Of Fly-Fishing and Financial Advice
I and most other people would hope that our investment advisors or financial planners would render us the same quality of service, at least in spirit, that I received...
The Decumulation Beat
Conflict of Interests
On Monday, the hearings on the Department of Labor's fiduciary proposal will begin in Washington. Will they deal with the fundamental issues, or with legal technicalities? (Link to the...
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...
‘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...
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...
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.
On the Road with RIJ: Penn’s Archaeology Museum
We're at the Wharton School's 2015 Pension Research Council symposium, an exclusive meeting of retirement academics and professionals held each year in Philadelphia. Also: A link to slides from...
Are the Bears Crying Wolf?
As Bulls celebrate Janet Yellen's latest walk down "easy" street, technical analysts tell RIJ that, according to their charts, Wall Street is headed for hard times.
Borzi Needs to Appreciate Retail Distribution More
The argument over whether there should be a fiduciary standard or a suitability standard misses the point. This is about the cost of distribution, not about ethics.
The Fed Stays in ‘No Man’s Land’
My nightmare scenario is that when rates go up, equity prices will fall, and millions of Boomers will wish they'd sold their stocks at the peak and bought income...
Why the Borzi Proposal is So Scary
The "conflict of interest" or "fiduciary" rule could stop the manufacturers of retirement products from distributing to one of their target markets: the owners of $6 trillion in rollover...
About That White House Memo on IRAs
A memo on White House letterhead dated January 13 has rekindled both hopes and fears that the Department of Labor might soon re-propose restrictions on the kinds of transactions...
NAFA Throws a Hail Mary on QLACs
"There is only one opportunity to make a good first impression and they may have blown it," one observer said about a letter from the National Association of Fixed...
With Gibraltar Ventures, Prudential Retirement Aims to Be ‘Disruptive’
"Gibraltar Ventures will explore disruptive strategies and business models, focus resources on those ideas that have the most potential to advance retirement and financial security, and complement our current...
QLACs: The ‘Greek yogurt’ of Retirement Products?
Longevity annuities were the topic of a two-hour discussion at the Brookings Institution two weeks ago and of a RIIA/New York Life webinar this week. Having read the transcript...
The Missing Participant
An arena should exist where participants can express their opinions or preferences about plan design, investment options and perhaps even the amount of match they’d like to see. Sounds...
What’s Up, Heterodox?
Heterodox economics, though valid and perhaps even more intellectually honest than orthodox economics, has lost its political battles, and that has made all the difference.
Goin’ to Kansas City
In search of answers to big economic questions, I'll attend the 12th International Post-Keynesian Conference at the University of Missouri next week, before heading to Williamsburg, Va., for the...
