Pacific Life and Principal Add Payout Options to 401(k)s

By Kerry Pechter
The three 401(k) annuities described here differ in their pre-retirement crediting mechanisms, their flexibility for the owners, and in the scope of their guarantees. (This article includes current map of 401(k) income option universe, from DCIIA.)

Caution: Children Might Impoverish Their Parents

By Kerry Pechter
Imagine that an economist in 1964 shocked the Boomers with a prediction that they would need tens of trillions to raise their as-yet unborn children. The claim that the cost of Social Security will crush Boomers' offspring (i.e., future Social Security beneficiaries) is just as exaggerated.

Retirement Income News

By Editorial Staff
Empower to buy Milliman's retirement businesses; Ford offers Hueler’s Income Solutions platform as 401(k) distribution option; U.S. Treasury selects two BlackRock funds for Trump Accounts; Security Benefit launches short-surrender period FIA; Prosperity FIA has 10-year and 14-year surrender periods; New ERISA fiduciary violation case filed in Virginia.
Bermuda Shorts

Annuity issuers borrowed $153B from FHLBs in 2025: AM Best

By Editorial Staff
Sixteen large life/annuity companies, led by Athene Annuity and Life's $23B, received advances totaling almost $90 billion from the Federal Home Loan Bank in 2025 (see chart at right). In other news, Cayman regulator aims for ‘jurisdictional maturation’; Apollo caps withdrawals from private credit fund; AM Best discusses reinsurance ‘sidecars’; Sixth Street invests in Monument Re.

Major financial firms partner on public/private model portfolios

By Editorial Staff
The partnership combines Morningstar Wealth’s research and asset allocation expertise, public market strategies from Franklin Templeton and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and private market strategies from Apollo and Franklin Templeton.

COVER STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

June 2026

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...
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...