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...
Indexed annuities
What are ‘excess return’ indexes?
Like many FIA issuers, Ibexis Life uses 'excess return' indexes in its product. In the context of FIA indexes, 'excess return” doesn’t mean 'out-performance relative to a benchmark' or...
This Year’s Legal Battles
The life/annuity industry faces three big legal issues this year. All stem from, or are complicated by, the patchwork regulation of financial products in the US, our out-of-date pension...
Why RIJ Obsesses over the ‘Bermuda Triangle’
Private equity is no longer a sideshow in the annuity industry. Its involvement is now the main event. But we know too little about private equity’s growing role in...
Meet Laurence Black, Interpreter of Indexes
There's a confusing profusion of new indexes behind ETFs and annuities. Laurence Black of The Index Standard says he can make sense of them. Watch as Tamiko Toland of...
These Hedges (Probably) Won’t Clip You
Listen to an actuary who put $50k into a five-year indexed variable annuity four years ago as an alternative to CDs. We explain how IVAs are priced, and we...
Athene to use artificial intelligence-driven indexes in FIAs
'AiPEX with Watson simulates a team of thousands of analysts and traders working around the clock,' according to a release this week.
RIJ Interview: Will Fuller of Lincoln Financial
In the third in our series of interviews with annuity industry leaders, we talk with Lincoln Financial Group executive VP Will Fuller. He was recently honored as an 'Industry...
Side-by-Side Comparison: A VA Minimum Accumulation Benefit Rider vs. an Index Annuity
Which of these two types of annuity contracts was able to offer the best principal protection and upside potential over a 10-year period? CANNEX tested them over 10,000 randomly...
New FIA bets on growth in aging-related industries (Duh!)
The Retirement Plus Multiplier Annuity issued by A-CAP insurers and distributor Saybrus Partners offer access to a Goldman-Sachs index that tracks healthcare and real estate companies that may benefit...
iPipeline announces annuity distribution partnership
Under the alliance, BCS Insurance Agency will offer fixed and indexed annuities through Four Seasons Financial Group using iPipeline's 'SimplyAnnuity' tool.
How Not to Sell an Indexed Annuity
Five financial professionals commented on our April 5 story about my neighbor's encounter with an advisor who recommended an indexed annuity for lifetime income. She should 'run like hell,'...
Great-West to distribute its new indexed VA to RIAs on the RetireOne platform
RIAs hate annuities--unless they can exchange a client's existing contract for something cheaper and more suitable. Great-West sees opportunity there.
It’s Hot Around the ‘Collar’
Nervous investors can get an indexed collar strategy from an annuity or an ETF. Great West Financial and Innovator Capital Management have new products in the category. Cap-and-buffer products,...
