RIJ’s 500th Issue
Ten years ago, the “retirement income industry,” a narrow but deep niche of individuals and organizations that included much more than the annuity industry, evidently needed a news outlet...
Anecdotal Evidence
Deregulating Retirement
Retirement bills close to passage in the House and Senate remove barriers to commerce in the 401(k) business but could also weaken safeguards that have been in place for...
At the Morningstar Investor Conference
Annuity providers failed to sponsor a single booth at the Morningstar conference trade show. That's a bit odd, since they claim to want to break into the registered investment...
The Reason for SPIAs, from Pfau and Finke
In a new whitepaper sponsored by Principal Financial Group, the two retirement experts from The American College use hypothetical cases to show the advantages of using deferred and immediate...
The Awful Optics of Fighting Fiduciary Rules
Broker trade groups are fighting proposed fiduciary rules in New Jersey and Maryland, but brokers' opposition to consumer protections isn't likely to improve their image.
Why Living Benefits Are Dying
Instead of buying variable and indexed annuities for lifetime income and protection against outliving their savings, Americans are buying annuities for accumulation. We pose six theories for the weakness...
The Incredible Shrinking Income Rider
Several variable annuity issuers offer optional income riders that allow a 7% or 8% withdrawal rate at age 70 unless or until the account value falls to zero, at...
A Textbook Way to Sell Annuities
If you’ve ever heard David Macchia speak, you’ll probably recognize his voice coming through the text of his new book. In 'Lucky Retiree,' Macchia explains retirement risks and time-segmentation...
Taken to the Cleaners, in Yehud
A better prime minister than Bibi Netanyahu would be Duke University behavioral economist Dan Ariely, said Aviram, who with his mother operates the laundry that I've frequented in...
Alliance for Lifetime Income Sponsors Rolling Stones’ New Tour
The two dozen life insurers and asset managers in the Alliance for Lifetime Income have purchased sole signage sponsorship of the Rolling Stones 2019 US tour. The Alliance expects...
Ibbotson Taken to Task over Indexed Annuities
Michael Edesess and Bob Huebscher have challenged Roger Ibbotson's favorable analysis of fixed indexed annuities on at least two grounds. It was another battle in the endless war between...
Holy Annuities! RIJ Goes to Israel
If it’s winter in east-central Pennsylvania, then you can bet that RIJ’s virtual offices will be someplace where the weather is mild and the local retirement financing system promises...
Jack Bogle’s Spirit Lives On
'Costs matter,' he was famous for saying. I think people, and a quaint desire to help make the world a more honest and prosperous place, mattered to him more....
The Links between Golf and RMDs
RMDs produce zero change in a client’s wealth. They just create a 'balance sheet' adjustment, where money moves from a pre-tax to an after-tax account, current taxes get paid,...
Where the Income Puck is Going
Producers selling indexed annuities with living benefits in the context of the semi-robo retirement income plans: This is emerging model for selling income products to Boomers. It’s not ideal....
‘I’m Not Retired. I’m Independent.’
Unlike, retirement, “independence” has no demeaning or dismissive connotations. Every American yearns for independence. It’s the ideal on which our country was built. When’s your Independence Day?
Ohio National Hits the Trail
Advisors who sold rich Ohio National variable annuities with guaranteed minimum income benefits are fuming at the insurer's announcement that it would no longer pay "trail" commissions to certain...
Guess What: America Is Rich
Warning: Ingestion of the contents of this column may cause symptoms of apoplexy and dyspepsia among disciples of classical macroeconomics, neo-liberalism, or 'deficit hawks' in the US Congress. ...
Enjoy Today’s Income Plan
RIJ is committed to regularly publishing examples of retirement income plans that advisors and firms--call them decumulation pioneers--have developed for real (but anonymous) clients.
How to Make Your Widow Merrier
The generosity of the Social Security spousal benefit is something every primary earner should understand. Yet many spouses--and even some professionals--aren't sure exactly how it works.
