“We did not invest all of Mom’s money in this product,” Ms. Cheng said. “We only invested a portion of her I.R.A. and her inherited I.R.A. We did this to address market risk, inflation risk and longevity.” (These additional contracts are often expensive, and additional features increase the cost of an annuity contract. The living benefits rider added 1.35 percent to the purchase cost of the contract for Ms. Cheng’s mother.)Save and invest. You know this, but it bears repeating. Another solid way to increase preretirement saving is by investing in low-cost, diversified no-commission stock-index mutual funds. Use a cost analyzer to see how much you could save.“Put away as much as possible” in …
