If you are interested in regular monthly payments you should look into investing a portion of your 401(k) into a traditional lump-sum annuity. The idea is that you get a regular monthly check, like having a pension, in exchange for an initial lump sum investment. Check out the retirement information available with any of the major investment firms: Fidelity, Vanguard, T. Rowe Price. etc. - they all have calculators to help you see how much the annuity would pay each month, based on your age and choice of survivor's benefits. A significant advantage of an annuity like this is that it removes risk of your retirement funds disappearing in a market crash, so you may sleep better at night.
However - one problem with an annuity is that the monthly payment is fixed, and so in ten years or so you may find that inflation has taken its toll and the monthly payment isn't sufficient anymore. It's a good idea therefore to invest only about half of your 401(k) in the annuity and roll the other half into a rollover IRA. The IRA half should be able to grow over time, and hopefully outpace inflation. This gives you a cushion for later years, to boost your income above the level of the annuity, and to act as a cushion against major expenses you may face down the road.
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