King William's Tontine: Why the Retirement Annuity of the Future Should Resemble its Past (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics (Hardcover))

Moshe A. Milevsky, in a life insurance industry - shot across the bow, makes yet another ground breaking appeal since his landmark 2004 white paper on Advanced Life Delayed Annuities (ALDA) that set the tone for the deferred income annuity (DIA) products we have today. The book re-evaluates how we think about lifetime income and what might make sense when it comes to “sharing” longevity risk among the various age classes of our society.Milevsky makes an argument for re-emergence of “tontine thinking”. A tontine is a pure longevity risk sharing arrangement between participants not dependent on current insurance carrier lifetime annuity pricing proclivities. In this more transparent arrangement, mortality credits are actually shared with participants only after they are earned. Because there are no guarantees or reserving, but just a private arrangement, a tontine does not fall under insurance company auspices. Theoretically, any financial services industry participant could establish a tontine type arrangement to share longevity risk.Look out life insurance industry! The “boys with cigars” behind closed doors are already discussing inexpensive and other mortality risk sharing arrangements. The re-emergence of a public and re-popularized tontine type arrangement might be the greatest retirement income financing mechanism come back since Lazarus!Anyone interested in the advancement of lifetime retirement income financing thought should get this book!

The best piece of material on Tontines written in a clear and flat language (not technical). One of the best researches among with Hellewege’s volumes by Duncker and Humblodt. NOT only for scholars.

Highly recommended for those interested in the problem of providing lifetime income in retirement in the era of defined contribution (e.g., 401(k)) plans. No insurance company needed! Great history lesson, too.

Exciting idea but horrid editing. Multille repetitive stories and entries throughout the book. The editor was asleep at the switch.The author is accomplished but has trouble translating the rich history he has gathered into anything really useful in the present time for the reader.

An insigthful approach to retirement planning!

An interesting explanation of how this tontine operated. For me, it was well worth the read.Norman

I'm a retirement geek, so I set the bar high. This book easily cleared it. It's meticulously researched and very entertainingly written. The author's sense of humour comes through, as does his ability to explain complex things clearly. It also cleared up a number of erroneous preconceptions I had regarding the history of tontines, particularly the notion that the last few holders might be tempted to kill one another. And I had no idea that the concept has actually been used so often.