Middleware is Central to In-Plan Annuities
Middleware is hub-and-spoke software that lets retirement plan recordkeepers and life insurers talk to each other. Steve McCoy of iJoin, a provider of managed account user interfaces, and Bill...
Fintech
MetLife and Micruity expand their DC savings-to-income IT partnership
The two firms have already worked together on connecting MetLife’s retirement income services with Fidelity’s Guaranteed Income Direct and State Street Global Advisors IncomeWise platforms.
A Plan Sponsor’s Guide to In-Plan Annuities
Broadridge, Cannex, The Index Standard, Micruity, and ERISA attorney Fred Reish have co-produced a 39-page guide designed to help 401(k) plan sponsors choose a retirement income tool for their...
Test-drive annuities at CANNEX/Luma ‘Marketplace’
The Annuity Marketplace will provide income, rate, yield, and product information on annuities from more than 60 issuers, a CANNEX release said. Advisers can illustrate the outcomes of market...
Meet the Newest Platform in the 401(k) Annuity Space
'We’re a product design firm,' ALEXIncome co-founder E. Graham Clark told RIJ. 'We feel we’ve built the best process for integrating annuities into retirement accounts.'
A ‘Cashback’ Pension-Building Card, from Germany
'The Vantikcard uses the 1% cashback as a kickstart into retirement savings and for customers to then save on top of the cashback,' a Vantik veteran said. Right: Vantik...
Luma adds annuity comparison tool to its distribution platform
The new feature allows advisers to compare variable annuities, fixed index annuities and registered index linked annuities, fostering compliance with Regulation Best Interest, Luma said.
Ubiquity and Sallus partner on new Pooled Employer Plan
Sallus Retirement is backed by Magis Capital Partners and its CEO is former Jackson National president James Sopha. Chad Parks founded Ubiquity as "The Online 401(k)" more than 20...
Nassau Financial creates Apple app to sell fixed-rate annuities
The contract, “Simple Annuity,” and the app of the same name will support the sale of the annuity by independent, commissioned insurance agents and by Nassau’s own licensed, salaried...
In robo deal, Empower pays $1 billion for Personal Capital
'There’s a scarcity of pure-play platforms that can drive this technology. That’s one reason why Empower made this acquisition,' Personal Capital co-founder Rob Foregger told RIJ.
With BluePrint Income, AARP Ups its Ante on Annuity Sales
AARP's 38 million members can now buy income annuities and fixed-rate annuities on a platform powered by fintech firm Blueprint Income. Buyers get a complimentary annual 'retirement income check-up'...
Applying Actuarial Science to Income Planning
Adviser Mark Shemtob uses actuarial science to analyze and compare retirement income strategies that employ both annuities and investments.
TD Ameritrade offers two Pacific Life annuities for RIAs
It keeps getting easier for registered investment advisers (RIAs) to buy no-commission annuities through online platforms. But will RIAs recommend annuities to clients? The jury is still out.
Schwab adds hybrid robo income distribution service
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios has a $5,000 minimum and charges no advisory fee. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium has a $25,000 minimum and charges an initial one-time $300 fee for planning and...
Size matters, Cerulli tells plan providers
With estimates that the 10-largest recordkeepers will represent more than 75% of recordkept 401(k) assets by year-end 2019, current market dynamics point to an 'oligarchy' of retirement plan providers,...
Longevity Insurance with an Inter-Generational Twist
In MassMutual's new all-digital deferred income annuity, an adult child is the owner, and receives income when a parent (the annuitant) reaches age 91.
Kindur, a young robo-advice firm, is growing up
'Our core value is to be human in a world that often just sees numbers,' said Kindur founder and CEO Rhian Horgan. The firm launched its SmartDraw income distribution...
‘Auto-portability’ gets green light from DOL
Retirement Clearinghouse, creator of a technology by which small abandoned 401(k) accounts would automatically follow their owners to their next plan, has received the permissions it needed to begin...
Envestnet updates ‘financial wellness’ app
The updated service involves a set of educational modules called MyBlocks, which plug into MoneyGuidePro. Advisors could employ it as the 'robo' part of a hybrid digital/human advisory model....
Annuities that Pay Cash Back Rewards
Gainbridge, a insur-tech startup, aims to sell fixed deferred and period certain income annuities online. Its sister company, Relay, uses annuities to fund cash back rewards cards. Both firms...
