by KYW's Salil Gutt

The financial services industry is tripping over itself developing newer and flashier products for aging baby boomers entering retirement. Almost every product is an expensive annuity making this a potential gold mine of commissions for annuity salespeople.

Before you venture into these shark infested waters, there are a few things you can do yourself which may make all of these annuities irrelevant.

The single most important thing any near retiree should do is dramatically reduce the risk and volatility of their investment portfolios. Simply put, more bonds and fewer stocks.  Yes, even top quality bonds lose value, as the sub prime crisis can attest, but they recover as interest rates are cut. Bonds rarely tank the way stocks do.

A good rule of thumb is to have your age in bonds. A 60 year old should have 60% in bonds and so on.  Keeping this high a percentage in bonds will limit the growth of the portfolio but it will provide for incalculable peace of mind. It may even completely eliminate the need for overpriced annuities.