Retirement Insights

How Much Do People Value Annuities and Their Added Features?

How Much Do People Value Annuities and Their Added Features?

Research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

This brief analyzes a new survey of individuals near or in retirement with over $100,000 of investable assets.1 The findings suggest that roughly half of this population want to buy an annuity at prevailing market prices—significantly more than the 12 percent that actually do so. Further, they suggest that potentially aversive qualities of annuities, such as the fact that they cannot be bequeathed or that they tie up wealth in an illiquid form, have a negligible impact on the respondents’ willingness to annuitize.

1 Arapakis and Wettstein (2023a)

Download PDF

Since 2018, First Eagle Investments has collaborated with the Boston College Center for Retirement Research (CRR) to develop actionable insights and tools for plan sponsors, consultants and financial professionals. Leveraging CRR’s decades of scholarly research and First Eagle’s many years of practical experience, together we are committed to serving as a steadfast resource in support of American workers’ journey toward secure retirement. This content is part of a series of wide-ranging insights that explore key challenges that retirement savers face in the years leading up to and while in retirement. Additional topics address how different workers save in their company-sponsored retirement plans, what affects spending in retirement, and the impact of healthcare expenses for different segments of the retiree population.