By Marc Gilman
Questions? Call (800) 927-9326 or email
Key Takeaways
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An estimated $54 trillion will transfer between spouses by 2048 as one partner outlives the other — and more than 95% of that will go to women, according to Cerulli Associates’ research on U.S. wealth transfer.
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This isn’t just about a lump sum of assets — it’s about whether the household’s actual monthly income (Social Security, pensions, annuities) continues at a livable level once one spouse is gone, which is a separate and often overlooked question.
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Two of the biggest income-protection levers are decisions couples often make without fully weighing the survivor impact: how a pension or annuity is elected to pay out, and when each spouse claims Social Security.
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Retirement account assets can also be used to purchase deferred income annuities (QLACs) specifically to guarantee income later in life — and as of 2026, each spouse can shelter up to $210,000 this way, for a combined $420,000 per couple.
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Academic research on this topic consistently finds that adding at least some guaranteed lifetime income to a retirement portfolio improves financial security for most households — though exactly how much, and for whom, depends on individual circumstances.
The Scale of the Problem
The math behind this is striking. Cerulli Associates projects that $124 trillion will change hands in the U.S. through 2048 as wealth passes between generations — and of that, $54 trillion will move first between spouses, before it ever reaches children or other heirs. Because women statistically outlive their husbands, more than 95% of that $54 trillion is expected to land with women, and nearly $40 trillion of it will go to women who are already Baby Boomers or older.
That’s an enormous amount of money — but the harder question isn’t how much wealth transfers. It’s whether the income a household relied on continues once one spouse is gone, and whether the surviving spouse is prepared to manage it.
Why This Often Catches Surviving Spouses Off Guard
In many longer-married couples, one spouse — often the husband — has historically handled most of the day-to-day financial decisions and long-term planning. That’s changing generationally, but for a lot of couples approaching or already in retirement, it’s still the reality. When that spouse passes away, the survivor isn’t just grieving — she’s often managing household finances actively for the first time, at the exact moment she’s least equipped to absorb a steep learning curve.
This is precisely why the planning has to happen before the loss, not after it. Decisions made years in advance — how a pension pays out, when to claim Social Security, whether to add guaranteed income to a retirement portfolio — determine how much income actually continues for the survivor. Those decisions are far harder to unwind after the fact than they are to get right the first time.
The Big Income-Protection Levers
1. Pension and Annuity Payout Elections
If either spouse has a pension or is deciding how to annuitize a retirement account, the payout election matters enormously. A single-life payout maximizes the monthly amount but stops entirely when that spouse dies — leaving the survivor with nothing from that income source. A joint-and-survivor election pays somewhat less month to month, but continues, at a reduced percentage, for as long as the surviving spouse is alive. For a couple depending on that income, the joint-and-survivor election is often the more protective choice, even though it means a smaller check while both spouses are living.
2. Social Security Claiming Strategy
When each spouse claims Social Security affects not just their own benefit, but potentially the survivor benefit later. In broad terms, delaying a higher earner’s claim tends to lock in a larger benefit — and since a surviving spouse generally steps into the larger of the two benefits (not both combined), that decision can meaningfully affect the survivor’s income for the rest of her life, not just the couple’s income while both are living.
3. Adding Guaranteed Lifetime Income Through a QLAC
A Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC) lets you move a portion of a traditional IRA or employer retirement plan into a deferred annuity that starts paying guaranteed income later in life — as late as age 85. As of 2026, the limit is $210,000 per person, with no percentage-of-balance cap (a rule that was simplified under SECURE 2.0). Since the limit applies per spouse, a married couple can shelter up to $420,000 combined, each securing their own guaranteed income stream. This is worth understanding as a household-level strategy, not just an individual one — a QLAC purchased by the higher-earning or older spouse, structured thoughtfully, can specifically help protect the survivor’s income later.
What the Research Actually Shows
A body of academic research on retirement income — including a widely-cited Wharton School working paper analyzing optimal use of deferred income annuities alongside Social Security — has consistently found that adding at least some guaranteed lifetime income to a retirement portfolio tends to improve financial outcomes for most households, compared to relying on savings and Social Security alone. That same research finds real variation in how much guaranteed income makes sense depending on a household’s specific earnings history, health, and other assets — which is exactly why this isn’t a one-size-fits-all decision, and why modeling your specific numbers matters more than following a generic rule of thumb.
A Practical Starting Checklist
If you’re a couple thinking about this now, or supporting a spouse who’s already navigating widowhood, a few concrete places to start:
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Confirm how any pension or annuity is currently set up to pay out, and whether it protects a surviving spouse or stops entirely at the first death.
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Understand each spouse’s Social Security claiming strategy, and how it affects the eventual survivor benefit — not just current household income.
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Review whether a QLAC or similar guaranteed-income strategy fits your broader retirement plan, particularly if one spouse is significantly older or has a shorter earnings history.
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Make sure beneficiary designations, account titling, and essential documents are current — a detail that’s easy to postpone but consequential to get wrong.
What To Do Next
Protecting a surviving spouse’s income is fundamentally a planning decision, not a reactive one — the choices that matter most (payout elections, Social Security timing, guaranteed income strategies) are made years before they’re actually needed, and they’re far easier to get right in advance than to fix afterward. If you want to review how your current pension, annuity, or Social Security decisions would actually affect a surviving spouse, reach out and we’ll work through it together.
Questions? Call (800) 927-9326 or email
Sources: Cerulli Associates, “U.S. High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Markets 2024” (via Cerulli.com, CNBC, and NBC News coverage); Horneff, Maurer, and Mitchell, “Fixed and Variable Longevity Annuities in Defined Contribution Plans,” Pension Research Council Working Paper, The Wharton School; IRS Notice 2025-67 (2026 QLAC contribution limit).
