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Evaluating the Advanced Life Deferred Annuity -- An annuity people might actually buy

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  • Gong, Guan
  • Webb, Anthony

Abstract

Although annuities provide longevity insurance that should be attractive to households facing an uncertain lifespan, rates of voluntary annuitization remain extremely low. We evaluate the Advanced Life Deferred Annuity, an annuity purchased at retirement, providing an income commencing in advanced old age. Using numerical optimization, we show that it would provide a substantial proportion of the longevity insurance provided by an immediate annuity, at much lower cost. At plausible levels of actuarial unfairness, households should prefer it to both immediate and postponed annuitization and an optimal decumulation of unannuitized wealth. Few households would suffer significant losses were it used as a 401(k) plan default.

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  • Gong, Guan & Webb, Anthony, 2010. "Evaluating the Advanced Life Deferred Annuity -- An annuity people might actually buy," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 210-221, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:insuma:v:46:y:2010:i:1:p:210-221
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    Cited by:

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    2. Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell & Ralph Rogalla & Vasily Kartashov, 2013. "Lifecycle Portfolio Choice With Systematic Longevity Risk and Variable Investment—Linked Deferred Annuities," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 80(3), pages 649-676, September.
    3. Blake, David & El Karoui, Nicole & Loisel, Stéphane & MacMinn, Richard, 2018. "Longevity risk and capital markets: The 2015–16 update," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 157-173.
    4. Liu, Yanxin & Li, Johnny Siu-Hang, 2018. "A strategy for hedging risks associated with period and cohort effects using q-forwards," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 267-285.
    5. David Blake & Christophe Courbage & Richard MacMinn & Michael Sherris, 2011. "Longevity Risk and Capital Markets: The 2010–2011 Update," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 36(4), pages 489-500, October.
    6. Pilar Valencia-DeLara & Alberto Ramírez-Ceballos, 2012. "A tool applicable to the payment of credits for projects of agricultural crops with different income levels," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 58(5), pages 231-221.
    7. Horneff, Wolfram & Maurer, Raimond & Rogalla, Ralph, 2010. "Dynamic portfolio choice with deferred annuities," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2652-2664, November.
    8. Warshawsky, Mark, 2015. "Reforming Retirement Income: Annuitization, Combination Strategies, and Required Minimum Distributions," Working Papers 06834, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    9. David Blake & Andrew Cairns & Guy Coughlan & Kevin Dowd & Richard MacMinn, 2013. "The New Life Market," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 80(3), pages 501-558, September.
    10. Barbara Chambers & Ruth Walker & Jun Feng & Yuanyuan Gu, 2021. "The silver tsunami: an enquiry into the financial needs, preferences and behaviours of retirees," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 645-687, March.
    11. Milevsky, Moshe A. & Salisbury, Thomas S., 2022. "Refundable income annuities: Feasibility of money-back guarantees," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 175-193.
    12. Fang, H., 2016. "Insurance Markets for the Elderly," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 237-309, Elsevier.
    13. Post Thomas, 2012. "Individual Welfare Gains from Deferred Life-Annuities under Stochastic Mortality," Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 1-26, June.
    14. Maria Alexandrova & Nadine Gatzert, 2019. "What Do We Know About Annuitization Decisions?," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 22(1), pages 57-100, March.
    15. Fedor Iskhakov & Susan Thorp & Hazel Bateman, 2015. "Optimal Annuity Purchases for Australian Retirees," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 91(293), pages 139-154, June.
    16. Blake, David & Brockett, Patrick & Cox, Samuel & MacMinn, Richard, 2011. "Longevity risk and capital markets: The 2009-2010 update," MPRA Paper 28868, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Aparna Gupta & Zhisheng Li, 2013. "Optimal Annuity Purchase Decisions Under Uncertain Lifetime," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 447-459, December.

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