As a historical note, I believe this was the original
concept of "hedge fund" - a payout higher than
long term government bonds by investing both long
and short. In recent years hedge has taken on
the nefarious meaning of any sort of cowboy
investing one can get away with as long as one
have few enough investors to hide from the SEC.
And most of those dont do true hedging anymore.

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On Apr 26, 11:43 am, Lon <alonzotan...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:
- quote -

A joint life time annuity for a 70 year old couple would return about
7.6% with the cost of the policy amortized over 160 months for tax
purposes. That is assuming paying for the annuity outside of an IRA.

If you really don't want the income from the IRA, convert it to a Roth
IRA which has no mandatory distribution requirements. You may want to
do the conversion in parts to avoid a high tax burden. Your AGI would
have to be under $100,000 for a couple to do the Roth conversion. In
2010, the AGI requirement is scheduled to disappear in 2010.

--
Ron

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- quote -

The only comparison Joe, is monthly income. I have dealt with Vanguard
for a long time and feel very comfortable with their expertise, and no
I really don't need the distribution. It so happens however that on
one of the options, which provides 5% of the principal (payable
monthly) is sufficient to meet my RMD. In years that it is not, I can
take the balance at the end of the year. In either case, I would have
it disbursed to their Money Market account. Unlike annuities, there is
access to your account balance as well as the potential for growth. I
am not anti annuity. I think annuities are perfect for some
situations, but this new concept has appeal to some, in my view.

Lon

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Lon wrote:

- quote -

It sounds like you are mixing issues. Those funds may or may not
distribute enough to meet your RMD figure in year 1, but most certainly
won't a few years down the road. Do you need the funds from your RMD? If
not, you can just transfer the shares from your IRA to your cash account
to satisfy the RMD, you don't need to change your asset allocation in
anticipation of RMDs.
Sorry, those funds you referenced sound too gimmicky for my liking.
Comparing to annuities is apples to oranges, completely different
investment.

Joe

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Though these new funds by "Vanguard" & "Fidelity" have the element of
risk as do all investments,
they could work much better for many than annuities. As a retiree for
the past 17 years and now required to take Mandatory Distribution of
my IRA, I will be transferring into one of these funds.

http://socialize.morningstar.com/New...d/2447021.aspx

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