Running Lapse around Variable Annuities
As the living benefits of variable annuities became more valuable during the financial crisis, contract owners astutely held on to them, according to a presentation by Ruark Consulting at...
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The “Evolution of the Annuity Industry”
Like the Ford Mustang in 1965, the variable annuity with a lifetime income rider seemed like the right Boomer product at the right time in 2006. Then came the...
Airbag-Equipped Annuities
VA issuers may be able to offer rich living benefits safely and inexpensively by embedding a futures-based hedging strategy inside their investment options. That's what Ohio National seems to...
Unlikely Rescuer
At least three proposals have been floated to open state pensions to private sector workers who have no retirement plan. Given the troubles of many state plans, that's counterintuitive....
It’s a Twister, Auntie ‘Ben’
U.S. life insurers can weather the impact of 'Operation Twist' for a few years, Moody’s Investors Service says. But another five-plus years of rock-bottom interest rates could damage profits...
Three Steps to Annuity-Free Income
For retirees who say, 'Don't sell me a product!', Thornburg Investment Management recommends a retirement income strategy built on 'endowment' spending, three buckets and its own dividend fund.
‘Decumulation is Like a Rubik’s Cube’
The Money Management Institute has identified 34 financial services firms that have created what it calls Personal Retirement Income Solution Management (PRISM) tools or programs.
In Denim or in Suits, New Yorkers Want Market Reform
An 'Occupy Wall Street' protester at New York's Zuccotti Park expresses her opinion. The same day, at the NY Athletic Club, Wall Streeters themselves criticized their own industry.
RSQ-y Business at John Hancock B/D
John Hancock Financial Network will offer its advisors the Retirement Sustainability Quotient, an income planning tool that Moshe Milevsky (pictured) developed for ManuLife Financial, JHFN's Canadian parent.
‘Boom Time’ for Variable Annuities?
Guest speakers Fareed Zakaria (pictured) urged more fiscal stimulus for the economy while Andrew Friedman warned of looming tax hikes at the Insured Retirement Institute's conference in Boston. "Boom...
Introducing the Virtual RIA
Internet start-up Personal Capital is out to prove that mutual funds and face-to-face financial advice are obsolete. (At center, CEO Bill Harris, with Jim Del Favero, VP, product management...
Political Football
The Dept. of Labor's bid to strengthen the fiduciary standard for advisers to retirement plans and IRAs became a political football. Now the DoL has agreed to revise and...
Fishing for Trout, and for the Perfect Retirement
While vacationing in the upper Rio Grande Valley this summer, I caught two good-sized trout and a glimpse of my fantasy retirement. (Photo of the author by Lisa Higgins).
Who Is ‘Too Big to Fail’?
Concerned that your insurance company might be designated a SIFI (Systemically Important Financial Institution)? Then read Deloitte's primer on SIFIs. Here's a synopsis and a link.
Actuaries Without Borders… Why Not?
Experts from Aegon Global Pensions, De Nederlandsche Bank and other Dutch pension and financial consulting firms are helping the Amsterdam-based P&D Network plant the seeds for "micropension" programs in...
Micro-Pensions in Central America
You've heard of micro-credit: those mini-loans to female entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Now a micro-pension movement is underway, and one of the first pilot projects starts next month in...
A Reference Work Built for You
The Society of Actuaries' recent book (available here in pdf form) puts the reader at the center of a web of hundreds of articles, research studies, other resources relevant...
Breakthroughs in Behavioral Finance
As an advisor, you can actually put clients in an annuity 'frame of mind.' These and other findings from behavioral finance research were presented at the 2011 Boulder Summer...
Do VA ‘Roll-Ups’ Have the Desired Effect?
Deferral bonuses, a key feature of many VAs, may not prevent contract owners from taking withdrawals, according to Milliman’s latest survey of issuers of VA guaranteed living benefits. Photo...
‘Financial Services for the Greater Good’
Andrew Carnegie, founder of the non-profit Teacher's Insurance & Annuity Association, now TIAA-CREF, could not possibly have foreseen how his group annuity would lead to today's profitable trillion-dollar variable...
