Global Economy ‘Frustratingly Fragile’
'There is a high likelihood of an extended pause in interest rates at, say, 1%, that opens the door for balance-sheet normalization and leaves the inflation-adjusted federal funds rate...
Featured
Opportunity Knocks on the 2016 Door
Ron Surz, the target date fund authority, is back with his annual market retrospective and forecast. He apologizes for missing the mark last year (he predicted a 19% drop...
Vanguard keeps dominating fund flows
Through Nov. 30, Vanguard mutual funds received more net inflows than the next nine fund companies combined, according to Cerulli Associates. (Photo of Vanguard founder Jack Bogle.)
RIJ’s 20 Top Events for 2016
Here are 20 events that RIJ would like to attend in 2016. We'll try to reach as many of them as we can.
The Perils of Fed Gradualism
Our guest columnist wants interest rates to rise faster. 'A steeper normalization path would produce an outcry,' he writes. 'But that would be far preferable to another devastating crisis.'
Damage Assessment: Who’s Hurt by New Fiduciary Rule?
Advisors who sell on commission, I-banks that underwrite securities and sell them through their own broker-dealers, and recordkeepers that capitalize on their access to participants should all beware the...
Fed raises target overnight rate by quarter-percent
'Were the FOMC to delay the start of policy normalization for too long, we would likely end up having to tighten policy relatively abruptly at some point,' Janet Yellen...
Quartzite’s Most Famous Pianist
Paul Winer, aka Sweet Pie, is a 72-year-old blues musician, nudist, used book seller and one of tiny Quartzite, Arizona's principal tourist attractions. If you visit his store, be...
Why Roofers Retire Earlier than Professors
To learn more about the link between physically demanding jobs and early retirement, researchers at the Center for Retirement Research developed a “Susceptibility Index” that assigns ratings to different...
Jackson National Has a Growing Share of a Shrinking VA Market
Historically, third-quarter sales have been soft for variable annuities. Declines from the second quarter have occurred in each of the last ten years and declines from the previous third...
Vanguard captures 82.5% of 2015 fund flows through October
Investors returned to high-yield bonds in November after preferring government bonds for several months. “Investors might be trying to anticipate the potential December interest-rate raise,” wrote Morningstar analyst Alina...
Fidelity and Betterment: From Collaborators to Competitors
Fidelity Investments is testing 'Fidelity Go,' a robo-advice portal aimed at Millennials, and building a digital interface between its affiliated advisors and its clearing service to replace the interface...
Don’t Touch the Jenga Tower
Many observers think the Fed doesn’t need to raise rates. The actuary I met in Chicago this week was one of the few who believes that the Fed can’t...
Indexed Annuity Sales Reach New Highs: LIMRA
'VA sales make up 54% of the overall annuity business, down from 67% just in 2012. This decline in VA market share has certainly contributed to the growth...
Warren Whitepaper Missed the Mark
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) thinks clients should be able to see the non-cash incentives offered to annuity salesmen. It would more useful if they could see the solutions that,...
Key Factors to Consider When Buying a Deferred Income Annuity
Advisors should focus on the DIA's ability to take pressure off the client's investment portfolio, rather than on the size of the DIA's payout, according to this post on...
Social Security Spousal Benefits Still Unfair
The recent closure of the "file and suspend" loophole as a Social Security claiming strategy doesn't make spousal and survivor benefits under the program any less unfair, writes this...
DFA’s Gerard O’Reilly Explains His Firm’s New TDFs
Dimensional Fund Advisors calls its new target date funds "Retirement Income" funds. How does DFA justify that ambitious title? O'Reilly, DFA's co-Chief Investment Officer and head of research, explains....
On Background: An Insider Talks about the DOL Proposal
What do broker-dealer executives really think about the DOL proposal and it's potential impact on their business? One executive spoke with RIJ recently.
Congress Shuts $50,000 Social Security ‘Loophole’
The problem with file-and-suspend was that it threatened to bleed an estimated $10 billion a year from a system already suffering from financing issues.
