Waiting for the DoL’s Fiduciary Do-Over
If the retirement plan space were Dodge City, do you think that a fiduciary rule would A) Clean up Dodge City for the benefit of all or B) Sterilize...
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The Ultra-Easy Money Experiment
Mainstream academics and policymakers presume a structurally stable world in which probabilities can be assigned to future outcomes – ignoring uncertainty, stock accumulations, and the financial imbalances of the...
The Fed at a Crossroads
Addressing The Economic Club of New York on May 29, the former Fed chairman said that “the Federal Reserve, with assets of $3.5 trillion and growing, is… acting as...
Is $1 Million Too Little to Retire On?
An article in the business section of yesterday's New York Times suggested that $1 million is not enough. Have we redefined retirement to mean "independently wealthy"?
Claiming SS at 62 or 70: A Comparison
If you want to retire at 62 and you want to maximize your bequest, don't claim Social Security benefits at age 62, an American College retirement professor advises. Better...
VA Sales Lack Clear Trend
Helped by a bull market that pushed the DJIA over 15,000 for the first time, VA assets under management at the end of the first quarter 2013 reached a...
VA Issuers Keep On Tweakin’
Carriers filed 97 VA product changes in the first quarter of 2013, down from 101 in the fourth quarter of 2012 and 59 in Q1 of last year. Benefits...
Solvency Isn’t Social Security’s Only Problem
We need to reform the program’s benefit structure, now misaligned with its original anti-poverty goals, as much as we need to reform its financing structure, writes the Urban Institute...
Gradual versus Lump-Sum Annuitization: The Jury is Still Out
A study by a unit of Fidelity Investments showed that it is premature to recommend a gradual, fixed percentage-of-assets monthly annuity purchase as an option in retirement plans, because...
Top Annuity Issuers of 1Q 2013: LIMRA
Jackson National issued the most individual annuities ($5.3 bn) in the first quarter of 2013. No surprise, since the unit of England's Prudential Plc was the overall largest...
How to See ‘Unknown Knowns’
Market forecasters make two common mistakes, experts said at conferences this spring. In calculating averages of potential outcomes, they assume parallel universes. And they tend to blame “black swans”...
Annuity Sales Decline in 1Q 2013: LIMRA
"In many ways, the current market is more challenging to many annuity manufacturers than the recent financial crisis,” said Joe Montminy, assistant vice president and director of LIMRA annuity...
“An inoculation, not a depredation”
Notes from all over: What a government official said privately about the $3 million cap on tax-favored accumulations; Mark Cortazzo's new business of mining old VA contracts; another New...
Will Boomer Retirement Melt the Markets?
An editor at IPE.com says decumulation by Boomers won't spell disaster for the equity and bond markets--thanks in part to inequality. "The wealthiest 1% of US baby boomers own...
The Variable Annuity Market in Five Acts
Actuary Timothy Paris, CEO of Ruark Insurance Advisors, Inc., charts the evolution of the variable annuity product and its market in this article, which first appeared as a blogpost...
CANNEX adds “4 Box” income planning to its data platform
The 4 Box Strategy is the creation of Farrell Dolan, former executive vice president of income planning at Fidelity Investments.
Insurance Tips for Pre-Retirees
As of April 15, 2013, gender-specific pricing for long-term care insurance has been introduced. But there's a discount available to couples who apply for long-term care insurance together, said...
With Income Annuities, a Lot of Knowledge (or None at All) Is Better than a Little
Annuity marketers may want to start stressing the link between annuities and independence in old age, rather than just income in old age. That's one of the takeaways from...
Snoopy Takes a Cue from the Gorilla
With the brand-new MetLife Shield Level Selector accumulation annuity, as with as the similar AXA Equitable Structured Capital Strategies product, investors can get a higher cap on their index-linked...
Nine Insurers Now Offer DIAs
Here are thumbnail descriptions of deferred income annuities from American General, Guardian Life, MassMutual, MetLife, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual, The Principal, Prudential and Symetra.
