The Rolling Stones and Annuity Buyers

It’s an easy stretch to compare Rolling Stones concert attendees and Annuity Buyers.

Did you know that the The Rolling Stones 2021 No Filter tour was the highest grossing concert tour in the U.S. The 12-stop tour raked in $115.5 million dollars. Data Ed, Data Dave and myself went to the final concert, which was at the Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL. This was an intimate 7,000 seat venue, which was much different than the mega-stadiums they typically play in.  Needless to say, the Stones (minus Charlie Watts) were awesome.  Mick Jagger may be 78 – but he still has all the moves.

I recently saw a full-page ad from the Alliance for Lifetime Income, which was the tour’s sponsor. Their tag line was how annuities can help protect one’s retirement by “giving you shelter” from the ups and downs of the market.

I am updating my 2019 blog from the last Stones Tour……because it is relevant again.

In retrospect, it has never not been relevant. It underscores the top premise of direct marketing. Marketing a product to a highly targeted audience segment. And, if you’ve recently been to a Stones concert, you know the audience is a bunch of older rockers who want to live life to the fullest.

Do Annuity Buyers Get Satisfaction?

This post can also be called Gimme a New Shelter or I Get Satisfaction with Annuities

My husband Ed & I go to a lot of concerts . We also specialize in going to see artists who are typically older than us.

All four Rolling Stones are over 74. (I wrote this post in 2019, when the Stones re-launched their No Filter Tour ). They’re now way older. Mick is 78 andCharlie Watts is no longer with us. In 2019, Mick Jagger came back on stage after heart surgery – prancing and dancing around the stage. The guys look great. Just like me, the Stones continue to prove that age is just a number.

Yes, we’re all getting older. We know that living longer is really about continuing to do the things you love. It’s not about sex, drugs and rock and roll anymore. Nowadays, we are looking to a different future.

So, how does that song go?

“You can always get what you want….when you have an annuity”.

No, the Stones didn’t change the lyrics, their sponsor did.

The sole sponsor for the Rolling Stones’ US Tour 2019 was the Alliance for Lifetime Income. They are an advocacy organization whose purpose is to help Americans address the risk of outliving their retirement income. This group is a nonprofit with 24 financial service companies as members. The companies include AIG, Allianz, Axa, Goldman Sachs, Prudential, State Street and TIAA.

Jean Statler, executive director at the Alliance for Lifetime Income, says concert attendees and annuity buyers are the same people. They are 45-72 year olds with investable assets between $75,000 and $2 million.

Most of this group are not huge investors with a lot of money. They are middle-class. All of a sudden, reality hits that they may not have enough savings to last a Rolling Stones-like lifetime.

Kathleen Coxwell from New Retirement suggested that the song Gimme Shelter might be redefined as referring to retirement income protection. She explained that there is one overarching worry of retirees. That is the fear of outliving assets and running out of money in retirement.

Gimme Shelter

Long lives, increasing costs and an unstable economy are the real storms “threat’ning our lives today…”.

What about Satisfaction? Can annuities bring you Satisfaction? The Alliance is betting on it.

Bottom line, it’s all about marketing. There are still dozens of tweets and posts on this. I can see that the Alliance for Lifetime Income scored big with their partnership with the Rolling Stones.

Not all companies selling annuities have deep pockets. If you’re looking to reach prospective annuity buyers with a marketing program that doesn’t cost as much as sponsoring the Rolling Stones’ Tour, give me a call. I have just the list!