Research Roundup

By Editorial Staff
Enjoy these summaries of six recent research papers that illuminate issues in retirement today. We include work by leading retirement researchers at Harvard Law School, schools of business at Stanford and Duke Universities, and other major academic institutions.

A Beneficiary of Social Security: Equities

By Kerry Pechter
Social Security is too often regarded as a zero-sum game between cohorts and time-periods. But it can help give retirees the risk-capacity to own and hold equities, exploit the efficiency of insurance relative to investments, and make up for the consumption that workers forego while saving for retirement.

News from the Bermuda Triangle

By Editorial Staff
Prismic Life raises $1.9 billion in new capital; Japanese insurance giant commits $19 billion to Barings; MassMutual sells $6 billion block of life insurance to Nationwide; Augustar Retirement launches new traditional variable annuity; 26North Re buys Independent Insurance Group.

Cayman Islands seeks ‘qualified jurisdiction status’

By Editorial Staff
'QJS would formally recognize the Cayman Islands’ reinsurance regulatory framework within the NAIC process and further align it with U.S. supervisory expectations. About 90% of the jurisdiction’s business is U.S.-facing,' the Cayman Island Monetary Authority said.

No Rush to Private Credit Among DC Plan Advisors

By Editorial Staff
'There doesn’t appear to be a groundswell of demand,' said Deb Dupont, vice president of institutional retirement research at LIMRA, which sponsored the survey of 160 plan advisors in late 2025. 'The energy is coming from the supply side.'

‘Tough Quarter for Annuities’: Wink Intel

By Sheryl Moore
Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs, or structured annuities) experienced strong sales again in the first quarter of 2026, according to Wink Intel's quarterly survey of annuity issuers. 'Registered representatives remark that they can no longer sell indexed annuities because the rates are so much more advantageous' on RILAs,' writes Wink Intel CEO Sheryl Moore

COVER STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

May 2026

Bermuda Short-Sellers

By Kerry Pechter
Short-sellers, including hedge funds, sense that the bespoke loans that asset managers have sold to life insurers could fail in the next financial crisis. They may not know it, but the shorts are responding...
April 2026

CITs: Private Credit’s Pathway into 401(k) Plans

By Kerry Pechter
'Everybody—all the asset managers—are trying to pick CIT dance partners so that they can have product in 401(k) plans,' said Chris Randall at SEI Trust Company. CITs—less regulated, cheaper, and more...
March 2026

Australia’s ‘Super’ Gets a Presidential Shout-Out

By Kerry Pechter
Australia's mandatory defined contribution retirement savings system is "a 'good' system that has 'worked out well' for Australia, the president said from the Roosevelt Room. Mr. Trump is flanked by House Speaker Mike Johnson...