into the retirement income conversation — ensuring that the decision is made based on facts rather than misunderstandings about how annuities actually work.
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FAQs: How to Not Run Out of Money in Retirement
What is the most effective way to guarantee you won’t run out of money in retirement?
The most effective structural answer is guaranteed lifetime income — specifically, a lifetime income annuity that pays a guaranteed monthly amount for as long as you live, regardless of how long survival extends. Unlike portfolio withdrawal strategies, which are statistically derived and can fail if markets are unfavorable at the wrong time or if you live longer than the projection assumed, a lifetime income annuity is contractually guaranteed to continue payments for life. The guarantee is not based on investment returns or actuarial probability — it is a contractual obligation of the insurance carrier backed by their capital and regulated reserves. The practical implementation is to build an income floor: identify all essential monthly expenses (housing, utilities, food, Medicare premiums, insurance, transportation, minimum debt), maximize Social Security income through strategic claiming, and use a lifetime income annuity to fill the gap between Social Security income and essential expense coverage. When the income floor covers all essential expenses, the retirement plan cannot run out of money in any meaningful sense — the essential financial foundation is guaranteed regardless of markets, longevity, or unexpected conditions. Our resource on guaranteed income from annuities covers how the income floor is built from available annuity products, and the Lifetime Income Calculator above provides immediate preliminary income estimates.
Why doesn’t the 4% rule guarantee retirement security?
The 4% rule is a historical observation — not a guarantee — derived from research analyzing historical U.S. portfolio return data over rolling 30-year periods. It identified the maximum withdrawal percentage that would not have depleted a diversified portfolio in the majority of historical scenarios tested during the specific historical period covered. It fails as a forward guarantee for three specific reasons. First, sequence of returns risk: if early retirement years experience below-average returns while withdrawals continue, the portfolio can be permanently impaired in ways that average historical returns do not prevent. Second, longevity risk: the rule was derived for 30-year retirements, and retirees who live to 90, 95, or 100 may need their plan to function for 35–40 years — beyond the window in which the historical data provides meaningful support. Third, the rule was derived from a specific historical data set featuring post-war U.S. market conditions that may not recur. The structural alternative is not a modified percentage — it is removing essential expenses from the portfolio withdrawal calculation entirely by covering them with guaranteed income, so that the portfolio serves only discretionary spending that is genuinely adjustable if circumstances require. Our resource on sequence of returns risk covers the mechanics of why withdrawal rates and early-retirement market performance interact to produce permanently impaired portfolios.
How does a fixed indexed annuity help protect retirement income?
A Fixed Indexed Annuity (FIA) with a Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit (GLWB) income rider provides two layers of retirement income protection simultaneously. The first layer is principal protection: the FIA account value cannot decrease due to negative index performance — in a negative index year, the credited interest is 0% rather than a loss to the account balance. This eliminates the sequence of returns risk on the FIA’s account value during the accumulation phase. The second layer is the income guarantee: the GLWB rider establishes an income base that grows at a contractual rollup rate (typically 5–8% annually) during the deferral period, and once income is activated, guaranteed lifetime withdrawals continue for the rest of the annuitant’s life even if the account value depletes to zero. This combination — principal protection plus guaranteed lifetime income — directly addresses the two most significant retirement income failure modes (sequence of returns risk and longevity risk) within a single product structure. For pre-retirees in the 5–15 years before retirement, the FIA with income rider allows the income base to build during the deferral period, producing a higher guaranteed withdrawal at the chosen income start date than if income started immediately at the point of purchase. Our resource on are annuities guaranteed covers the contractual guarantee structure that makes FIA income riders different from statistical projections.
How does a guaranteed income floor protect against market downturns?
The guaranteed income floor protects against market downturns through a structural mechanism rather than a statistical hedge. When essential expenses are covered by guaranteed income sources (Social Security plus annuity income), the investment portfolio is not required to make monthly withdrawals to pay the mortgage, utilities, or groceries during a market decline. This means the portfolio can remain fully invested through the downturn without forced liquidation at depressed prices — which is the primary mechanism through which sequence of returns risk permanently impairs retirement portfolios. A retiree whose essential expenses are guaranteed does not face the financial pressure to sell during a downturn — and therefore can hold the investment portfolio until recovery, allowing the compounding to resume from a higher base rather than a permanently diminished one. The behavioral dimension is equally important: retirees who know their essential expenses are covered by guaranteed income regardless of market performance make better investment decisions during downturns because the financial urgency that drives panic selling does not exist for them. The guaranteed income floor converts the investment portfolio’s job from “cover all expenses regardless of market conditions” to “support discretionary lifestyle and legacy goals when conditions allow” — which is a role the portfolio can perform sustainably over a long retirement without creating the forced-liquidation dynamics that cause plan failures.
How does inflation affect a retirement income plan and what’s the annuity solution?
Inflation erodes the purchasing power of fixed income sources over a 20–30 year retirement in ways that compound progressively. At 3% annual inflation, $5,000 per month of purchasing power at age 65 requires $8,000 per month to cover the same basket of goods and services at age 85 — a 60% nominal increase over 20 years. Healthcare inflation running at 4–5% annually compounds this problem further for the expense category that grows fastest in retirement. A retirement income plan built entirely on flat fixed payments will feel progressively tighter with each passing year as actual costs outpace the static income floor. The annuity solution is direct: SPIA contracts with Cost of Living Adjustment riders increase the guaranteed monthly payment by a defined percentage (typically 1%, 2%, or 3% per year) annually, building in the purchasing power protection that flat payments cannot provide. The trade-off is a lower starting payment — the annuity that grows 3% annually starts lower than a flat annuity for the same premium — but it surpasses the flat annuity in cumulative payments over time and provides meaningfully better real income in later retirement years when costs are highest. Deferred annuities with income riders also often include step-up provisions that increase the guaranteed withdrawal amount when the account value grows above certain thresholds, providing an alternative mechanism for maintaining real income purchasing power. Our resource on annuity with inflation protection for seniors covers the available inflation protection structures and the cumulative benefit analysis that evaluates when inflation-adjusted annuities outperform flat alternatives.
How do Required Minimum Distributions affect retirement income sustainability?
Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) begin at age 73 for most traditional IRA and 401(k) account holders, and they force taxable income from pre-tax retirement accounts based on the account balance divided by the IRS life expectancy factor for the account holder’s age. For retirees with large pre-tax retirement balances, RMDs can push total taxable income into higher marginal brackets, triggering Medicare IRMAA surcharges that increase Part B and Part D premiums, increasing the taxable percentage of Social Security benefits, and accelerating portfolio depletion through tax payments on distributions that were not needed for spending. RMD planning is therefore an integral component of the retirement income sustainability strategy — managing the distribution sequence across account types (Roth IRA, traditional IRA, taxable accounts, annuity income) to minimize the total lifetime tax on retirement assets. Annuity income from non-qualified contracts receives a partial exclusion ratio that may provide more favorable tax treatment than equivalent distributions from pre-tax accounts. Strategic distribution planning — withdrawing from pre-tax accounts in measured amounts during the years between retirement and age 73 to reduce the eventual forced RMD size — can significantly extend plan longevity by reducing the tax drag on the distribution portfolio. Our resource on Required Minimum Distributions covers the RMD calculation framework, and our resource on how are annuities taxed covers the tax treatment of annuity distributions in the broader retirement income tax context.
When should I start planning to not run out of money in retirement?
The optimal window for retirement income planning — specifically for positioning annuity income as the guaranteed floor — is the 5–15 years before retirement. This window provides the time for the income base to grow through the rollup period on deferred annuity designs, allows health to be confirmed as favorable for annuity terms, and gives the planning process adequate time to design the income floor correctly before any irreversible decisions (Social Security claiming, pension elections, portfolio drawdown strategy) are made. The earlier the annuity planning begins within this window, the more options are available — including longer deferral periods that produce higher guaranteed withdrawal amounts from the same premium, FIO riders that lock in future coverage expansion rights while health is favorable, and coordination opportunities with Social Security delay strategies that maximize the government-backed lifetime income floor before private annuity income needs to fill the gap. Waiting until retirement is already underway limits the available options and reduces the efficiency of the income floor design. The retirees who most successfully avoid running out of money are the ones who structure the guaranteed income floor before they need it — rather than building it in crisis after the portfolio has already absorbed early-retirement volatility without the structural protection the income floor would have provided. Our resource on when to meet with a financial advisor covers the planning milestones at which a comprehensive retirement income review is most valuable.
About the Author:
Jason Stolz, CLTC, CRPC, DIA, CAA and Chief Underwriter at Diversified Insurance Brokers (NPN 20471358), is a senior insurance and retirement professional with more than 25 years of real-world experience helping individuals, families, and business owners protect their income, assets, and long-term financial stability. As a long-time partner of the nationally licensed independent agency Diversified Insurance Brokers, Jason provides trusted guidance across multiple specialties—including fixed and indexed annuities, long-term care planning, personal and business disability insurance, life insurance solutions, Group Health, and short-term health coverage. Diversified Insurance Brokers maintains active contracts with over 100 highly rated insurance carriers, ensuring clients have access to a broad and competitive marketplace.
His practical, education-first approach has earned recognition in publications such as VoyageATL, highlighting his commitment to financial clarity and client-focused planning. Drawing on deep product knowledge and years of hands-on field experience, Jason helps clients evaluate carriers, compare strategies, and build retirement and protection plans that are both secure and cost-efficient. Visitors who want to explore current annuity rates and compare options across multiple insurers can also use this annuity quote and comparison tool.
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