Is It Time to End Tax Deferral?
This strikes me as the issue at the heart of the controversy over the Department of Labor's conflict-of-interests proposal—the issue we duck and dodge, while pretending that it’s all...
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FINRA Sides with Brokers against DOL Proposal
As it stands, the “fractured approach" of the Department of Labor conflict-of-interest proposal "will confuse retirement investors, financial institutions, and advisers,” wrote FINRA executive Marcia Asquith in a comment...
In the Fiduciary Fight, Key Players are Biting Off as Much as They Can Chew
In reviewing a new bulletin from the DoL, a wealth management analyst at Celent sees “a heightened jockeying for position among regulators and other industry actors with an interest...
Today’s Dark Lords of Finance
"At some point, a real market correction will arrive. And when it does, pension funds and insurance companies will be more exposed than ever before to volatility in the...
RetirePreneur: Laurence Kotlikoff
Laurence J. Kotlikoff is an economist, professor at Boston University and president of Economic Security Planning Inc., a personal finance planning software company.
Britain’s Exchequer Mulls an End to Tax Deferred Savings
Retirement industry watchers in the U.S. should watch what's happening in the U.K. It's a living experiment in pension and tax reform, and it could offer important lessons about...
For B-Ds, Independence May Prove Confining
Our guest columnist is founder and CEO of Wealth2k, a Boston-area firm provider of digital platforms for advisors who use its Income for Life Model retirement planning system. ...
‘No Comment’ from NAFA about its Form 990s
The leading not-for-profit champion of fixed indexed annuities should explain the "diversion" of assets that was described in its IRS filing.
Four Little Words, Many Billions of Dollars
A phrase in the DOL's new Best Interest exemption could make it very hard for broker-dealer reps to accept commissions on the sale of variable annuities and proprietary mutual...
A three-bucket blueprint for de-accumulation, from the U.K.
Britain's public-option defined contribution plan, NEST, thinks that a decumulation strategy that used tax-deferred savings to fund a small cash bucket, a big income-generating bucket and a longevity annuity...
In New York, Hanging with Robos
At the InVest financial technology conference in Manhattan last week, hundreds of robo-advisors, vulture capitalists, and Wall Street firms gathered to contemplate a prosperous and collaborative future.
The DOL and the Robo-Advisors
The DOL proposal will not make investment advice a commodity; it is a commodity. The DOL isn’t going to make thousands of financial salespeople obsolete; the digital advisory channel...
RetirePreneur: David Macchia
David Macchia is the head of Wealth2K, a Boston-based retirement income software company.
In FIA Arms Race, Hybrid Indexes are the Arms
Investors in Nationwide's New Heights fixed indexed annuities have a new index option: a globally diversified, multi-asset managed-volatility index from JP Morgan called MOZAIC.
The Quiet Revolution Begins
The chief economic adviser at Allianz analyzes the clash between traditional and "robo" financial service providers, and recommends 'institutional partnerships that combine the more agile existing platforms with...
Only 10% of Americans ‘very satisfied’ with financial situation
If you add up the people who have a retirement plan but don't participate with the unemployed and the people who have no workplace plan, 68% of adults aged...
RetirePreneur: Matt Carey
Matt Carey is the CEO and co-founder of Abaris Financial (myabaris.com), a direct-to-consumer online platform for income annuities.
VA Issuers Show Optimism: Morningstar
This report on first-quarter changes to variable contracts, produced by Morningstar's John McCarthy, is a must-read for anyone trying to stay abreast of the VA market.
Inside the Beltway, Disinformation Reigns
An article in The Hill, the respected Washington newspaper and website, has gotten the DOL's conflict of interest proposal all wrong. It doesn't even mention rollover IRAs.
Inspiring Economic Growth
The Nobel Prize-winning Yale economist believes that a big, inspiring fiscal stimulus, akin to the 1960s space program of the 1960s, might cure what ails America.
