“Trying to make a deferred annuity with a GLWB into a QLAC amounts to contorting it into something it isn't and shouldn't be,” said John Olsen, co-author with Michael Kitces of The Advisor’s Guide to Annuities.

Inspira, a $20 million IRA recordkeeper, and GuidedChoice, say they can turn small, unprofitable rollover IRAs into revenue generators for a wide range of big recordkeepers and others. "This industry is begging for reinvention," says Inspira's Pete Littlejohn.

Two robo-advisors, Betterment.com and SigFig.com, have retirement income generating functionalities. But are they robust enough to put an advisor with retirement income training out of work? Read and judge for yourself.

By creating the new brand, “Empower,” for its US retirement business, Great-West Financial resolves the identity crisis that followed acquisitions of Putnam and JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services.