You Have a Balance. You Do Not Have a Paycheck.
For thirty years the goal was accumulation. Contribute, invest, watch the number grow.
Then the paychecks stop, and the number has to become income. Most people arrive at retirement with a balance and a guess.
Withdraw too much and the money runs out early. Withdraw too little and you live smaller than you had to. Neither mistake announces itself until it is late.
The industry that helped you build the balance was never built to turn it into a paycheck. That is the gap, and you are standing in it.
Nobody should have to guess how long their money will last.
A Salary For Life Plan Answers One Question
A Salary For Life plan is a structure built from savings you already have, designed to produce a predictable monthly amount for the rest of your life, with the amount known before you commit.
It is not a product we sell on this website. Whether it fits depends on your situation, which is what the review call is for.
You Are Not Behind. You Were Never Handed This Part.
You did what you were told to do. You contributed, you stayed invested, you built the balance. Turning that balance into a paycheck is a different problem requiring different tools, and that conversation was never part of anyone's job. The people who end up in that gap are not the ones who were careless. They are the ones who were never handed the second half of the plan. That is the gap I work in.
Chris Poblete
Salary For Life Advisor
Licensed Financial Professional
Arizona · California · Florida · Louisiana · Ohio · Texas
M.S. Personal Financial Planning Candidate, Kansas State University
What Changes When You Have a Salary For Life
A Salary For Life plan is built to do four things.
Every one of these comes with terms and trade-offs. They are spelled out in the questions below and in the disclosures at the bottom of this page.
Three Steps. You Can Stop After Any of Them.
What You Can Expect From Us
Your information is not sold. You are matched with one licensed professional, not distributed to a list of agents.
The review call costs nothing and carries no obligation. There is no fee for the analysis. If you move forward, I am paid by the issuing insurance company, not by you.
If a Salary For Life plan is not right for you, you will be told so on the call. That is the most common outcome.
You will see specific figures from the issuing insurance company, in writing, before any decision is made.
You Stop Guessing
Instead of asking how long the money will last, you are looking at what arrives each month and building the rest of your retirement around a number you already know. The budget conversation stops being a projection and starts being arithmetic.
That is the entire outcome. Not a different lifestyle, not a bigger number. A known one.
This Might Not Be For You
About 30% of the people who apply turn out to be a fit. It is not the right approach if:
- You need access to all of your money at any time.
- You are looking to maximize growth and can tolerate the volatility that comes with it.
- Your savings are primarily in accounts that would trigger tax consequences on transfer that outweigh the benefit.
Questions People Ask Before They Call
I am compensated by the issuing insurance company if you decide to move forward, which is standard across the insurance industry. You are not charged a fee for the review call and there is no cost to you for the analysis. You should ask any professional this question directly, and you should be told plainly. Compensation structures vary by product, and yours will be disclosed to you before you make any decision.
Two, and they are structural rather than hidden. Upside is limited: you participate in a share of index gains, not all of them, so in a strong bull market you will earn less than a market-exposed account. And liquidity is limited: most contracts allow a set annual withdrawal amount, and taking more than that during the surrender period triggers a charge. These are the trades you make in exchange for a floor and a known income amount. Whether that trade is worth it depends on your situation, which is what the review call determines. One more thing worth knowing: the protection rests on the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company, not on FDIC or government backing.
Remaining contract value can generally be directed to a spouse or named beneficiaries, and payout structures vary by contract. Single-life, joint-life, and period-certain options exist and produce different monthly amounts. This is one of the specific things I work through with you on the review call.
Partially and on a schedule. Most contracts permit a limited annual withdrawal without charge. Larger withdrawals during the surrender period incur a surrender charge that declines over time. If you anticipate needing full access to these funds, this is the wrong tool and you should hear that before, not after.
A market-exposed retirement account
- Growth is not capped. In a strong market you keep all of it.
- Full liquidity. Your money is available when you want it.
- Balance rises and falls with the market, including in the years you begin withdrawing.
- No income floor. How long the money lasts depends on returns, sequence, and withdrawal rate.
- You carry the longevity risk. If you live to 95, the plan has to reach 95.
A Salary For Life plan
- Growth is limited by caps or participation rates. In a strong market you earn less.
- Liquidity is limited. Withdrawals above a set annual amount trigger surrender charges during the surrender period.
- Principal is not reduced by market index declines.
- Monthly income amount is known before you commit.
- The insurance company carries the longevity risk, subject to its claims-paying ability.
Most people who move forward do not move everything. A Salary For Life plan usually covers the fixed costs, housing, utilities, insurance, food, while other accounts stay invested for growth and flexibility. The question is rarely which one. It is how much of each.
Similar instinct, different tool. A CD protects principal and pays a known rate for a known term, which is exactly why people use them. What it does not do is pay you for as long as you live. When the term ends, you are back to the same question in a new rate environment, and that reinvestment decision lands on you again every few years. A Salary For Life plan trades some of that flexibility for an income amount that does not end when a term does. If your money is in CDs because you wanted certainty, you already understand the trade. The question is whether you want certainty for five years or for the rest of your life.
Most advisors specialize in growing assets, which is what the majority of their clients need for most of their working lives. Converting savings into lifetime income is a different specialty, and often a different license. If your advisor is securities-licensed and not insurance-licensed, this is simply outside what they are able to offer you. It is worth asking them directly what they think. A good advisor will give you a straight answer, and I would rather you make this decision with more input than less.
I am licensed in Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas. Product availability also varies by state, which is why your state is one of the four pre-qualification questions.
This tends to fit people who are within about ten years of retirement or already there, who have retirement savings they will need to convert into income, and who would trade some upside for knowing what arrives every month.
It tends not to fit people who need full access to all of their savings, who are still in the accumulation years with a long runway, or who would rather carry market risk in exchange for market returns.
If the first paragraph sounds more like you than the second, the pre-qualification takes about a minute and will tell you more than this page can.