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(Editor’s Note: The March 2024 cover of a national magazine – WoodMenLife – featured a Hertford County couple and their story of preparing for financial security after reaching retirement age. That story is as follows, published with permission of WoodmenLife Magazine.)

When member Bessie Pierce thought about retiring, she planned for somewhere between ages 62 and 65 — preferably the high end of that range. Things changed quickly, though, when her husband, William, suffered health problems.

Rather than burn all her vacation days or take a leave from her job as a radiologic technologist CT tech, Pierce decided the time to retire would come at age 62.

Thankfully, Pierce’s husband’s health issues improved.

“Now, he’s as healthy as I am,” she said. “We can be healthy together, and we can enjoy retirement together.”

Something else that Pierce, 63, said will make her retirement more enjoyable is the WoodmenLife Variable Annuity2 (VA) she owns.

“I wanted something that helped my money work for me,” she said. “I feel good that I have that nest egg. I don’t have to go back to work. I can volunteer and do things for others.”

 

Growth Potential

Pierce, from Winton, NC, wanted a product that would provide the opportunity for growth based on investments in stocks and bonds. And she said the VA has provided that, as well as helping to protect her investment for her beneficiaries.

That’s good, because between them, the Pierces have six grown children and nine grandchildren.

The protection Bessie Pierce is happy about comes in the form of the VA’s legacy protection, which offers an enhanced death benefit at no additional charge. The guaranteed death benefit is the greater of the accumulated value or premiums paid accumulated at a compounded rate of 4% through age 79, up to a maximum of 200% of premiums3. This helps protect beneficiaries from the worst of market-based losses.

Pierce’s Financial Representative, Eleanor Hollowell, of Colerain, NC, said the guaranteed death benefit is her favorite attribute of the VA.

“It offers a little bit of cushion,” she said. “If the stock market doesn’t do well, then there’s a Plan B. I’m all for a Plan B.

“If you pass away while the market is down, your beneficiaries aren’t left with less than what you put into it.”

 

Recommending the VA

Hollowell and Pierce knew one another from when they worked at the same hospital. Hollowell was an operating room nurse who left an impression on Pierce. When Pierce found out Hollowell was now a WoodmenLife Representative, she knew exactly where to go for advice about retirement options.

“I thought the world of her,” Pierce said. “I thought she was a wonderful nurse. We connected after she retired, and she told me about WoodmenLife. I liked what she had to say. She took the time to come talk to me in my home and explain my options.”

Like she does with all her clients, Hollowell asked Pierce about her goals for her money. Her answer was, “I want to watch it grow.”

Hollowell asks that question to make sure clients have both money to put into a product to grow over time and money on hand for emergencies. The Representative also makes sure to explain technical aspects of the product, like exactly how it works and what to expect. In the end, the conversation with Pierce led to the VA.

“I told her about the options she had,” Hollowell said. “I found out what she was looking for, and I said, ‘You might like the VA.’

“I explained more about the death benefit, and she liked it.”

And it’s a purchase that Pierce would recommend to others.

“I definitely would,” she said. “Eleanor explained it, and we decided it was a good way to possibly see my money grow.”

For more information about the WoodmenLife Variable Annuity, visit WoodmenLife/Retirement/Variable-Annuities or contact your local Financial Representative.