Mike Bloomberg’s Retirement Security Plans
Bloomberg favors a public-option national workplace savings program, modeled on the federal Thrift Savings Plan. Its government match would be paid for with 'a reduction in the tax break...
Annuities
Annuity sales reach 12-year high in 2019
Total fixed sales in 2019 were $139.8 billion, up 5% from 2018. That broke the previous record of $133.5 billion despite a weak fourth quarter when sales dropped 18%...
Brighthouse, Athene announce FIA innovations
Brighthouse Financial will be issuing its first fixed indexed annuity (FIA), which has a six-year term. Athene announced the availability of two new custom indices on its existing FIAs.
Industry-led ‘Retirement Income Institute’ to Launch
The Retirement Income Institute, which will fund new research and and white papers on 'protective lifetime income,' is the latest annuity education project from the financial industry-led Alliance for...
You’ll love New York Life’s Super Bowl Ad
In the 60-second spot, there’s a montage of people expressing philia (friendship), storge (familial love), eros (sexual love), and finally agape (charity, in the highest sense, or divine love).
Outlook brightens in Asia for private annuity sales: Cerulli
'The importance of annuities is expected to increase significantly, as many markets continue to encourage personal retirement savings,' said Ye Kangting, a Cerulli research analyst.
Ruark releases new mortality tables for VAs and FIAs
The Ruark tables reflect not only the effects of age and gender, but also differences by product type and contract duration, said Tim Paris, actuary and Ruark CEO (pictured)....
Lincoln Financial wraps income rider around CapGroup TDF
In a renewal of an old partnership, Lincoln Financial and Capital Group are collaborating on a variable annuity with an income rider and exposure to Capital Group target date...
AIG, AllianceBernstein offer index annuity with income rider
AllianceBernstein’s new “AB All Market Index” will be offered exclusively as an indexing choice in AIG’s Power Select Index Annuities. Alliance Bernstein created the multi-asset index for AIG; Market...
RIJ Interview: Will Fuller of Lincoln Financial
In the third in our series of interviews with annuity industry leaders, we talk with Lincoln Financial Group executive VP Will Fuller. He was recently honored as an 'Industry...
Sizing Up Lincoln Financial
Over the past 40 years, events and trends have helped determine Lincoln Financial Group's size today, which is smaller than its rivals in the individual annuity market. Former Lincoln...
Applying Actuarial Science to Income Planning
Adviser Mark Shemtob uses actuarial science to analyze and compare retirement income strategies that employ both annuities and investments.
Extreme Longevity? He Lives It
Nearing age 100, social scientist Jacob S. Siegel is still vigorously lecturing and writing. He spoke about the 'demography of retirement' at the triennial 'Living to 100 Symposium' in...
TD Ameritrade offers two Pacific Life annuities for RIAs
It keeps getting easier for registered investment advisers (RIAs) to buy no-commission annuities through online platforms. But will RIAs recommend annuities to clients? The jury is still out.
A Look Back at (and Beyond) the ‘Stretch’ IRA
Under the new SECURE Act, most non-spouses must withdraw and pay taxes on inherited IRA assets within ten years instead of "stretching" the process over (possibly) decades. What will...
New annuity ‘best interest’ rule from NAIC
The new Model would impose a best interest standard on sales and recommendations by insurance producers of annuity products, which is a higher standard than the currently applicable suitability...
The SECURE Act Set To Pass (Finally)
'This is an early Christmas present,' said Melissa Kahn, managing director of the Defined Contribution team at State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), in an interview yesterday.
YTD annuity sales up 7.5% over 2018: IRI
'We anticipate next quarter sales to be flat with an upward bias given the steepening yield curve, as well as rising corporate bond rates and lower market volatility,' said...
A Few of Our Best Income Strategies
For today’s issue of RIJ, we’ve retrieved several of our best income-planning articles from our archives. In each case, the adviser goes beyond the “safe withdrawal” method to design...
In Defense of ‘Buffered’ Annuities
A Wall Street Journal's article last weekend ('An Imperfect Solution to a Calamity') could have put structured variable annuities (aka registered index-linked annuities) in a much more positive light.
