Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) appears to be ramping-up its retirement income efforts.

Advisor One reported on the recent DFA-sponsored retirement planning conference in Chicago.

DFA's retirement income efforts appear to be largely focused on the defined contribution or 401k market.  DFA's retirement income offering is named "Managed DC."  The product appears to be offered exclusively in the retirement plan market.

DFA has a huge presence in the asset accumulation space with $232 billion in assets under management.

The majority of Americans are keenly interested in retirement income, but they are unable to make the connection between how their retirement savings translates to income.  

What options are available to a soon-to-be retired household that is financially constrained?  What levers can be pulled if desired retirement spending is not realistic in light of retirement savings?

The odds of financial success in retirement for the typical American household are less than ten percent.

This is based on the financial profile of an American household that would be considered statistically average.  We developed the financial profile of an average American retiree in a previous article (click here to read).  

Anna Rappaport is widely recognized as a leading expert on retirement systems, workforce issues, the impact of changing demographics and women’s retirement security.

After a successful career with Mercer Consulting, Anna founded a consulting firm that specializes in strategies for improving retirement systems.  Anna is a recipient of numerous awards and is a past President of the Society of Actuaries.    

Many financial advisors seem conditioned to wear annuity criticism as a sort of badge of honor. 

As the past couple of years have so painfully revealed, however, this conventional wisdom rests on shaky ground.

What types of questions might a client present to an advisor who appears to have a reflexive inclination to dismiss most or all forms of annuities?  Consider the following:

1.  How are my assets hedged against longevity risk?  In other words, how am I protected from outliving my money?