Educating people about reverse mortgages could help alleviate their most pressing concerns about income during retirement, suggest recently released survey findings from the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF).
Nearly 85% of respondents said that having a guaranteed monthly income stream is their top priority for retirement planning. But few people know about the options for achieving this—for example, of the 1,000 people who took the survey, 65% said they are not familiar with annuities.
While the findings do not address reverse mortgages specifically, the results suggest that many people will be in a position to benefit from this source of cash flow. Not only are few people educated about annuities, but an increasing number are not saving anything for retirement. Last year, 21% of respondents said they are not saving, compared with 29% this year.
“The results … reveal the critical need for education and financial advice to help Americans who are clear about what they want from their retirement plan, but unclear about how to achieve it,” the survey report concluded.
Click here to access the complete findings.
Written by Tim Mullaney
