A recent Humberto Cruz article talks about retirement planning and annuities for women.

A 65-year-old woman can expect to live to 85, about three years longer than men, and she has a 23 percent chance of living beyond 95, based on current mortality tables.

“When a woman outlives her husband, her income decreases by 50 percent on average, yet expenses only decrease by 20 percent,” the Hartford/MIT AgeLab study said.

The second study, “Lifetime Income for Women: A Financial Economist’s Perspective,” was written by David Babbel, a professor at the Wharton School of Business, and co-sponsored by New York Life Insurance Co.

Babbel argues women should allocate substantially less money to stocks and stock mutual funds in retirement and more to immediate annuities that guarantee an income for life in return for a lump-sum premium.

“Annuities are even more important for women, because their risks are compounded by being faced with longer life expectancy as well as potentially outliving their husbands by six years or more (wives tend to be younger than their husbands),” Babbel said. He concludes income annuities from top-rated insurance companies can provide secure lifetime income for from 25 percent to 40 percent less money than it would take an individual investor.