Why Boomer Retirees Should Consider TIPS

Before the financial crisis began two years ago, certain “truths” were held as undeniable–for instance, that Modern Portfolio Theory works; asset allocation and buy-and-hold with rebalancing works; and equities outperform inflation.

Now, it appears some of those truths aren’t true, and maybe never were. So many truths were shattered and so many unthinkable things happened in the past two years that advisors and clients must look differently at every challenge.

In the retirement space, baby boomers are approaching their golden years with a set of conditions unlike any ever seen. This environment is the “new normal,” a world marked by the possibility of lower growth, increased consumer savings and more government intervention and regulation.

Experts anticipate recovery will come, but it’s unlikely to be at the same magnitude as in past recoveries.

What does this mean for retirement and retirement income? Well, for one, there will be a new retirement normal. Some people who retired “for good” in the past five years have un-retired.

Another consequence of the new normal is the need to look at the retirement income portfolio in a new light. Possibly the most significant risk a retiree faces is inflation, so let’s focus on the implications of that.

The traditional way of dealing with this risk has been to load up on equities and hope this will win the day in the end. But that won’t work. Arguably, it never did.

Let’s break it down to the level of the individual. Typically a retiree will have a baseline of expenses which he or she will need to cover. A usual approach would be to use reliable, predictable income flows to cover those needs. Such flows would include Social Security, pension income and immediate annuities. Some of these may have inflation adjustments, some not.

The next level of expense coverage usually comes with a heavy equity allocation. This approach, if intended to cover any of the “needs” aspects of retirement, could have a devastating outcome on income. At this risk tolerance level, the retiree is trying to protect and grow purchasing power. Fortunately there is a U.S. government security that is designed to protect purchasing power with inflation adjustments and grow purchasing power by crediting additional interest. This product is Treasury Inflation Protected Securities.