If longevity annuities and other lifetime income options are to become more popular with workers, they need to be more easily understood. That was the sentiment of Mark Iwry, the Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for retirement and health policy, speaking at a panel hosted by the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

“We don’t want to be overcomplicated right off the bat,” said Iwry, the department’s point person on retirement savings.

He said the Treasury Department is trying to be more methodical with more complicated products such as variable annuities because their complexity could scare off workers. That has meant easing IRS regulations to open the door to more longevity options.

Two weeks ago, the department took a step to make longevity annuities more widespread by allowing employers to embed them in fixed-income target-date funds.

Iwry said workers should put one-eighth to one-fourth of their retirement assets into investments that promise a regular monthly payout when the workers reach their mid-70s. This will help them avoid running out of money in their later years.

“Lifetime income is a broad base movement,” he said.

Supporting the call for simplicity was David John, the senior policy advisor for AARP, who said longevity annuities will become more popular if people can understand them.

The panelists also discussed the benefits of using longevity annuities as a default in employer retirement savings plans for the segment of workers who can benefit from them.

Lee Covington, general counsel of the Insured Retirement Institute, an annuities trade group, said seven insurance companies are preparing to roll out longevity annuities. Insurance broker-dealers view them as a potentially hot product, he said, but plan sponsors are waiting to jump into longevity annuities until they are given safe harbor protection from fiduciary lawsuits by participants.

He noted the Labor Department is developing guidelines to provide just that.

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