Give it up for The Rolling Stones! Also, does your retirement plan include annuities?
The Rolling Stones are touring North America this summer. A D.C. nonprofit is the tour's lone sponsor.
Nothing goes together quite like perennial rock legends The Rolling Stones embarking on a sold-out summer tour of 15 North American cities to the rapt attention of millions of fans — and an ongoing discussion of how annuities could fit into your retirement planning.
The unlikely subject matter marriage of the talents behind "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Paint It Black" and a relatively small but growing financial insurance product comes courtesy of the D.C.-based annuities education and advocacy nonprofit group the Alliance for Lifetime Income. The group of insurance and annuities providers is, somewhat remarkably, the sole sponsor of The Rolling Stone's No Filter tour of North America.
"There are far and few between opportunities like The Rolling Stones," said Alliance for Lifetime Income Communications Director Cyrus Bamji, adding the band reaches up to 24 million people through social media and more than 1 million will be attending the concerts in person. "There is no better way to reach, in one fell swoop, 1.5 million Americans, most of whom are in our demographic, which are people who are just about planning for retirement or are in retirement."
That means more than the typical signage and branding opportunities that come with a sponsorship, Bamji said, declining to say how much the group paid. He stressed that the deal was cost-efficient, saying there will be plenty of interaction with fans. There will be a truck at each event with virtual reality experiences from The Rolling Stones' production manager and jet car driver Elaine Larsen — both have purchased annuities. The tour was originally slated to start in April, but Jagger's heart-valve surgery delayed the opening of the tour to Friday, when the band plays in Chicago. The Stones play FedEx Field in Landover on July 3.
The Alliance for Lifetime Income, the sole sponsor of the North American leg of The Rolling Stones' No Filter Tour, wants Americans to take a look at annuities.
The sponsorship opportunity was serendipitous as well, Bamji said. The Alliance for Lifetime Income had been looking for lower-profile possibilities but was connected to the band through Barry Stowe, the former CEO of Lansing, Michigan-based Jackson National Life Insurance. He had previously worked with The Rolling Stones on a earlier tour sponsorship. When The Rolling Stones asked more recently if Jackson was interested in another sponsorship deal, Stowe connected the band with the Alliance, Bamji said.
Proponents say annuities, which are insurance products someone can purchase that guarantees a certain level of payout for a certain amount of time, can help people avoid the risk of outliving their retirement savings and provide more dependable income. Opponents, such as financial advice folk hero Dave Ramsey, say the complexity of annuities coupled with high fees and commissions makes them poor retirement vehicles — especially in comparison with other things such as 401(k) accounts or low-fee mutual funds.
That was in part why the Alliance for Lifetime Income formed, Bamji said, to help combat what he said was misinformation about annuities and educate people on what he called "protected income" that can help supplement Social Security payments later in life. Some of the reputation that annuities are difficult to understand came from the industry itself over the years by making them more complicated than they needed to be, he added, saying annuities have gotten far less complex within the last five years.
That hasn't stopped annuities from seeing growth in recent years with sales growing about 9.7% in 2019, reaching about $218 billion, according to research by the Insured Retirement Institute, although it still small in comparison with 401(k) plans. Americans had about $7.5 trillion stashed in their 401(k) plans by the end of 2018, according to research by Vanguard.
So will the Alliance be looking for other high-profile sponsorship opportunities in the future? Bamji said the group has looked at others, but The Rolling Stones are a unique opportunity.
"We have looked at other opportunities like that. But there are few opportunities where we can reach that many people," Bamji said.
