How should I retire?

[bushmacj]

I am retiring effect 12/1/09 at age 62. I'll be taking early Social Security at $1450/month, I have an IRA worth $153,000 (rolled over from my 401K) and $73,000 in my 401k. I can take a non-beneficiary guaranteed lifetime annuity pension for $1450 a month from my employer or a lump sum of $268,000 and roll it into my IRA. I'm talking with Fidelity about a guaranteed lifetime annuity costing $250,000 that will pay $1400/month and if my husband or I die before a 20 year time-frame, the balance can go to a beneficiary. My question is: is there another way to have a monthly income without an annuity? Bruce doesn't seem to like annuities but what else can I do? My husband does not have a pension, only $900/month SS and has $130,000 in a savings account.
Totally confused...

[irmanator]

I don't know what your bills are, that would help. Personally I would roll the 268k into the 401 or ira. But I could live on 1400+900 mo. But that probably wont work for others.

[disneysteve]

We really need to know how much monthly income you will need to answer the question.

You have a total of 624K in savings. SS income of $2,350. How much more income do you need your savings to generate on top of the SS payments? Your savings can easily generate another $2,000/month. If you anticipate needing much more that, an annuity may be worth looking into.

[maat55]

My parents are satisfied with their annuity mainly because they have several small pensions combined with it and they are comfortable.

My only other knowledge is to ladder a few years of maturing bonds and keep the bulk in diversified mutual fund investments, you can buy another bond during the good years and ride the others during the bad market years. I found this an interesting idea in a book I read, but you should research it further.

[Snodog]

I'll 2nd what Steve said and add that you can plug in your info here and check out various scenarios to see which gives you the best success rate.

[TBH]

It seems like your husband's assets are more limited than yours, so it's probably a good idea to roll your pension into an IRA so that he'll have that money if you pass on before he does.

I agree with others that we need a better idea of your expenses to give more complete answers.

But congratulations on your retirement! It sounds like you have a lot of options financially.

[zetta]

It might be wise to have an appointment with a certified financial planner to go over all your options and make sure your retirement plan is sound. You didn't say what your IRA is held in, but I want to mention that if you are retiring at 62, there is a possibility that you could live into your 90's, so you want to have at least a small portion of your investments in stock mutual funds just in case we hit a period of high inflation sometime in the next 30 years.

[jasonnoguchi]

Buy an apartment or house and rent it out for residual income. With the low low housing price now, you could even turn a good capital gain in the next 5 to 10 years.