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America Speaks Out—and Against—401(k) Annuities
Wed, Mar 03, 2010
As of March 2, the responses to the Obama administration's request for input on lifetime options in 401(k) plans tended to be angry but well-reasoned.
Industry Views
The Future Of Online Customer Feedback Has Arrived
TIAA-CREF’s TC Listens website is an innovative new medium for obtaining client feedback online.
TIPS for Retirement Investing in the ‘New Normal’
TIPS can preserve purchasing power, provide systematic income and offer the assurance of a government guarantee for retirees depending on income from their investments.
Firms Back Variable Annuity Product Launches With Aggressive Online Marketing Campaigns
With variable annuity sales down, firms are intensifying online product marketing campaigns to reach more prospective investors.
Roth IRA Conversion Promotions Are All The Rage Online
Many firms have launched engaging online sales campaigns focusing on the Roth IRA conversion opportunities that will be available in 2010.
Annuity Firms Turn Their Focus To Online Client Security
Annuity firms introduced enhanced online security measures in 2009, but they remain laggards in the financial service industry.
Should Annuity Firms Care About Social Media?
The annuity industry has been slow to adopt social media. But given the industry’s target audiences, does it matter? Download an excerpt from the report "Social Media: Trends and Tactics in the Financial Services Industry."
Marketing Online Education To Advisors
Our latest research shows that dynamic displays, such as Flash interfaces, offer firms engaging new ways to present and market online educational content to advisors.
Industry Views are special reports that are sponsored and independent from RIJ's editorial content.
Features
So Few Words, So Many Implications
Tue, Mar 02, 2010
The Department of Labor proposes a subtle change in 401(k) advice regulations that may have huge repercussions for fund companies.
A Regulatory Nudge Is Needed
Wed, Feb 24, 2010
Since current Wall Street risk management methods are in the interest of those who work on Wall Street, they will not be changed except by regulatory means.
‘Saving More’ Trumps ‘Working Longer’
Wed, Feb 24, 2010
"I'll-work-till-I-drop" is often the first, but rarely the most sensible, response to a setback in retirement savings.
The Future of Fixed Annuities: A 2020 Vision
Wed, Feb 17, 2010
Jack Marrion predicts that by 2020 the securities industry will exercise control over the annuity market in the U.S.
The Exploitation of Sherry Pratt
Wed, Feb 17, 2010
Identity theft does not begin to describe the harm done to a quadriplegic woman who died of bedsores in a Chicago nursing home.
The Search for a Safe Withdrawal Rate
Wed, Feb 10, 2010
In this article, I highlight work by Michael Kitces, who looks at stock market valuation levels as guides to setting retirement withdrawal strategies.
Spotlight on Chairman Schapiro
Wed, Feb 10, 2010
Lawsuits questioning the competence and integrity of the SEC chairman were discussed at a closed-door meeting of the FINRA board of governors in New York February 10.
SunAmerica Links VA Rider Fees to Volatility Index
Wed, Feb 03, 2010
Designed for the Polaris series of variable annuities, the two new guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits are called Income Plus 6% and Income Builder 8%.
To Insurers’ Relief, VA Owners Acted Inefficiently
Tue, Feb 02, 2010
Ruark Consulting's study showed that one in five owners of contracts with a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (GLWB) or guaranteed minimum income benefit (GMIB) took withdrawals between 2005 and 2009.
Heard On The Grapevine
Wed, Jan 27, 2010
An all-star group of RIIA members engaged in a spontaneous online debate about 'time-segmentation' bucket methods. Here’s what they said.
Employer Match Strikes a Hot Debate
Wed, Jan 27, 2010
Academic and industry researchers clashed over methodology, but they appear to agree that auto-enrollment in 401(k) plans might have unintended consequences on the employer matching contribution.
Obama Is All Ears About Annuities
Wed, Jan 20, 2010
But there's no clear indication that Washington understands the nuances that make annuity decisions so complex and problematic.
The Visible Hand Behind the Crisis
Tue, Jan 19, 2010
Viral Acharya and colleagues at NYU's Stern School of Business say the economy was pushed off a cliff by bankers skirting reserve requirements.
Unfinished Business
Wed, Jan 13, 2010
Ernst & Young's Lynn Pettus and Hall Kesmodel show how the regulations governing participant education have shifted over the years, and how the changes in Washington have delayed their resolution.
VALIC Sued Over “Redundant” Tax Benefits
Tue, Jan 12, 2010
Lawsuits accusing insurers of selling tax-deferred annuities to fund tax-deferred accounts have not been entirely unfruitful for plaintiffs.
A Decade to Remember. Or Not.
Wed, Jan 06, 2010
The president of PPCA, Inc., and Target Date Solutions looks back at the worst calendar-decade for U.S. stocks since the beginning of the Great Depression, and offers his informed perspective on TDFs.
Robin Hood or Just Robbin’?
Sat, Jan 02, 2010
Rhode Island attorney Robert Flanders said "stranger-originated annuity transactions" are perfectly legal.
Test Your Financial Sophistication
Wed, Dec 23, 2009
Here are 18 true-or-false questions that economists asked Americans over age 55. The average score among the college-educated was 68%. Perhaps you'll fare better.
The Passion of Anna
Wed, Dec 23, 2009
Economist Annamaria Lusardi started studying financial literacy in 2000. She soon realized that it's not a luxury for the few. It's an empowerment tool for the many.
Thoughts on the Future of Retirement Income Products
Wed, Dec 16, 2009
This fly-fisherman, financial advisor and former insurance company executive surveys the retirement income product landscape from his lake house in central Maine.
‘Here There Be Dragons’
Wed, Dec 16, 2009
There is no actuarial roadmap through what could be a completely restructured health insurance marketplace. "It's terra incognita," says this consultant and author.
Wanted: Iconoclasts
Wed, Dec 09, 2009
"Like the 8th-century Byzantine church, the nexus of Washington and Wall Street has grown corrupt," says Hutchinson, who writes the Bear's Lair column at PrudentBear.com, where this article first appeared.
Letting the GLWB Out of Its Cage
Tue, Dec 08, 2009
The "Ruin-Contingent Life Annuity" proposed by Moshe Milevsky's QWeMA Group would liberate the guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit from the confines of variable annuities and separately-managed accounts.
FundQuest to Carry Fidelity's No-Frills Variable Annuity
Wed, Dec 02, 2009
The alliance marks the first time Fidelity's annuity and insurance business has expanded its distribution through a turnkey asset management firm.
It’s Reigning Buckets
Wed, Dec 02, 2009
Envestnet's new PlanHorizon income distribution method resembles other 'bucket methods' like IFLM and RetireSense, but also integrates the bucket method into the firm's full-service investment and administrative platform for independent advisors.
Re-Start Your Engines?
Wed, Nov 25, 2009
Strong insurers offering VA income riders with attractive roll-ups did very well in the third quarter, but sales for the category as a whole were flat.
The Latest Chapter in the Indexed Annuity Saga
Tue, Nov 24, 2009
In Mooney vs. Allianz Life, the jury didn't award damages because the plaintiffs couldn't prove that they lost money on their investments in indexed annuities.
Out-of-Pocket Medical Costs in Retirement: Part II
Wed, Nov 18, 2009
At the rate we're going, the cost of health care will eventually dwarf retirees’ ability to pay for it.
Fidelity Outsources GWB Production to MetLife
Wed, Nov 18, 2009
The living benefit guarantees became too expensive for FILI, Fidelity's life insurer, to underwrite cost-effectively.
House Passes Historic Health Reform Bill
Wed, Nov 11, 2009
The so-called “public option,” declared dead last summer, is very much alive in H.R. 3962.
An Income Feather in BoA’s Hat
Wed, Nov 04, 2009
Bank of America’s new service, My Retirement Income, is a revival of a program created at Merrill Lynch in 2006.
Red Zone Strategies
Wed, Nov 04, 2009
Near-retirees who are in Jim Otar's "crowded" Red Zone don't have a lot of options. "Their only choice is annuities," writes the Canadian author/advisor in the concluding chapter of his new book.
Gray Zone Strategies
Wed, Oct 28, 2009
"If you are in the gray zone, be very leery about any strategy that does not involve some form of annuities," Otar writes.
Neapolitan Annuity
Tue, Oct 27, 2009
Hartford Life’s new Personal Retirement Manager is three products in one. It bundles a deferred income annuity with a variable investment and a fixed return account.
Get Smart
Tue, Oct 20, 2009
With its inflation-adjustments and liquidity features, Lincoln's new SmartIncome SPIA is designed to answer the usual objections to income annuities.
Green Zone Strategies
Tue, Oct 20, 2009
In Chapter 42 of "Unveiling the Retirement Myth," Otar explains how to advise the "Green Zone" clients whose assets can easily finance their retirements.
Zone Therapy
Wed, Oct 14, 2009
"Everything you have read in this book so far guides you in one direction: ignore the popular wisdom and hype. Design your own 'personal' pension for your retirement." So begins Chapter 41 of Jim Otar's book, which is reprinted here.
Presidential’s New Campaign
Wed, Oct 07, 2009
Presidential Life has engineered a two-tier income annuity where the first annuitant receives benefits for life but the survivor receives income for a period certain or for life, whichever is less.
Let’s Look at Your Telomeres
Wed, Oct 07, 2009
These loss-leaders at the ends of chromosomes, which help determine our longevity, were the basis for this week's Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Shunned in U.S., Income Annuities Thrive in the U.K.
Wed, Sep 30, 2009
The "at retirement" market for annuities in the U.K. topped £14 billion in 2008 and is expected to reach about £23 billion in five years.
Larry Kotlikoff to Receive RIIA’s Academic Achievement Award
Tue, Sep 22, 2009
The Harvard-trained economist teaches, consults, writes scholarly and popular books, created ESPlanner, and is the champion of “consumption smoothing.”
Early Reviews of PIMCO’s Payout Funds
Wed, Sep 16, 2009
Immediate reactions from advisors, retirement income consultants and academics ranged from skepticism to enthusiasm to uncertainty about the costs.
Sales of Indexed Annuities Soar in 2nd Qtr, Says Beacon
Wed, Sep 16, 2009
For the entire fixed annuity market, 2009 has been a bumper year so far. On a year-to-date basis, total market sales were an estimated $62.6 billion, 39% above first half 2008.
Retired Americans, Up Close and Personal, Via PBS
Tue, Sep 08, 2009
“The fact that there haven't been more television pieces taking a look at retirement is remarkable,” said documentary filmmaker Brian Boyer.
What Affluent Investors Want
Tue, Aug 25, 2009
About one-third of affluent investors make all their own retirement decisions, the Phoenix study showed.
IRI: Not Just NAVA by Another Name
Wed, Aug 19, 2009
Where NAVA might have been described as inward-looking, IRI seems to be outward-looking. Some members think that's a refreshing change.
Will Boomers Pony Up for these Riders?
Tue, Aug 18, 2009
Deferred annuities have lapse rates as high as 40% to 70%, but the lapse rates of LTCI/annuity hybrids could shrink to as low as one or two percent—the rates associated with LTCI policies.
One-Stop Shopping for Retirement Risk
Wed, Aug 12, 2009
Steve Zaleznick sells insurance direct to the elderly online. But can his call center reps offer more than piecemeal planning?
Banks Reap Record Annuity Income
Tue, Aug 11, 2009
The steep yield curve enabled fixed annuities to outperform CDs, and drove fixed annuity sales to a new record in the second quarter.
