The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), the non-profit organization promoting insured products like annuities, has introduced a retirement pyramid. The pyramid aims to provide a secure retirement for its users by putting the largest amount of money into the largest or bottom tier and gradually decreasing the amounts as you climb the pyramid. National Underwriter’s article “IRI Promotes Retirement Planning Pyramid” explains the strategy. This week is the IRI’s National Retirement Planning Week of 2010, so they chose this time to promote the retirement pyramid.
This pyramid concept is meant for both consumers and professionals in the financial industry to use. The three items making up the base of the pyramid are annuities, social security, and defined benefit pension income. The second tier, called “long-term assets”, includes fixed annuity and other annuity income, 401k plans, real estate, and individual retirement accounts. “Insurance” is the third tier encompassing Medicare, health insurance, life insurance, and long term care insurance. The IRI’s top tier, “Investments”, is where they put stocks, bonds, mutual funds and certificates of deposit.
