A New Path to Inflation-Resistant Income
Achaean Financial's novel hybrid design for a lifetime income annuity is being brought to market by National Western Life. We spoke with Achaean founder Lorry Stensrud and NWL's Chad...
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Bermuda’s Role in a Changing Annuity Industry
In this latest installment in our 'Bermuda Triangle' series, we ask why US life/annuity companies would reinsure liabilities in Bermuda, and why big private equity firms are creating reinsurers...
Five Ways to Generate Retirement Income
In this pre-Labor Day issue of RIJ, we bring you five ways to create retirement income, based on concepts developed by or real-life cases solved by income experts like...
Research Roundup
Here are summaries of four research papers on topics ranging from the argument for a federal digital currency to the real causes of 'black swan' crises, and from the...
Wade Pfau’s Income Expert Success Tools
Here's the "RISA" method for matching retirees with income-generation strategies, from Wade Pfau, Ph.D., of The American College and RetirementResearcher.com, and his colleague Alejandro Murguia, Ph.D. ("RISA" is Spanish...
The Day the Gold Standard Died: 50 Years On
On August 16, 1971, I was cashing an American Express travelers check in a small bank in Melun, France. The tellers were nervous. Something huge had clearly just occurred...
Athene Takes Another Bite at Pensions Apple
In a pension risk transfer deal, Athene Holding will acquire about $4.9 bn in pension assets and liabilities from Lockheed Martin. But when do these deals become too much...
Research Roundup
We bring you summaries of two papers on the federal debt (and why low interest rates don't justify more of it), an essay on why Biden's infrastructure spending plan...
How The Elephant in the Room Evolved
In a new research paper, "The Evolution from Life Insurance to Financial Engineering," economists Ralph Koijen of Chicago Booth School and Motohiro Yogo of Princeton continue to describe what...
An Insider’s Take on the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ Strategy
Willis Re, a reinsurance broker, has had an uptick in calls from life insurers hoping to execute what RIJ calls 'The Bermuda Triangle' strategy, thus removing a millstone and...
One-Stop Shops for Notes and Annuities
Luma Financial Technologies is now among the structured notes platforms that have chosen to add index-linked annuities to the products they support. It joins SIMON Markets and Halo in...
(Sheryl) Moore’s Law on Annuities in 2021
RIJ talks with Sheryl Moore of Wink, Inc., the annuity data and consulting firm, about the results of her first-quarter 2021 survey of annuity sales. She shares her opinion...
Examining the Indices in Index-Linked Annuities
A mountain biker needs 18 or 21 gears to smooth a path over rocks and through arroyos. Index-linked annuities now collectively offer some 140 index choices. Hybrid indices can...
The Point of Indexing (in Annuities)
Every June, RIJ focuses on indexed annuities. Last year, we studied options in indexed annuities. This year we consider the indexes themselves, especially 'hybrid' and 'volatility-controlled' indexes. Bryan Anderson,...
The Irony of Inflation Forecasting (Research Roundup)
In this month's roundup, we learn that CEOs pay little attention to inflation. We also find out why retirees keep saving, why "centaurs" pick stocks so well, which financial...
If the DOL Investigates You…
Here are five FAQs about Department of Labor investigations of retirement plan advisers, and answers from attorneys at the prominent ERISA law firm Faegre Drinker. (Photo: Labor Secretary Marty...
Merton and Muralidhar’s Retirement Income Vision
In this video, Nobel laureate Robert Merton (in photo) and Arun Muralidhar talk about SeLFIES, their solution to the retirement income challenge.
Secure 2.0: A Booster Shot for Qualified Savings Industry
The proposed bill would allow ETFs in variable annuities and remove the 25% limit on the share of IRA money that can be used to buy a Qualified Longevity...
Research Roundup
We summarize four recent papers: 'Portfolios for Long-Term Investors,' 'What is the Value of Annuities?,' 'Public Economics and Inequality: Uncovering Our Social Nature,' and 'Financial and Total Wealth Inequality...
An Annuity’s ‘Moneyness’? There’s an App for That
How will variable annuity contract owners use their income benefits? That question is vital to annuity issuers and to fiduciary advisers with clients who own VAs. This Texas Dep't...
