Publications
Publications
- May 2025
- HBS Case Collection
RTX's Lifetime Income Strategy: Shaping the Future of Retirement
By: Daniel Green, Luis M. Viceira and Sarah Mehta
Abstract
Set in 2024, this case explores the Lifetime Income Strategy (LIS), a novel retirement product launched by aerospace and defense company RTX in 2012. Aiming to embed the security of a traditional pension within a 401(k) plan, the LIS allowed participants to secure a portion of their retirement savings, entitling them to a guaranteed monthly lifetime income. The strategy preserved the ability to grow the assets and therefore the guaranteed income, and the ability to withdraw funds at any time (while taking a corresponding reduction in income). By 2024, the LIS held assets worth $7 billion on behalf of 117,000 participants, but just 12% of eligible retirees had elected to begin receiving their income benefit. The case finds two RTX leaders, Robin Diamonte and Ken Levine, debating what might be driving participants’ low uptake and considering strategies for improvement.
Keywords
Asset Management; Compensation and Benefits; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Jobs and Positions; Labor; Retirement; Society; Adoption; Aerospace Industry; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Virginia
Citation
Green, Daniel, Luis M. Viceira, and Sarah Mehta. "RTX's Lifetime Income Strategy: Shaping the Future of Retirement." Harvard Business School Case 225-016, May 2025.