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Cover Stories

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Debt?

by Kerry Pechter

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Debt?

Tue, May 31, 2011

Not Warren Mosler, bond trader, racecar dabbler, Senatorial candidate and recent author of “The Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds.”

How to End 'Annuicide'

by Kerry Pechter

How to End 'Annuicide'

Tue, May 24, 2011

Compensation-wise, income annuities can backfire for many advisors. An industry committee wants to solve the problem, but it’s not easy.

MassMutual Rediscovers the Immediate Annuity

by Kerry Pechter

MassMutual Rediscovers the Immediate Annuity

Tue, May 17, 2011

A few years ago, MassMutual mothballed Jerry Golden’s SPIA tool for advisors. Now, post-crisis, the company has re-embraced SPIAs, and sales are up.

Channel Surfing for Low-Cost SPIAs

by Kerry Pechter

Channel Surfing for Low-Cost SPIAs

Tue, May 10, 2011

Where can you find lowest SPIA prices on the web? RIJ compared prices at Immediateannuites, Income Solutions, Fidelity and (as a benchmark) Cannex. And the winner was...

News

Taxes deferred aren’t taxes denied: ASPPA

Tue, May 31, 2011

In their attacks on retirement savings incentives, 'budget hawks' don't appear to realize that 401(k) participants and others pay the deferred taxes after they retire, albeit sometimes at a lower tax rate.

Unbundle advice and product sales, older investors say

Unbundle advice and product sales, older investors say

Tue, May 31, 2011

Chris Brown and Laura Varas (left) of Hearts & Wallets, a Boston-area research firm, find that many pre-retirees and retirees want financial advice that's not simply the prelude to a product sale.

New York Life launches GPA (It doesn’t mean grade point average)

Tue, May 31, 2011

Smaller defined benefit pension plans are adopting a liability-driven investment model that resembles the three-bucket system used by retirees to provide income. New York Life has designed a fixed income option for the first bucket.

Public doesn’t trust Wall Street, Prudential survey shows

Wed, Jun 01, 2011

People need financial help, but avoid financial services providers. Is it possible that they blame the industry itself for their financial woes?

Structured product from AXA Equitable blends upside potential, downside protection

Wed, Jun 01, 2011

Called Structured Capital Strategies ADV, the product will be distributed at first to fee-based advisors in the Commonwealth Financial Network.

SPARK accepting requests to change lifetime income product data standards

Wed, Jun 01, 2011

The SPARK Institute's Data Layouts for Retirement Income Solutions provides the standards for DST Systems' RICC hub featured in today's issue of RIJ.