On New Lincoln VA, the Income Benefit Is Mandatory
Available in 2017, the new product is called Lincoln Core Income. Its three underlying investments are all BlackRock iShares. The income benefit comes as part of the product, not...
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VA Sales are Down, But AUM Is Up: Morningstar
'Eight of the top-ten issuers saw their sales decline in the third quarter compared to the first quarter, where all 10 had negative sales growth,' writes Morningstar's annuity product...
Six Bipartisan Opportunities for the President-Elect
'Never before have so many promises been made for the future, both for unsustainable rates of spending growth and lower taxes,' writes our guest columnist, a former deputy assistant...
At DCIIA Forum, Familiar Faces and Fresh Ideas
Does automatic enrollment lead to higher consumer debt? Should employers stop sponsoring retirement plans? These are other ideas were floated at the Defined Contribution Institutional Investors Association Academic Forum...
What Happens Now for Retirement Policy?
The author, a senior vice president of Retirement Policy at ERIC.org, predicts that the Trump administration will reverse several Obama initiatives: the overtime rule; paid sick leave for federal...
Trump Wins: What Happens Now?
'How Trump will govern is a huge wild card,' write Schwab's analysts. 'Tax cuts, an infrastructure spending plan, and reduced regulation might offer offsetting boosts, but they would bring...
Anecdotal Evidence: Trump and the DOL Rule
'Would the financial services industry want to return to square one after spending millions of dollars to reconfigure their compliance systems and products' for the DOL conflict of interest...
Big Danger at the Lower Bound
'There may not be enough time before the next deep recession to lay the groundwork for effective negative interest rate policy or to phase in a higher inflation target....
Anecdotal Evidence: How to Charm a Client
When dealing with your HNW clients and prospects, success depends less on performance or fees than on solving clients’ problems and simplifying their complex lives.
FAQs (and Answers) from DOL
The DOL said 'No' to the question: Can advisors rely on the 'streamlined' version of the Best Interest Contract Exemption if the products they recommend to IRA owners...
The Inherent Risk of High-Priced Assets
'Within the US, the greatest risk is a sharp decline in asset prices, which would lead to a collapse of aggregate demand... Conditions are becoming more dangerous as...
Trump, Buffett, and how the wealthy are taxed
'At the end of the day, tweaks to the individual income tax system, including higher tax rates, are unlikely to increase dramatically the taxes paid by the very wealthy,'...
Anecdotal Evidence: Football and Financial Ads
Watching football games lets me see TV ads for financial services companies. Last weekend, I saw funny ads from E*Trade and GEICO, and a serious ad from Northwestern Mutua....
A Tale of Two Tax Plans
As explained by our guest columnist, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, Trump's tax policy would echo supply-side solutions of the past...
Retiring (Temporarily) to Paradise
An old friend who retired early to a hacienda by the sea in Nicaragua sent me an e-mail recently, responding to my question about his life there. His answer...
Two Definitions of ‘Best Interest’
The gap between what advisors can deliver and what clients feel that the DOL rule promises them is exactly where the plaintiff’s attorneys may focus their litigation efforts.
Student Debt Weighs on All of Us
'If this debt policy additionally discourages risk taking and marriage after education, then all this debt may even reduce investment over time in education, businesses, and homes combined,' writes...
President ‘Id’ or President ‘Super-Ego’?
About Monday's presidential debate: It’s irresponsible for a candidate to stoke anxieties, to inflate them like toy balloons and leave them hanging in the air, without demonstrating a grasp...
Don’t Let Commoditization Sneak Up on You
Our guest columnist, creator of the Wealth2k advisor marketing and income planning tools, learned a valuable lesson about commoditized workers during a 2010 visit to an athletic shoe factory...
