Some of the retirement savings ideas that emerged from a recent government-sponsored brainstorming meeting could create opportunities for life insurers.
The U.S. Department of Labor posted the final report for the 2006 National Summit on Retirement Savings on its Web site.
The summit included talks by retirement savings experts and participation by dozens of statutory and appointed delegates, including members of Congress and representatives from consumer groups, employer groups and the financial services industry.
Participants in a group that generated ideas about ways to help workers nearing retirement proposed reducing current legal restrictions that limit companies’ ability to bundle products such as annuities and long term care insurance.
“This would allow the financial services industry to design unified plans that not only provide for retirement savings, but also cover the rapidly rising health costs that may threaten those savings,” according to the authors of the final summit report.
Members of the near-retiree group also proposed creating a “Retirement Income Security Plan.