External Communications

Who wants to read about annuities? 

Much like asparagus and Brussels sprouts, annuities are a good-for-you choice… if perhaps uninspiring. This was the dilemma when it came to my work at ALEX.fyi. 

The widget we were selling was simple income annuities. One challenge was to differentiate our stellar product offering from the convoluted, commission-heavy annuities that flooded the marketplace. The other was to situate it firmly within the context of a longevity-focused lifestyle. 

We wanted ALEX.fyi to be an appealing brand that spoke to a Gen X to younger Boomer crowd. An income annuity- the financial product- was deliberately framed as a complement to an intellectually-rich and meaningful way of life. And our founder was the spokesman for the full picture.

In my role, I created personas and avatars for purposes of investor decks. I drafted thought leadership pieces, blog posts and newsletters. I launched a 5 Questions conversation series with a range of influencers in the aging space. Naturally, I also wrote about the value proposition of simple income annuities and the myriad financial challenges that accompany a long retirement. I made a strong business case for our product, all the while imbuing ALEX.fyi with a unique personality that was backed up with impactful, profile-raising content.

Fresh Ideas on Retirement

“There are parrots with larger vocabularies than most of us have concerning life in old age,” says the head of the MIT Age Lab. And he’s right. If we are beginning to spend one-third of our lives in the retirement stage, then we should have the benefit of thinking that meets us where we truly are.

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As Seen on TV: 5 Questions with Sharon Epperson

Take it from CNBC superstar Sharon Epperson- “having the ‘money talk’ with your parents isn’t always an easy conversation, but it’s important to be clear about your own financial stability and theirs. Experts in elder law say… seniors are so vulnerable to financial exploitation in part because they are incredibly private about financial matters.”

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Are You Smarter than a Samsung 5G?

Technology, more than perhaps any other single factor, will be instrumental in enabling more adults to age in place. That’s the wish of 76% of American adults over 50, but only 46% believe they’ll be able to do so. What if existing tech- such as smart sensors to detect falls- paired with access to on-demand service providers could be leveraged to that end?

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An Open Letter to Ken Fisher

Have you heard the news? Ken Fisher hates annuities. In the oft-repeated words of the billionaire owner of Fisher Investments: “I would rather die and go to hell before selling an annuity.” Ouch. But that got me thinking. When you announce that you hate annuities, are you effectively throwing out the baby with the bathwater? How should we feel about that? Is it misleading? Does it help financial literacy in our country? Annuities, in the generic sense, are a basic building block of all economics and finance. An annuity is simply a financial instrument for paying out a fixed payment stream. Yes;…

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Is Your Defined Benefit Pension on the Brink of Extinction?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the security of a guaranteed income stream can be hard to come by.  At ALEX.fyi, we believe that finding a source of guaranteed lifetime income is crucial to a comfortable retirement. But don’t take our word for it. This week, employees of General Electric woke to the news that their employer took a hard look at its defined benefit (DB) pension liabilities- and took a hard pass. GE announced on Monday that it was freezing its U.S. pension plan for approximately 20,000 employees and offering a lump-sum payment option to about 100,000 former…

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No Country For Old Thinking (AKA The Madness of King Ken Fisher)

Hey, it’s 2019… Which is why it was shocking- but not surprising- that Ken Fisher of Fisher Investments recently came under fire. Fisher is well known for his anti-annuity rants. In that regard, he may be the most economically successful internet troll in history. This was yet another thread. Addressing professionals at the elite Tiburon Summit, Fisher compared landing a client to “getting into a woman’s pants,” discussed genitalia and joked about branding employees with the name of his company.

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The Magic Number

Congratulations! You’ve had a successful career and you’re on the brink of retirement. Take a look at that 401(k). Maybe you’re lucky and have a million dollars to stretch out for decades. What does that mean for a monthly budget once you’ve retired? Hard to say, really. And what if you’re the average 60 to 69-year-old? Then the total is $195,500. Try dividing that by a lifetime, should such a calculator exist.

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Investor Deck Avatars

“My dream is to spend the first five to eight years of our retirement visiting parts of the world that we’ve always wanted to see. But I don’t want to live it up and then spend the rest of our retirement wondering whether I can afford to buy my grandkid two scoops of ice cream instead of one.”

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Let’s Keep Woody Out of This

Why all the hate? What is with an anti-Baby Boomer movement that I seem to be seeing more of? Imagine my surprise when I read a movie review of Toy Story 4 in which the reviewer ruefully looked at the actions of cowboy Woody and thought: “God, that’s such a baby-boomer move.” The bias gets worse from there, believe it or not.

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A Retirement Crisis and a Solution

No less of an authority than the World Economic Forum has confirmed the obvious: there’s a retirement crisis in this country that is only set to get worse. A WEF report compares several major economies and comes up with a stark conclusion. There’s a $28 trillion retirement savings gap in this country that will become a $137 trillion savings gap by 2050.

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The Making of a Modern Elder: 5 Questions with Chip Conley

Rewind back to before Chip Conley received an Influencer in Aging award, before his TED talk and his book. Conley was a seasoned entrepreneur looking for new challenges. He got one in the form of a call from the head of Airbnb, a young startup that wanted to grow and wanted his help. There Conley found his footing working across generations as what he calls a “modern elder.”

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Pencils Down

Americans hold approximately $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. The longer that you look at that statistic, the more you see: this isn’t “just” a problem for young adults starting out in the world. Borrowers of all ages- parents and grandparents alike- are sacrificing their own retirements in order to repay student debt.

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Retirement Planning

It’s no secret that one tough aspect of retirement planning is settling on the optimal strategy for drawing down a nest egg. Planning for a couple creates an extra level of complexity. Much depends on the lifestyle preferences of each spouse, their different approaches to stock market volatility and, of course, their willingness to compromise.

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On the Frontline of Age Tech: 5 Questions with Keren Etkin

“In countries that are only now starting to think of older adults as possible consumers for tech, you’ll see startups developing digital health products for the aging- which is great- but older adults are not just patients… The population is extremely diverse, and a 65 year old baby boomer has different wants and needs than their parent who’s 85 years old, although they’re both considered ‘old.’”

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Health, Meet Wealth

They say 50 is the new 40, 60 is the new 50, and so on. That’s good news for those of us who have taken care of ourselves and plan for a long retirement. But the stellar checkup at the doctor’s office can mean sticker shock later. People with larger nest eggs can pay for life-extending medical care and so they typically survive longer. And because means-tested Medicare benefits are less available to them, they may end up digging deeper than expected.

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A View From the Top: 5 Questions with Sheryl Moore

“My overarching message is that there is no such thing as a bad [financial] product. So annuities are not bad and mutual funds are not bad. Life insurance is not bad. Stocks aren’t bad. Different products are viable and a good purchase decision for different people.”

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Caring Season

No discussion of the opportunity and challenges associated with longevity is complete without a consideration of the caregivers. November is National Family Caregivers Month, a time to honor the mix of selflessness, perseverance and love that comes with tending to a family member in need.

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