Psst! Hey, buddy. Wanna know a sure-fire way to sell an annuity? It's been scientifically proven to work. All you need to do is re-frame the perspective of the buyer and—WHAMMO!—the sale is made.
If this sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But research shows if you shift the perspective of retirement investors from thinking “lump sum” to thinking “monthly payout,” you have a better chance at selling that annuity—with two important caveats.
In a paper, “The Illusion of Wealth and Its Reversal,” researchers Daniel Goldstein, Hal Hershfield and Shlomo Benartzi attempt to answer the question, “Why do people more often choose the lump sum option instead of the annuity?” What they discovered may shed some light on, and help, annuity sales. It may also show there's a brick wall out there through which no annuity can pass.
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Christopher Carosa
Chris Carosa has been writing a weekly article and monthly column for BenefitsPRO online and BenefitsPRO Magazine since 2011 and is a nationally recognized award-winning writer, researcher and speaker. He’s written seven books, including From Cradle to Retire: The Child IRA; Hey! What’s My Number? – How to Increase the Odds You Will Retire in Comfort; A Pizza The Action: Everything I Ever Learned About Business I Learned By Working in a Pizza Stand at the Erie County Fair; and the widely acclaimed 401(k) Fiduciary Solutions. Carosa is also Chief Contributing Editor of the authoritative trade journal FiduciaryNews.com and publisher of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, a weekly community newspaper he founded in 1989. Currently serving as President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and with more than 1,000 articles published in various publications, he appears regularly in the national media. A “parallel” entrepreneur, he actively runs a handful of businesses, including a small boutique investment adviser, providing hands-on experience for his writing. A trained astrophysicist, he also holds an MBA and has been designated a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. Share your thoughts and story ideas with him through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christophercarosa/)and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisCarosa).
