Episode 380: Why Americans Hate Annuities

David McKnight explores one of the most fascinating and misunderstood topics: Retirement planning annuities. In the article Annuitization Puzzles, Economics Nobel Prize winner Richard Thaler tries to answer a deceptively simple question: If annuities are so good at protecting retirees from outliving their money, why don't more people buy them? Thaler, one of the founding fathers of behavioral economics, coined the phrase "the annuity puzzle" to describe a striking contradiction between theory and real life. According to traditional economic models, the rational choice would be for retirees to annuitize at least some portion of their wealth – yet, only very few Americans go out and buy a pure life annuity. The answers to this contradiction are almost entirely psychological. Loss aversion, loss of control, complexity and distrust, fear of disinheriting errors, underestimating longevity risks are the key reasons why that happens. David points out that most retirees believe they won't live...