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There are many common misconceptions about the relationship between Annuities and 401ks. Make sure you know enough to decide how to create your perfect lifetime income stream.

Every single American citizen already owns the best inflation income annuity on the planet. Yes, even all those “annuity haters” have an annuity in their portfolio. It’s called Social Security. Depending on when you start the income stream, Social Security functions like a Single Premium Immediate Annuity (SPIA) or Deferred Income Annuity (DIA).

Or are they? It's common and required for all of us to have car insurance, health insurance, and homeowner's insurance. You can't drive a car or own a home without that type of coverage, and we pay these premiums without hesitation.

Two of the most frequently asked question that I receive are “How does longevity insurance work?” and “How much does longevity insurance cost?” Solving for longevity risk is making sure that you will never be running out of money and that you have a sufficient lifetime income stream hitting your bank account regardless of how long you live.

Many investors are familiar with bond ladders or CD ladders, and might already have these types of strategies in their retirement plan. Laddering annuity contracts is a new concept to most people, but you should definitely be aware of these unique strategies for both lifetime income and principal protection.

There is a reason 3 guys are wearing both “belts and suspenders” in the picture with this article. It’s not because I grew up in the south and that’s how my Uncle Joe looked at the family reunion! It’s due to the fact that some people mistakenly think using IRA money to fund annuities is duplicitous.

If you have an investment strategy or a retirement strategy, there better be an income strategy as well. In a pension-less world, too many people are relying too much on their Social Security payments. Social Security is the best inflation annuity on the planet, but it was never put in place to be the primary source of retirement income.

The focus tends to shift from market growth to income with a demographic tidal wave of people reaching full retirement age every single day. Increasing your retirement income becomes the top personal finance goal for any long term financial plan.

A retirement annuity can be multiple types of annuities. I think most people when talking about a retirement annuity, they're talking about a lifetime income stream. An immediate annuity, a deferred income annuity, or qualified longevity annuity contracts. Something that's going to create a pension type income stream.

“Retirement Income” might be the two most important words to the 10,000+ baby boomers that reach retirement age every single day. For the people that plan to retire soon or in the future, Retirement Income is a focus and the ultimate goal for most hard-working Americans.