Products April 2, 2013

Sammons Debuts Mutual Fund IRA

The LiveWell Plus Mutual Fund IRA was launched by Sammons Retirement Solutions Inc. to help advisers gather retirement assets and provide a savings boost.
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The LiveWell Plus is the first mutual fund IRA (individual retirement account) to offer a 3% account bonus on IRA rollovers and contributions available exclusively through independent financial advisers, the company said in a statement.

Advisers can use the mutual fund IRA to jumpstart long-term retirement planning strategies and enhance IRA values. For rollovers and contributions, an account bonus equal to 3% of the net amount of the rollover or contribution will be added to the account. The 3% account bonus enables advisers to help new and existing clients put retirement assets into a single account and give their savings an immediate boost.  

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The goal of LiveWell Plus is promoting long-term retirement asset growth. With access to more than 100 mutual funds from 19 fund families—including industry heavyweights like PIMCO and BlackRock, as well as boutique managers—advisers have flexibility in creating investment strategies that suit their clients’ long-term retirement goals, time horizon and risk tolerance.

According to William Lowe, president of Sammons Retirement Solutions, LiveWell Plus could be a tool to help advisers combat inertia and help get clients and prospects off the sidelines to consolidate their assets for long-term retirement planning.

A minimum rollover/contribution of $50,000 is required to open a LiveWell Plus Mutual Fund IRA, and contributions are allowed for six months after opening the account. The program is available for traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, inherited IRAs and SEP-IRAs as well as rollovers or transfers from qualified plans such as 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457 plans. The offering has no front-end loads, no fees for reallocations or rebalancing, and charges one recordkeeping fee plus fund expenses. For amounts over $100,000, the recordkeeping fee is 0.85% for the first six years, dropping to 0.40% in the seventh year.

An Early Withdrawal Charge (EWC) may apply to amounts withdrawn in the first six years. Understanding that individuals may need occasional access to their IRA assets, account holders may withdraw certain amounts or required minimum distributions, if greater, with no fees during the first six years. Because the account is designed to encourage long-term savings, withdrawals above the EWC-free amount will be subject to a fee.

Sammons Retirement Solutions, a member of Sammons Financial Group, provides retirement solutions focused on IRA rollovers and other retirement assets.

Data & Research April 2, 2013

Few Income Goals, But Lots of Worry

Four in ten (44%) Americans polled admit their retirement savings may not last until the end of their life.
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Yet, when it comes to developing a retirement savings goal, only one-fifth (21%) of middle-income retirees and preretirees calculated a monthly retirement income goal number; only one in ten (13%) determined a total savings goal number to reach, according to the latest study released by the Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center For A Secure Retirement (CSR).  

The CSR study finds more than half of middle-income Boomers (55%) have saved less than $100,000 for retirement. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of middle-income preretirees report some level of anxiety about retirement; one in four (28%) report being “anxious” or “very anxious.”  

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Declining health is the number one longevity concern for respondents—nearly four times the concern about inadequate retirement savings (10%) or outliving their money (9%).   

To compensate for the possibility of outliving their savings, middle-income Americans plan to: 

  • Reduce spending (63%); 
  • Get a part-time job in retirement (41%); 
  • Sell house (25%); 
  • Give less money to children/grandchildren (24%); and  
  • Do nothing (15%). 

The good news is that the majority of today’s middle-income Americans are living within their budget. According to the CSR study, seven out of ten (70%) report living comfortably within their budget; only one in ten (9%) admit to living beyond their means.    

The Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement’s study, “Longevity Risk and Reward for Middle-Income Americans,” was conducted in November 2012 among a nationwide sample of 500 Americans ages 55 to 75 who have annual household incomes between $25,000 and $75,000 by the independent research firm The Boomer Project. The full report can be viewed at CenterForASecureRetirement.com.

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