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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...

A $100 Billion Market for SPIAs?

by Stan Luxenberg

A $100 Billion Market for SPIAs?

Tue, May 03, 2011

Income annuities aren't a good product fit for every insurance company. But for New York Life, a mutual company with tons of reserves and a big book of life insurance, they make perfect sense.

Understanding the Black Investor

by Kerry Pechter

Understanding the Black Investor

Tue, Apr 26, 2011

African Americans in general have fewer assets, less faith in Wall Street and less appetite for risk than whites, but their need for financial guidance is arguably that much greater.

The Bankers Who Control the World

by Edward Jay Epstein

The Bankers Who Control the World

Mon, Apr 11, 2011

Some goldbugs have accused the Bank of International Settlements of engineering the 2008 financial crisis to subvert the dollar. This account of a visit to BIS' Swiss headquarters, first published in Harper's in 1983, has been updated for RIJ by the author.

News

Insurance executive responds to WSJ critique of income annuities

Insurance executive responds to WSJ critique of income annuities

Tue, May 10, 2011

His firm's "temporary life annuities" offer a remedy to some of the perceived shortcomings of income annuities that were mentioned in a May 1 Wall Street Journal article, says Gary S. Mettler, vice president at Presidential Life.

VA issuers dodged a bullet in 2008-2009, study shows

Tue, May 10, 2011

Had owners of deep-in-the-money variable annuity living benefits acted more "rationally" at the depth of the financial crisis, the issuers of those contracts might have suffered much more serious losses.

Lincoln Financial restructures its Insurance and Retirement Solutions business

Thu, May 12, 2011

The new design “simplifies the structure of the businesses and increases the responsibilities of the senior leaders and their respective teams,” the company said in a release.

The Bucket

Tue, May 10, 2011

Brief or late-breaking news from Lincoln Financial, Allianz Life, Prudential, Mutual of Omaha, BNY Mellon, Nationwide, New York Life and AXA Equitable.