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Managed-Vol: Bromide for Queasy Retirees

If registered investment advisers (RIAs) resist the purchase of annuities for their older clients, then what sort of retirement risk tool, if any, might they consider? Two prominent firms are betting that managed-volatility funds are the answer.

Executives from Jefferson National, the provider of tax deferral to RIAs via a no-guarantee, low-cost variable annuity, and Milliman, the global actuarial consulting firm, each talked about their latest initiatives in managed-volatility funds at separate retirement conferences in recent weeks.

At the Insured Retirement Institute conference in New York last Monday, Jefferson National CEO Mitch Caplan unveiled a “dynamic asset allocation” fund, sub-advised by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), that Jefferson National will offer RIAs alongside the 400 or so other investment options in its no-frills Monument Advisor VA.

Meanwhile, at the Retirement Income Industry Association conference in Chicago ten days ago, actuary Ken Mungan of Milliman presented his firm’s four new Even Keel Managed Risk Funds (basic Managed Risk, as well as “Emerging Markets”, “Traveler” and “Opportunities” Managed Risk). All use Milliman’s short-futures strategy as a volatility hedge.  

Both ventures aim to meet the anticipated demand for non-insured retirement solutions from RIAs and their clients. Milliman claims that its solution can raise retirees’ safe withdrawal rate to 6%, from the classic 4%. Jefferson National says a strategy of reduced volatility, combined with tax-deferral and low fees, can provide all the risk management a wealthy retiree may ever need.    

Managed volatility funds, of course, aren’t new, but they’ve grown more sophisticated of late. They were introduced into VAs after the financial crisis as part of life insurers’ effort to “de-risk” VA investment risk. But many advisers, anecdotally, say they regard the combination of managed-volatility funds and lifetime income riders as more insurance than they need or want. Hence the idea of offering managed volatility funds without the riders.

In an environment where bonds have lost their appeal as a risk-buffering agent, Jefferson National and Milliman and others are wagering that managed-volatility funds alone, with little or no other protection, might be the perfect Alka-Seltzer for the older clients of fee-based RIAs. But managed-volatility funds aren’t without their own trade-offs. They can cut off the market’s peaks as well as its dreaded fat tails, to the chagrin of many who own them during bull markets (like 2013).

Jefferson National’s solution: Tax deferral plus managed-volatility

Jefferson National and SSgA started collaborating about six months ago on a managed-volatility fund that the insurer will offer in its Monument Advisor VA, Caplan, who is the former CEO of E*Trade Financial, told RIJ this week.  

The JNF SSgA Retirement Income Portfolio invests in more than a dozen State Street SPDR ETFs and has a target investment mix of 35% equities, 40% investment grade bonds, 10% global real estate and other assets. For volatility management, it uses so-called tactical asset allocation and a Target Volatility Trigger (TVT) system that “dynamically adjust[s] exposures to maintain a desired target portfolio risk,” according to the prospectus. It costs an eyebrow-raising 130 basis points a year.

This represents a slight departure for Jefferson National. Until now, the insurer’s sole mission was to offer RIAs a tax-deferred sleeve in which RIAs could trade tax-inefficient funds without having to worry about immediate tax consequences. The price is only $20 a month, plus (no-load) fund fees. There are no insurance costs, and negligible distribution expenses.

But, as Caplan explained during a break at the IRI conference, RIAs are starting to respond to their clients’ worries about sustainable retirement income. So, sometime last year, Jefferson National began to consider offering a managed-volatility fund to its 3,000 or so RIAs. When RIAs combine the annual performance advantage of tax deferral (which they estimate at 100 bps) with smoother returns, Jefferson National claims, they’ll wind up with more safe income, dollar for dollar, than today’s fee-heavy VAs with living benefits can or will deliver.

“When we surveyed our advisers, we saw that they wanted a low cost retirement income solution,” Caplan said. “We asked ourselves, what could we offer that doesn’t involve a balance sheet guarantee? We were able to show, statistically, that if you used Monument Advisor and a low-cost dividend-paying ETF from State Street, you could add a volatility overlay and still beat the GLWB [guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit] 90% of the time.”

Lest clients and advisor doubt that assertion, Jefferson National has created an online “Retirement Income Comparison Calculator.” Investors can use it to “compare the hypothetical performance, lifetime income potential and cumulative fees of traditional VAs with insurance guarantees versus a low-cost flat-fee VA.” Thirty competing VA products are in the calculator.

The typical Monument Advisor owner is an RIA client with $2 million to $20 million in overall wealth. They allocate an average of $250,000 each to the variable annuity for tax-deferred trading and accumulation purposes. Jefferson National also has a following among RIAs who run money for other RIAs—the so-called Third-Party Investment Advisers or TPIAs.

As clients cross the age 59½ threshold (when penalties for withdrawal of tax-deferred assets end) and move into retirement (when wealth protection becomes more important than growth), Jefferson National hopes that they gradually move more assets to the managed-volatility option. Given the likelihood of bond price depreciation going forward, managed-volatility funds may look like a more cost-effective risk management tool.

Milliman’s solution: Even Keel funds

About three years ago, VA issuers began requiring contract owners to invest in managed-volatility portfolios if they wanted living benefits with rich deferral bonuses. In many cases, those portfolios incorporated a short-futures based risk management technology engineered by global actuarial consulting firm Milliman, a sub-advisor on the funds.

Now Milliman is offering four stand-alone managed-volatility funds of its own, called Even Keel Managed Risk Funds. The four funds track either the S&P 500, or small and midcap equities, or international equities or emerging markets equities. The “A” share-class costs 97 basis points a year. The “I” share-class, which assesses no 12b-1 marketing fee, costs 72 basis points.

At the RIIA conference, Mungan, the practice leader of Milliman Financial Risk Management LLC, which advises and manages the funds, made a case for their use as an alternative to a buy-and-hold strategy for a retirement income client.

Specifically, Mungan offered numbers showing that retirees could draw down a sustainable 6% of their assets each year from a portfolio of Even Keel funds—beating the traditional 4% systematic withdrawal rate and the typical five percent withdrawal rate provided under most VA living benefits.

“This is a different way of thinking about sustainable withdrawal rates,” Mungan told an audience of RIIA members who had gathered at Morningstar, Inc., headquarters in Chicago. His firm’s strategy “replicates a five-year rolling put,” he said, and proposed it as an antidote to panic during market downturns. “It’s ludicrous to believe that [clients] will change their behavior. You have to change the investment products themselves.” 

To control risk in these funds, as in the VA portfolios it sub-advises, Milliman uses a futures-base strategy. The fund managers use part of the assets to short exchange-traded futures contracts. “In a severely declining market,” says a Milliman white paper on the subject, “futures gains may be harvested and reinvested in growth assets in an effort to maximize long-term returns.”

On what basis does Milliman claim that such funds can sustain a six percent withdrawal rate from age 65 to 92 or 94? In an e-mail, Mungan told RIJ that it comes from a combination of things: Reducing the depth of performance dips, providing investors with the confidence not to panic-sell during downturns, and recognizing that costly inflation adjustments aren’t needed during market downturns, when inflation usually abates. 

Like Jefferson National, Milliman is introducing an online calculator to help deliver its message. Mungan said it would elevate a “Protected Income Planner” within the next few weeks. According to a mock-up of the website, the planner “is designed to assist financial advisors in calculating sustainable withdrawal rates for their clients, compare results, and illustrate the potential to increase withdrawal rates through the use of risk management.”    

Not a panacea

It’s ironic that managed-volatility funds, after having in a sense “rescued” the VA-with-living-benefit business by moderating product risk and allowing issuers to continue offer sizable deferral bonuses, are now being marketed as alternatives to the living benefits of VAs.

Managed-volatility funds, which vary in technique and are difficult to compare, are not a panacea. Unlike annuities, they don’t offer guarantees. Their underperformance during bull markets (as demonstrated in 2013) may surprise and disappoint investors more than their outperformance during downturns delights them. In any case, every investor’s experience is likely to be unique.

The minority of advisors who favor safety-first income strategies based on bucketing (which draws income from stable assets) or flooring (with bond ladders or income annuities) may not want to abandon those techniques for managed-volatility funds. But, for RIAs and clients who adhere to a total return approach to retirement income, managed-volatility funds may suffice.    

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

 

 

The Bucket

Reynolds appointed chief of Great-West Lifeco

Robert L. Reynolds has been appointed president and Chief Executive Officer of Great-West Lifeco U.S. Inc., owner of Great-West Financial and Putnam Investments, Great-West Lifeco, Inc., has announced.

Reynolds will become president and CEO of Great-West Financial when Mitchell Graye retires in May 2014 and will continue as president and CEO of Putnam.
At the same time, retirement businesses of Putnam and Great-West Financial will merge within Great-West Financial to create one of the largest defined contribution service providers in the U.S.

Reynolds joined Putnam in 2008 after 24 years at Fidelity Investments, where he served as vice chairman and Chief Operating Officer from 2000 to 2007.  He earned a B.S. in Business Administration/Finance from West Virginia University.

High fiduciary score linked to higher fund performance

Investments that score in the top quartile of the one-year fi360 Fiduciary Score Average—those in the “Green” category–demonstrated higher median returns when looking at one-year, three-year, and five-year future annualized returns, according to an analysis of more than 12 years of performance data by MacroRisk Analytics, fi360 announced this week.

The fi360 Fiduciary Score is an investment rating system created by Pittsburgh-based fi360. It assesses open-ended mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and group retirement annuities to see whether they meet a minimum fiduciary standard of care.

The scores, which range from 0 to 100 (with zero being the most preferred mark), are calculated monthly for investments with at least three years of trading history.

G. Michael Phillips and James Chong of MacroRisk Analytics will be presenting their results in a special session at fi360’s INSIGHTS 2014 conference on Friday, April 25, 2014 in Nashville.

SunGard launches WealthStation PlanAdvisor  

SunGard announced the introduction of WealthStation PlanAdvisor, a system that “automates the investment process” to help advisors and their co-fiduciaries “design investment line-ups and conduct fiduciary reviews, while maintaining compliance with 404(a)(5) and 408(b)(2)” regulations.

According to SunGard, plan advisors need to automate their fiduciary practices to cope with:

  • Increasing demand for 3(21) or 3(38) services
  • Increasing hours devoted to advising plan sponsors  
  • Desire to reduce litigation risk

WealthStation PlanAdvisor (an enhanced version of the former WealthStation FundSource solution) consolidates fund, plan and platform data onto a single platform. It provides flexible reporting and automatic fund reviews, flags investment policy statement (IPS) exceptions, recommends replacement funds automatically, and documents discretionary approvals for future review and audit, SunGard said in a release.

TDFs will keep growing: Cerulli   

Target-date strategies are on track to capture 63.4% of 401(k) contributions in 2018, according to a release from the global analytics firm Cerulli Associates. 

“Plan sponsors, consultants, and advisors have increased focus on target-date decisions as plan assets allocated to target-date funds have increased,” said Bing Waldert, director at Cerulli.

“The leaders among target-date providers have not changed during the past three years, but below the top tier, some asset managers have demonstrated the ability to grow their target-date assets.”

The first quarter issue of The Cerulli Edge–Retirement Edition analyzes the growth of the target-date industry, the importance of risk management capabilities to growth, and the emergence of alternative qualified default investment alternatives (QDIAs).

“Existing target-date managers remaining in the market must demonstrate risk management expertise,” Waldert said in the release. “The majority of target-date managers believe that asset allocation and risk management capability will be the primary drivers of future target-date growth over the next three years.”

“Target-date managers should consider tying the assumptions underlying asset allocations to the needs of a given situation,” Waldert said. During the financial crisis, the risks of TDFs were exposed, as many near-retirement funds lost a large percentage of their assets due to high allocations to equities.

Cerulli warned that asset managers must have a strategy in place to grow market-share of target-date assets or risk irrelevance in the defined contribution space.

An exit strategy for sponsors of retiree medical benefits

Towers Watson has introduced a patent-pending solution that will allow U.S. employers to exit their legal, accounting and regulatory responsibilities for retiree medical benefits more easily.

The solution, called Towers Watson Longitude Solution, uses “customized group annuities and an innovative transaction structure,” the global consulting firm announced this week. The annuities would allow tax-free funding of medical benefits, and retirees would transfer to Towers Watson’s “OneExchange” private Medicare exchange.

“Transitioning retirees to a private exchange reduces the cost and administrative burden of retiree medical. The exit solution is the end of a journey that our clients begin when a company adopts a private Medicare exchange.”

 “Most large employers consider retiree medical benefits an expensive obligation with little shareholder value,” said Mitchell Cole, managing director, Towers Watson Retiree Insurance Solutions. “They create balance sheet volatility and income statement expense, and divert management time. Historically, employers that wanted to exit retiree medical without adverse consequences to both the company and their retirees couldn’t do so. Now they can.”

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

In Radical Move, Britain Deregulates Retirement

Britain’s Conservative government announced dramatic steps to deregulate retirement in the UK Wednesday, ending the country’s long-standing policy of managing the way its citizens could spend their tax-deferred savings—including forced annuitization at age 75.

“I am announcing today that we will legislate to remove all remaining tax restrictions on how pensioners have access to their pension pots,” said Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in his annual budget address yesterday.

“Pensioners will have complete freedom to draw down as much or as little of their pension pot as they want, anytime they want. No caps. No drawdown limits. Let me be clear. No one will have to buy an annuity,” he added.

The move appears to have been driven as much by the low interest rate environment—which has driven down annuity rates and returns on low-risk savings vehicles—as by the Conservative government’s deregulatory leanings. Some of the changes will evidently take place immediately, and some will take longer.

The retirement system in the U.K., long known as the most complicated in the world, has seen dramatic changes since the financial crisis. A national defined contribution plan, called N.E.S.T, was established for workers without access to any other workplace plan.

On January 1, 2013, commission-based sales of most financial products was outlawed. And the Labor minister has stumped for “defined ambition,” a hybrid retirement plan where employers and employees share the investment risk.

Among the changes described in Osborne’s budget address on Wednesday:

  • Abolition of the punitive 55% tax surcharge on full withdrawals of tax-deferred defined contribution savings.
  • Removal of restrictions to rates of withdrawal or access to products other than annuities. 
  • Elimination of the 10% tax on the first £5,000 in income from savings.
  • Elimination of the requirement for non-wealthy retirees to annuitize all of their tax-deferred savings by age 75.
  • Raising the contribution limits on individual retirement accounts, called ISAs.
  • Issuing up to £10 billion worth of Pensioner Bonds that pay 4% a year for three-year maturities.

The government conceded that liberated consumers might struggle to navigate retirement finance markets, and promised to provide “free, impartial guidance at the point of retirement.”

The reforms don’t extend to defined benefit plans, but the government plans to consult with the UK pensions industry on whether to do so. The stock of assets held by DB schemes would be affected if members were allowed to take their money out. According to a government statement:

“Given that the stock of defined benefit liabilities and assets exceeds £1.1trn (€1.3trn), even relatively small changes to this stock could have a significant impact on financial markets.

“The government is concerned that a large-scale transfer (or anticipated transfer) of members of private sector DB schemes to DC schemes could have a detrimental impact on the wider economy.

“Whilst the government would, in principle, welcome the opportunity to extend greater choice to members of private sector defined benefit pension schemes, it will not do so at the expense of significant damage to the wider economy.”

The reforms will require an Act of Parliament, which will be presented before the next general election and be in place by April 2015, the Chancellor confirmed.

*            *            *

Here is the portion of the Chancellor’s speech that related to savings:

Our tax changes will help people who work. But there is a large group who have had a particularly hard time in recent years: and that is savers. And this matters not just because these are people who have made sacrifices to provide for their own economic security in retirement.

It matters too because one of the biggest weaknesses of the British economy is that it borrows too much and saves too little. This has been a problem for decades and we can’t fix it overnight. It’s no surprise that the OBR forecast the saving ratio falling. So today we put in place policies for savers that stand alongside deficit reduction as a centerpiece of our long term economic plan.

The reforms I am about to announce are only possible because, thanks to this government:

  • We have a triple lock on the state pension
  • More people are saving through auto enrolment
  • And we’re introducing a single tier pension that will lift most people above the means test

That secure basic income for pensioners means we can make far reaching changes to the tax regime to reward those who save.

Here’s how. First, I want to help savers by dramatically increasing the simplicity, flexibility and generosity of ISAs [Individual Savings Accounts]. Twenty four million people in this country have an ISA. And yet millions of them would like to save more than the annual limits of around five and a half thousand pounds on cash ISAs, and eleven and a half thousand pounds on stocks and shares ISAs. Three-quarters of those who hit the cash ISA limit are basic rate taxpayers.

So we will make ISAs simpler by merging the cash and stocks ISAs to create a single New ISA. We will make them more flexible by allowing savers to transfer all of the ISAs they already have from stocks and shares into cash, or the other way around. And we are going to make the New ISA more generous by increasing the annual limit to £15,000.

£15,000 of savings a year tax free – available from the first of July. And I’m raising the limits for Junior ISAs to £4,000 a year too. But the £15,000 New ISA is just the first thing we are doing for savers. Second, many pensioners have seen their incomes fall as a consequence of the low interest rates that Britain has deliberately pursued to support the economy.

It’s time Britain helped them out in return. So we will launch the new Pensioner Bond paying market leading rates. It will be issued by National Savings and Investments, open to everyone aged 65 or over, and available from January next year. The exact rates will be set in the autumn, to ensure the best possible offer—but our assumption is 2.8% for a one-year bond and 4% on a three-year bond.

That’s much better than anything equivalent in the market today. Up to £10 billion of these bonds will be issued. A maximum of £10,000 can be saved in each bond. That’s at least a million pensioner bonds. And because 21 million people also invest in Premium Bonds I am lifting the cap for the first time in a decade from £30,000 to £40,000 this June, and to £50,000 next year – and I will double the number of million pound winners.

But I still want to do more to support saving. And so, third, we will completely change the tax treatment of defined contribution pensions to bring it into line with the modern world. There will be consequential implications for defined benefit pensions upon which we will consult and proceed cautiously. So the changes we announce will not today apply to them.

But 13 million people have defined contribution schemes, and the number continues to grow. We’ve introduced flexibilities. But most people still have little option but to take out an annuity, even though annuity rates have fallen by a half over the last 15 years. The tax rules around these pensions are a manifestation of a patronizing view that pensioners can’t be trusted with their own pension pots. I reject that.

People who have worked hard and saved hard all their lives, and done the right thing, should be trusted with their own finances. And that’s precisely what we will now do. Trust the people. Some changes will take effect from next week. We will:

  • Cut the income requirement for flexible drawdown from £20,000 to £12,000
  • Raise the capped drawdown limit from 120% to 150%
  • Increase the size of the lump sum small pot five-fold to £10,000
  • And almost double the total pension savings you can take as a lump sum to £30,000

All of these changes will come into effect on 27 March. These measures alone would amount to a radical change. But they are only a step in the fundamental reform of the taxation of defined contribution pensions I want to see. I am announcing today that we will legislate to remove all remaining tax restrictions on how pensioners have access to their pension pots. Pensioners will have complete freedom to draw down as much or as little of their pension pot as they want, anytime they want.

No caps. No drawdown limits. Let me be clear. No one will have to buy an annuity. And we’re going to introduce a new guarantee, enforced by law, that everyone who retires on these defined contribution pensions will be offered free, impartial, face-to-face advice on how to get the most from the choices they will now have.

Those who still want the certainty of an annuity, as many will, will be able to shop around for the best deal. I am providing £20 million over the next two years to work with consumer groups and industry to develop this new right to advice. When it comes to tax charges, it will still be possible to take a quarter of your pension pot tax free on retirement, as today.

But instead of the punitive 55% tax that exists now if you try to take the rest, anything else you take out of your pension will simply be taxed at normal marginal tax rates – as with any other income. So not a 55% tax but a 20% tax for most pensioners. The OBR confirm that in the next fifteen years, as some people use these new freedoms to draw down their pensions, this tax cut will lead to an increase in tax receipts.

These major changes to the tax regime require a separate Act of Parliament – and we will have them in place for April next year.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, what I am proposing is the most far-reaching reform to the taxation of pensions since the regime was introduced in 1921. But there is one final reform to support savings I would like to make. Mr. Deputy Speaker, There is a 10 pence starting rate for income from savings. It is complex to levy and it penalizes low-income savers. Today I am abolishing the 10 pence rate for savers altogether. No tax on those savings whatsoever. And we will almost double this zero-pence band to cover £5,000 of saving income.

One and a half million low-income savers of all ages will benefit. Two thirds of a million pensioners will be helped.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Eyewitness to History in the UK

Splashed across the front pages of British newspapers this morning were headlines such as “Pension Power to the People,” and “Millions Freed from Annuity Trap.”

Yesterday was the annual Budget Speech in Parliament where, George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer (head of the Treasury) delivered the ruling party’s budget for the upcoming year. This event carries much more import than the publication of the President’s budget in the US, because in Britain the changes in the budget actually get implemented—some with immediate effect.

The big surprises in the speech were the sweeping changes affecting retirement savings including:

  • A near abolition of longstanding rules that required converting “pension pots” of retirement savings into annuities.
  • Raising the limit on amounts that can be set aside in tax-advantaged Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), which operate similar to Roth IRAs in the US.
  • Introducing enhanced government-backed one and three-year savings bonds for retirement that pay above market rates—2.8% for 1 year, 4% for 3 years.
  • Setting up an arrangement for free face-to-face financial advice to be delivered to those close to retirement age.

The annuity changes were the bombshell. Osborne announced, “No longer will anyone be forced to buy an annuity.” This came as such a surprise that a Daily Mail columnist Quentin Letts wrote that a quick scramble took place in the press box as reporters asked each other, “What in the heck is an annuity.”

For decades, the rules applying to annuities have been that people could save for retirement in either employer-sponsored DC plans or private pensions with tax deferral similar to traditional IRAs, but individuals were required to purchase annuities with such savings by the age of 75 or face severe tax penalties. There were also severe tax penalties for pulling money out of such savings.

This forced annuitization has become increasingly unpopular with the elderly population as the combination of low interest rates and improving longevity has reduced annuity payouts to half the level they were 15 years ago.

There have been other complaints about the insurers offering the annuities—high expense charges built into the products, confusing sales practices making it difficult for people to compare annuity offerings of different companies, and products failing to meet customer needs, e.g. annuities without survivorship benefits sold to couples. Unlike in America, where annuities are rarely mentioned in the popular press, anti-annuity stories are a regular feature in the British newspapers.

So the Budget speech including the annuity changes were a clear attempt by the Conservatives, led by David Cameron and George Osborne, to cater to the retired and near-retired population. There is an election coming in 2015 and the elderly have much higher voter-participation rates than the younger members of British society.

There are a lot of behavioral biases against annuities, partly because people are not good at understanding the relationship between savings amounts and economically equivalent lifetime income. But rather than helping people better understand these tradeoffs, the government in power has instead chosen the politically expedient approach. It has attacked annuities with pointed phrases such as, “recognizing that people have the maturity to decide how to manage their retirement savings,” and “You’ve earned it, you should decide what to do with it.”

Yet there were a few questions raised by television reporters on the evening news last night such as, “Aren’t people likely to throw away their savings early in retirement, and then become a burden on society?” The government response was that we need to let people take responsibility for their own well-being and the State Pension (more generous at the low end than US Social Security) is there to keep people out of poverty even if they do blow through their savings.

Also, unlike in the US, health care expenses are not a worry in Britain because of the NHS (although long-term care does pose challenges).

There were even a few financial experts on the news who spoke up in favor of annuities, pointing out the value of lifetime income. However, when asked if they would buy an annuity today, the response was typically, “Not at these low interest rates. I’d wait for rates to rise.”

No one got into the subtleties of, What does one do with the savings while waiting? Nor did anyone make the point that parking money at a zero interest rate and waiting to buy until rates rise may leave one in the same place economically as buying an annuity now. (With the new subsidized savings bonds, however, there may be a way to make delay strategies more effective than with earning market rates on parked money.)

There is a strong likelihood that Britain will see an explosion of new offerings for ways that people can invest their savings, and many of these will be dubious—e.g., some of the “buy-to-let” property schemes playing on the substantial recent increases in home values (the term “bubble” occasionally appears).

One of the aspects of this major retirement savings overhaul that is quite different than in the US is the lack of powerful business lobbies influencing the changes. These changes are likely to be a boon to mutual funds and other investment businesses, but so far there is nothing in the press about powerful investment industry lobbyists promoting the changes.

There is quite a bit in the press, however about stocks of insurance companies that offer annuities, getting killed in yesterday’s and today’s trading. Many general insurers were down as much as 13% and one specialty annuity provider lost 55% of its value. The insurance companies have powerful lobbies, but they have not been able to thwart these changes.

What seems to happen in the UK is that election campaigns only run a month or so and campaign funding is restricted. Consequently, elections are won by satisfying the needs of the British people. Perhaps a cynical, but realistic, view is that these reforms are a case of playing to popular taste and satisfying short-term needs, while sacrificing the long term.

For those of us who appreciate the value of secure lifetime income, these reforms seem to be taking a giant leap backwards rather than finding a better way forward.

In terms of political expediency, there might also be a question of: How will the Conservatives widen the net and also attract votes from the many who have no retirement savings. They have an answer for these folks as well in the new Budget—a reduction in tax on beer and bingo! Happy retirements ahead, one way or the other, for all our friends in the UK.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Net annuity cash flow at b/ds fell 19% in 2013: DTCC

Suggesting that TV advertising and consumer name-recognition aren’t everything, Jackson National Life was by far the biggest recipient of positive net cash flow from annuity sales processed by the Depositary Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) in 2013.

Overall, annuity sales through broker-dealers fell in the last quarter of 2013. Net cash flow into annuity products processed by DTCC’s Insurance & Retirement Services (I&RS) reached a negative $294 million in December.

DTCC’s summary Annuity Market Activity Report 2013 shows a highly concentrated industry. It includes information on:

  • The disparity of flows among distributors
  • The concentration of inflows within the top 10 distributors
  • The top 10 states for annuity inflows
  • The top 10 insurance/holding companies for inflows and net flows
  • The top 10 annuity products for inflows and net flows
  • Cash flows by account type (qualified and non-qualified)

December 2013 was the first month of negative net flow into annuities since Analytic Reporting of Annuities, an online service of DTCC’s National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), began collecting broker-dealer annuity transaction data in 2011.

Annuity inflows processed by DTCC in 4Q13 decreased from $8.9 billion in October to $7.7 billion in December. Compared to 4Q12, inflows in 4Q13 increased by 17.6%, from $20.1 billion to $24.4 billion; while out flows stayed relatively flat, according to the report.

For all of 2013, inflows into annuity products processed by NSCC totaled almost $94 billion, increasing by nearly 11%, or $9.2 billion over 2012. Outflows totaled almost $85 billion, increasing by over 15%, or $11.4 billion over 2012. The resulting net cash flows totaled $9 billion, declining by over 19% compared to 2012.

In 2013, over $178 billion in annuity transactions involving 117 insurance companies (42 parent/holding companies), 138 distributors, and 3,467 products were processed by I&RS.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Affluent Americans expect to delay retirement: Cogent

The anticipated retirement age among affluent pre-retirees (age 55 or older) today is 68, eight years higher than the retirement age reported by those already in retirement, according to Investor Retirement Income Trends, a recent Cogent Reports survey by Market Strategies International.

The survey group consisted of 890 investors with investable assets (excluding real estate) of $100,000 or more who opted to answer a series of questions online. The median asset level was $375,000 and the average was $623,000. Of the 890, 40% had between $100,000 and $250,000 and 13% had $1 million or more.

Cogent Box

Either because they don’t yet have first-hand experience with the cost of living in retirement or because they don’t believe they’ve saved enough in their defined contribution plan accounts, pre-retirees aren’t as confident as retirees.

Only 28% of pre-retirees who opted into the survey were highly confident in their ability to generate enough income in retirement to cover all of their needs. By contrast, nearly half (48%) of retirees were confident in their ability to do so. 

“To the extent that pre-retirees lack confidence about retirement, providers can offer a voice of assurance or reason. And this could create opportunities,” Linda York, the president of syndicated research at Market Strategies International, told RIJ. “Pre-retirees who have a self-reliant attitude, and who don’t expect to be able to rely on a pension or on the government, are potentially hungry for and open to solutions—especially solutions that might enable them to retire earlier than they thought they could.”

The survey results made clear that many retirees have defined benefit pensions and most pre-retirees don’t. For example, pre-retirees were three times more likely to rank a 401(k) as their number one source of anticipated retirement income (25% vs. 7%). Retirees were almost twice as likely to cite a pension as their number one retirement income source (39% vs. 22%).

Due to its opt-in nature, this online panel did not yield a random probability sample of the target population, Cogent said in a release. For that reason, a margin of error can’t be calculated and the accuracy of projections can’t be statistically quantified. Market Strategies International said it would supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.

Note: RIJ subscribers can obtain a copy of this Cogent Report at a 33% discount from the retail price.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Fidelity, as service provider, wins in appeal of “Tussey v. ABB”

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed in part, reversed in part, and vacated in part a U.S. District Court decision in the landmark ERISA case of Tussey v. ABB, Inc., a class action lawsuit filed by plan participants against the plan sponsor and Fidelity Management Trust Company, the plan provider.

The lower court, in a decision now almost two years old, held ABB and Fidelity responsible for violations of their fiduciary duties to plan participants by charging excessive fees or misusing plan assets and awarded the plaintiffs and their attorneys a judgment of some $33 million. That judgment has been reduced to about $13.4 million by the decision of the appellate court judges, and the lower figure will stand, barring further appeal or reversals.   

In his blog, ERISA attorney Thomas E. Clark Jr. called the decision “effectively a mixed bag for plan sponsors, participants, and service providers.” He offered the following summary:

(1) The plaintiffs won the issue of excessive recordkeeping fees against ABB. This will stand barring any appeals by ABB;

(2) ABB won a procedural victory on the issue of share class choice and the mapping of the Wellington Fund to the Fidelity Freedom Funds. The district court will have to decide the issue again, as explained below, using the guidance as provided by the 8th Circuit; and

(3) Fidelity won the issue of float interest. It has now defeated all claims against it, barring any further appeals by the plaintiffs.

Clark told RIJ today, “Fidelity has been cleared legally, because as a service provider it did not have fiduciary responsibility. But it has not necessarily been cleared in the court of public opinion, because now it’s been shown that it was being paid too much by its client.” The float interest issue is still the subject of other actions against Fidelity, he said.

In a press release, plaintiff’s attorney Jerry Schlichter, of the St. Louis firm of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton, LLP, said:

“This is a victory not just for ABB employees but for all 401k plan employees and retirees who have and continue to pay excessive recordkeeping fees.  It affirms that plan sponsors have a fiduciary duty to monitor these costs and make sure they are reasonable.

“The Court’s decision also supports our call for greater transparency and enforcement regarding 401k plan fees, what the fees are used for, and who gets them. The case is remanded to the Trial Court for further proceedings and we will move forward to protect the retirement assets of ABB employees and retirees.”

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

AIG enhances living benefit of indexed annuities

American International Group, Inc. (AIG) said it has enhanced the Lifetime Income Plus living benefit rider in its suite of fixed indexed annuities, issued by American General Life Insurance Company.  The rider will now offer a 7% minimum roll-up for the first 10 contract years, as long as withdrawals do not exceed the annual limit.

Lifetime Income Plus is automatically included in Power Index Plus Income, a new index annuity focused on retirement income and designed especially for the financial institution and broker/dealer distribution channels. Lifetime Income Plus is also available as an optional rider with the AG Choice Index 10 and Power Index Plusindex annuities offered through brokerage general agencies.

Lifetime Income Plus guarantees the growth of the Income Base—the amount on which lifetime withdrawals are based—by locking in the greater of potential interest earnings or an annual income credit of up to 7%. Retirement income is certain to rise with a partial income credit, as long as withdrawals are taken within the terms of the rider.

“Please note that interest is added to the Income Base, only if it produces a contract value that is higher than all previous anniversary values,” an AIG release said.

“Individuals have the flexibility to take withdrawals when needs arise and still ensure both rising income and guaranteed income for life,” said John Deremo, executive vice president and chief distribution officer, Life and A&H, AIG Financial Distributors.

AIG is also announced two other enhancements to its index annuities:

  • The Monthly Average Index Interest Account, a new interest crediting strategy available in the AG Choice Index 10 and the Power Series of Index Annuities.
  • A “streamlined” product lineup for the financial institution and broker/dealer markets consisting of Power Index Plus, an asset accumulation product, and Power Index Plus Income, a retirement income product.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

FIA, DIA, and SPIA sales broke records in 4Q 2013: LIMRA

Quarterly total annuity sales rose 17%, to $61.9 billion, in the last quarter of 2013, according to LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute (SRI). It was the largest quarterly percentage increase in 11 years.

For all of 2013, total annuity sales were $230.1 billion, or five percent over 2012. Fourth quarter sales of indexed annuities reached $11.9 billion — a new quarterly record and $1.7 billion more than the prior quarter.

While VA sales were off slightly, thanks to less generous products, the dramatic growth in the S&P500 last year helped VA assets reach a record $2 trillion by the end of 2013.

Joe Montminy, assistant vice president, LIMRA SRI Annuity Research, attributed growth to rising interest rates, product innovation and “organic growth” in the bank and Independent B-D channels. “This growth was additive and not at the expense of the independent channel, which saw a 24% increase in the fourth quarter and makes up 71% of the market,” Montminy said.

Indexed annuity sales were $39.3 billion in 2013, up 16% over 2012. Fixed annuity sales were $25.6 billion in the quarter, the highest since the second quarter of 2009 and up 45% compared to last year. Total fixed annuities sales grew 17% in 2013, totaling $84.8 billion.

Fixed-rate deferred annuities—book value and MVA—increasing 54% in the fourth quarter compared to last year, thanks to higher prevailing interest rates. Fixed-rate annuity sales reached $8.5 billion in the fourth quarter. For the year, fixed-rate annuities were $29.3 billion, up 19%.

Variable annuity sales rose four percent in the fourth quarter, to $36.3 billion. VA sales stopped tracking the equities markets after the financial crisis. Despite 32% growth in the equities market in 2013, VA sales fell one percent in 2013, to $145.3 billion.

In 2013, more companies introduced accumulation-stage VAs, which aren’t as capital-intensive VAs with living benefits, LIMRA noted. These products are variously marketed for tax-deferral, exposure to alternative assets inside a tax-deferred account, and exposure to equity indexes through options. Election rates for VA GLWB riders dropped to 79% (when available) in the fourth quarter, as a result of reductions in the generosity and the investment flexibility of GLB riders.

Nonetheless, pure income annuity products—deferred income annuities (DIAs) and single-premium immediate annuities (SPIAs)—both broke sales records in the last quarter of 2013.

Sales of DIAs reached $710 million in the fourth quarter, up 82% over Q4 2012. In 2013, DIA sales grew to $2.2 billion, up 113% over 2012. At a record $2.6 billion, SPIA sales rose 30% in the fourth quarter. For the year, SPIA sales totaled $8.3 billion, eight percent above 2012 and another record.

“We anticipate that continued improvements in interest rates and changing demographics will increase demand for these income annuity products,” noted Montminy.

The fourth quarter Annuities Industry Estimates can be found in LIMRA’s updated Data Bank.  

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Before buying pension liabilities, UK insurers may require check-ups

JLT Employee Benefits, Aviva, Hymans Robertson, Legal & General and other insurers and advisers in the UK pension industry plan to produce a guide to help plan sponsors and trustees decide whether to use medical underwriting when buying bulk annuities.

“Bulk annuities” are the group policies traditionally offered by large UK insurers. Defined benefit pension plans buy bulk annuities with plan assets and a premium. The issuer of the annuity pays the retirement incomes of some or all of plan’s retirees, taking on all the risks associated with such a liability. 

Medical underwriting of bulk annuities, where the premium would be adjusted according to the health and lifestyle habits of the covered retirees, is a new concept in the U.K. The move to produce a guide on medical underwriting for plan sponsors was prompted by the arrival of new insurers in the market who want to get a better grip on their risk exposures.  

“An increasing number of businesses [are] keen to explore using medical underwriting as part of their de-risking strategy,” said Margaret Snowdon, director of JLT Employee Benefits. 

Medical underwriting, of course, can cut both ways. While insurers suggest that it could result in lower premiums, plan trustees and sponsors fret that if individual plan participants’ health and lifestyles are assessed, the premiums might end up being higher than they would have been.

Sponsors also fear that once a plan had made a detailed enquiry about medical underwriting, if it then decided not to go ahead with the deal, other bulk annuity providers might assume the membership was in better-than-average health and decline to quote. 

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Beware of Oligopolies in Banking

The United States is in its sixth year following the financial and economic crisis of 2008, and we are just about to start our fourth year since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act. Enormous energy has been expended in an attempt to implement a host of required reforms. The Volcker Rule has been implemented, and more recently a rule requiring foreign bank operations to establish U.S. holding companies has been adopted.

While these are important milestones, much remains undone and I suspect that 2014 will prove to be a critical juncture for determining the future of the banking industry and the role of regulators within that industry. The inertia around the status quo is a powerful force, and with the passage of time and fading memories, change becomes ever more difficult. There are any number of unresolved matters that require attention:

  • This past July the regulatory authorities proposed a sensible supplemental capital requirement that is yet to be adopted. This single step would do much to strengthen the resiliency of the largest banks, since even today they hold proportionately as little as half the capital of the regional banks. The Global Capital Index points out that tangible capital to asset levels of the largest firms average only four percent.
  • The largest banking firms carry an enormous volume of derivatives. The law directs that such activities be conducted away from the safety net, and we are still in the process of completing what is referred to as the push-out rules.
  • Bankruptcy laws have not been amended to address the use of long-term assets to secure highly volatile short-term wholesale funding. This contributes to a sizable moral hazard risk among banks and shadow banks, as these instruments give the impression of being a source of liquidity when, in fact, they are highly unstable. The response so far has required that we develop ever-more complicated bank liquidity rules, which are costly to implement and enforce, and leave other firms free to rely on such volatile funding.
  • Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to operate under government conservatorship, and as such they dominant home mortgage financing in the United States.
  • Finally, among the more notable and difficult pieces of the unfinished business is the assignment to assure that the largest, most complicated banks can be resolved through bankruptcy in an orderly fashion and without public aid. Congress gave the Federal Reserve and the FDIC, and the relevant banking companies, a tough assignment under the Title 1 provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act to solve this problem. It requires making difficult decisions now, or the die will be cast and the largest banking firms will be assured an advantage that few competitors will successfully overcome1.

The persistence of ‘Too Big To Fail

I want to spend a few more minutes on this last topic, as it remains a critical step to a more sound financial system.

The chart titled Consolidation of the Credit Channel shows the trend in concentration of financial assets since 1984. The graph shows the distribution of assets for four groups of banks, ranging in size from less than $100 million to more than $10 billion. The chart shows that in 1984, the control of assets among the different bank groups was almost proportional.

FDIC Bank credit channel

Also, within each group if a single bank failed, even the largest, it might shock the economy, but most likely would not bring it down. Today this distribution of assets is dramatically different. Banks controlling assets of more than $10 billion have come to compose an overwhelming proportion of the economy, and those with more than a trillion dollars in assets have come to dominate this group. If even one of the largest five banks were to fail, it would devastate markets and the economy.

Title I of the Dodd-Frank Act is intended to address this issue by requiring these largest firms to map out a bankruptcy strategy. This is referred to as the Living Will. If bankruptcy fails to work, Title II of Dodd-Frank would have the government nationalize and ultimately liquidate a failing systemic firm.

While these mechanisms outline a path for resolution, success will be determined by how manageable large and complex firms are under bankruptcy and whether under any circumstance they can be resolved without major disruption to the economy. This is a daunting task, and increasing numbers of experts question whether it can be done given current industry structure. Two impediments are most often highlighted to organizing an orderly bankruptcy or liquidation for these firms.

First, it is not possible for the private sector to provide the necessary liquidity through “debtor in possession” financing due to the size and complexity of the institutions and due to the speed at which crises occur. There simply would be too little confidence in bank assets and the lender’s ability to be repaid, and too little time to unwind these firms in an orderly fashion in a bankruptcy. Under the current system, it would have to be the government that provides the needed liquidity, it is argued, even in bankruptcy to avoid a broader financial meltdown.

Second, when a mega banking firm goes into bankruptcy, capital markets and cross-border flows of money and capital most likely would seize up, intensifying the crisis, as happened following the failure of Lehman Brothers, for example. International cooperation is critical in such circumstances, and it would be ideal if creditors, bankers and governments acted calmly and rationally in a crisis. It would be ideal also if all contracts were honored and if collateral and capital were free to move across borders. But, experience suggests otherwise. Panic is about panic, and people and nations generally protect themselves and their wealth ahead of others. Moreover, there are no international bankruptcy laws to govern such matters and prevent the grabbing of assets, sometimes known as ring-fencing.

This raises the important question of whether firms must simplify themselves if we hope to place them into bankruptcy. This is no small question, and it must be addressed.

A further sense of the importance of these unresolved issues can be gained by working through the annual report of any one of these largest firms. These reports show that individual firms control assets close to the equivalent of nearly a quarter of U.S. GDP, and the five largest U.S. financial firms together have assets representing just over half of GDP.

The reported composition of firm assets represents a further challenge in judging their resolvability, as it is opaque and the relationship among affiliate firms is sometimes unclear. A host of assets and risks are disclosed only in footnotes, although they often involve trillions of dollars of derivatives that are not shown on the balance sheet. Inter-company liabilities are in the hundreds of billions of dollars and if any one link fails, it can initiate a chain reaction of losses, failure and panic. And should crisis emerge, liquidity is sought through the insured bank, not through the provisions of bankruptcy. One failure means systemic consequences.

These conditions mean “too big to fail” remains a threat to economic stability. They necessarily put the economic system at risk should even one mega bank fail. And they allow these mega banks to operate beyond the constraints of economies of scale and scope, and provide the firms an enormous competitive advantage — all of which is antithetical to capitalism.

Structural change, subsidarization and capital

These observations are not new to the financial system, and they have sparked a broadening debate on what action might be taken to better assure that bankruptcy is the first option for resolution. Potential actions include some of the following:

First, simplify the corporate structure of the mega banks that now dominate the financial system. There is mounting evidence of the benefits that would flow from such an action. Market analysts and economists3  have pointed to increased value and greater economic stability that would flow from such restructuring. Commercial banking is different than broker-dealer activities, and studies show that requiring banks and broker-dealers to operate independently would serve potentially to improve the pricing and allocation of capital, and to increase value.

Second, as the Federal Reserve recently required for foreign banks operating in the United States, governments should require global banking companies to establish separate operating subsidiaries within each country. This subsidarization would give greater clarity to where capital is lodged globally, and it would serve to assure that banks within each country have capital available at foreign affiliates to absorb losses on a basis comparable to that jurisdiction’s domestic banks. Subsidarization also would lead to greater recognition of the risks on firms’ balance sheets, causing more capital to be held globally and thus contributing to greater overall financial stability and availability of credit.

Those who object to this concept suggest that such a requirement interferes with capital flows and would actually reduce available credit. However, subsidarization would require that capital be aligned with where assets reside, and it would identify for markets and authorities the capital available to absorb losses should it be needed. It provides far more transparency than the current structure. Such transparency would encourage a more responsible use and allocation of capital and resources. It ends the charade that markets are open and safe, only to see them suddenly shut down and ring fenced, with devastating effect, when the inevitable crisis occurs.

Conclusion

It is fundamental to capitalism that markets be allowed to clear in an open, fair manner and that all participants play by the same rules. A situation whereby oligopolies that evolve into institutions that are too big to fail, and are so significant and complex that should they fail the economy fails, is not market economics. To ignore these circumstances is to invite crisis.

Thomas M. Hoenig, vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, delivered this speech to the 30th annual Economic Policy Conference of the National Association for Business Economics, in Arlington, Va., February 24, 2014.

‘I’ll never retire’ vow weakens with age, survey shows

The concept of retirement is “laden with contradictions in both attitude and preparedness,” according to Franklin Templeton Investments’ 2014 Retirement Income Strategies and Expectations (RISE) Survey of 2,011 Americans ages 18 and over.

Among those not yet retired, the survey found that 92% of individuals anticipate their retirement expenses to be similar to or less than pre-retirement spending. Interestingly, more than a third of pre-retirees (39%) have not yet started saving for retirement.

Most (72%) of pre-retirees said they are looking forward to retirement, but only 25% expect their retirement to be better than previous generations while 33% expect it to be similar and 41% expect it to be worse.

Almost half of those surveyed said they are concerned (48%) about outliving their assets or having to make major sacrifices to their retirement plan, up from 44% at the beginning of last year.

By a ratio of three to two, women are more likely to respond that they are not very confident with and don’t really understand their retirement income plan. Men more frequently said they think their retirement will be better than previous generations.

Men are slightly more likely to consider the needs of their spouse, while women are more likely to consider their own needs and those of their children and grandchildren.

The younger the respondent, the earlier they expect to retire. When asked what they would do if they were unable to retire as planned due to insufficient income, “retire later” was the top response.

About a fourth (24%) of retirees retire due to circumstances beyond their control, the survey showed. As people pass age 35 and near retirement, they grow less willing to retire later and more willing to downsize their expenses and lifestyle.  

The 2014 Franklin Templeton Retirement Income Strategies and Expectations (RISE) survey was conducted online among a sample of 2,011 adults comprising 1,008 men and 1,003 women 18 years of age and older. ORC International’s Online CARAVAN administered the survey from January 2 to January 16, 2014.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Poland’s clawback of privately-managed DC funds criticized

Back in 1999, the Poland thought it would be a good idea to do what the U.S. considered in 2005: That is, to invest some of its Social Security payroll contributions to a defined contribution plan where Poles could own a mix of stocks and Polish treasuries.

But last summer, with the pay-as-you-go Social Security plan (the “ZUS”) in the red, Polish president Bronislaw Komorowski signed a bill diverting the entire accumulated bond portion of the DC plan (OFE) back into the ZUS. Both plans are mandatory.

In a new report, the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) said the forced transfer—tantamount to state confiscation of private money—of OFE funds to the ZUS has damaged public trust in its pension system “and could harm the credibility of future reforms,” according to an IPE.com article. 

The OECD report warned that the changes could hurt the future income that would be paid out to DC plan participants and reduce liquidity in the domestic Treasury market. It noted only two advantages of the transfer: a reduction in Poland’s debt-service payments and a fall in the OFE’s operating costs. Its overall view of the pension changes was negative.

Plans to overhaul the structure of the pension system first became public last summer, as the government considered how best to design the 15-year old system’s payout phase. At the time, the Polish Chamber of Pension Funds (IGTE) alleged that the information used by the government to make its case was “false and dishonestly presented.” President Komorowski nevertheless signed the controversial bill into law at the beginning of January.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

AIG’s Bermuda-based unit to offer captive insurance out-sourcing

Citing “strong demand for alternative risk financing programs, particularly from small and medium-sized companies globally,” American International Group, Inc. has launched Grand Isle SAC Limited, a Bermuda-domiciled subsidiary, according to an AIG release this week.

“Grand Isle will offer customers the option of establishing segregated accounts in an AIG-sponsored captive. Customers gain access to the captive’s established capital, insurance license, and underwriting capabilities to retain and manage their risk, without the costs of starting and operating their own standalone captives,” the release said.

A segregated accounts company is considered an option for a company looking to share risk in order to achieve cost savings and flexibility in its insurance program, AIG said. AIG Captive Management Services in Bermuda will manage the regulatory requirements, financial reporting, and administrative functions for all customers participating in Grand Isle.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Schlichter sues a hospital chain for “excessive” plan fees

Another federal class action suit over alleged excessive retirement plan fees has been filed by St. Louis attorney Jerry Schlichter this week. This time the defendant is Novant Health Inc., sponsor of a 25,000-member, $1.2 billion retirement plan in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Novant Health is a non-profit health care services firm that operates 13 hospitals and 350 physicians’ practices in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. (For expert analysis and a link to the complaint, click here.)

The suit, Karolyn Kruger, M.D. et al., v. Novant Health Inc., et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina. It claims that Novant violated its fiduciary duty under ERISA by paying $8.6 million to Great-West Life & Annuity for recordkeeping and investment services, including revenue-sharing, and $9.6 million in commissions to a Winston-Salem brokerage firm, D.L. Davis & Co., between 2009 and 2012. D.L. Davis is a registered rep of MML Investors Services, a unit of MassMutual.

The complaint also tied D.L. Davis’ relationship with Novant’s retirement plan to real estate and other transactions between the two companies. According to the complaint,the brokerage firm’s CEO and president, Derrick Davis:

“has entered into a variety of land development projects and office building leasing arrangements in the greater-Winston-Salem area with Novant” and that “early in Mr. Davis’ business relationship with Novant he made a charitable gift to Novant in excess of $5 million.”

“At nearly the same time as Mr. Davis gave Novant that $5 million, a Davis-owned development company in which he is an officer, manager and/or owner, East Coast Capital, announced plans to develop the Southeast Gateway project. The project included Novant Health as occupying 40,000 square feet of this office development for a call center.”

Novant offers its employees and retirees an ERISA-ruled retirement program known as the Retirement Plus Plan. The program includes two Plans, the Tax Deferred Savings Plan of Novant Health Inc., and the Savings Supplement Retirement Plan of Novant Health Inc.

Since 2006, the firm of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton has filed twelve similar excessive fee complaints and secured six settlements worth over $125 million. It has pending cases against Ameriprise, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and Mass Mutual. In 2009, the firm won the only 401(k) excessive fee litigation matter to be taken to trial. The defendants in that case were ABB and Fidelity.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

The Bucket

Good advice can be worth 3%: Vanguard 

A new report from Vanguard, evidently intended as a value-add for fee-based financial advisers who recommend Vanguard funds, asserts that a Vanguard “wealth management framework” can help advisers enhance their clients’ returns by up to “about 3%,” relative to advisers who don’t use it.

The framework, called Vanguard Advisor’s Alpha, “ focuses on portfolio construction, behavioral coaching, asset location, and other relationship-oriented services,” according to Vanguard. It is described in the report, Putting a Value on Your Value: Quantifying Vanguard Advisor Alpha.    

According to Vanguard, advisers can enhance returns by:   

  • Being an effective behavioral coach and helping clients maintain a long-term perspective (up to 1.5%).
  • Applying an asset location strategy that involves the efficient use of taxable and tax-advantaged accounts (up to 0.75%).    
  • Minimizing investment costs (up to 0.45%).  
  • Rebalancing back to a target allocation (up to 0.35%).     
  • Implementing a tax-smart drawdown strategy (up to 0.70%).  

The potential 3% “advisor’s alpha” should not be viewed as an annual add, but as an intermittent add, with benefits accruing mainly “during periods of market duress or euphoria that tempt clients to abandon their well-thought-out investment plans,” Vanguard said.

Prudential white paper highlights new LGBT rights

“Financial Planning Considerations for Same-Sex Couples After Windsor,” a new white paper from Prudential Financial, explores how this past year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has helped establish the financial rights of legally married same-sex couples.

The 2013 Windsor decision, named for appellant Edith Windsor (U.S. v Windsor), recognized the legality of same-sex marriages for federal tax purposes if they are lawful under a state or a foreign jurisdiction. The white paper, written by James Mahaney, vice president, strategic initiatives at Prudential, describes workplace benefits and financial planning strategies that same-sex couples may want to consider post-Windsor.

According to the white paper, depending on the employer, same-sex married couples might now gain access to spousal healthcare benefits, including health coverage, flexible spending accounts, health reimbursement accounts, and/or health savings accounts.

The white paper also encourages same-sex married couples to meet with a tax professional to review whether filing amended federal tax returns for prior years is beneficial, as they may be able to claim a refund for federal taxes paid on imputed income related to healthcare benefits previously purchased for a same-sex spouse.

A spouse in a same-sex marriage now has improved survivor benefits for defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans. In addition, they may gain access to group life insurance coverage through a spouse’s employer.

The paper points out that the federal recognition of same-sex marriages isn’t all positive from a financial perspective, as some married couples will pay higher federal taxes, while others may see their ability to qualify for a child’s college financial aid reduced.

Nancy Prior succeeds Charlie Morrison as Fidelity fixed income chief

Nancy D. Prior has been appointed president of Fidelity Investments’ fixed income division and vice chairman of Pyramis Global Advisors, the Boston-based financial services firm announced. She will report to her predecessor, Charlie Morrison, who last month became president of Fidelity’s $1.9 trillion Asset Management organization.

Headquartered in Merrimack, New Hampshire, Fidelity’s fixed income division manages more than $750 billion in assets on behalf of retail, intermediary and institutional clients globally. Prior, who joined Fidelity in 2002 as senior legal counsel for fixed income, most recently served as president of Money Markets and Short Duration Bonds.  

Prior had been president of Money Markets since 2011. She expanded her responsibilities in 2013 to oversee the Limited Term Bond team. Before heading Money Markets, Prior was managing director of Credit Research from 2009 to 2011. Before joining Fidelity, she was general counsel at Advantage Schools Inc. and an attorney at Mintz Levin in Boston.

I’ll never retire’ vow weakens with age: Franklin Templeton survey

The concept of retirement is “laden with contradictions in both attitude and preparedness,” according to Franklin Templeton Investments’ 2014 Retirement Income Strategies and Expectations (RISE) Survey of 2,011 Americans ages 18 and over.

Among those not yet retired, the survey found that 92% of individuals anticipate their retirement expenses to be similar to or less than pre-retirement spending. Interestingly, more than a third of pre-retirees (39%) have not yet started saving for retirement.

Most (72%) of pre-retirees said they are looking forward to retirement, but only 25% expect their retirement to be better than previous generations while 33% expect it to be similar and 41% expect it to be worse.

Almost half of those surveyed said they are concerned (48%) about outliving their assets or having to make major sacrifices to their retirement plan, up from 44% at the beginning of last year.

By a ratio of three to two, women are more likely to respond that they are not very confident with and don’t really understand their retirement income plan. Men more frequently said they think their retirement will be better than previous generations.

Men are slightly more likely to consider the needs of their spouse, while women are more likely to consider their own needs and those of their children and grandchildren.

The younger the respondent, the earlier they expect to retire. When asked what they would do if they were unable to retire as planned due to insufficient income, “retire later” was the top response.

About a fourth (24%) of retirees retire due to circumstances beyond their control, the survey showed. As people pass age 35 and near retirement, they grow less willing to retire later and more willing to downsize their expenses and lifestyle.  

The 2014 Franklin Templeton Retirement Income Strategies and Expectations (RISE) survey was conducted online among a sample of 2,011 adults comprising 1,008 men and 1,003 women 18 years of age and older. ORC International’s Online CARAVAN administered the survey from January 2 to January 16, 2014.

ABA and AARP publish practical guide for family survivors

The American Bar Association and AARP have co-published a guidebook for the survivors of deceased family members. Written by AARP lawyer and former ABA staff lawyer Sally Hurme, the “ABA/AARP Checklist for Family Survivors” shows readers how to:

  • Create a simple system to organize investments, assets and estate planning information.
  • Keep letters and forms updated.
  • Gather key information in either paper or electronic form.
  • Get organized in financial and legal matters.
  • Assemble a team and working with key advisers to handle everything in confidence.
  • Take responsibility in a difficult situation.

The book consists of checklists and forms that the reader can fill in and includes a CD-ROM containing the documents in electronic format. The book is a companion volume to Hurme’s 2011 book, “ABA Checkllist for Family Heirs.” 

Nationwide and LPL in platform integration

Nationwide Financial has integrated LPL Financial’s Worksite Financial Solutions platform into its 401(k) products, the Columbus, Ohio financial services firm announced. According to a release, the integration will “help LPL advisors provide their retirement plan participants with financial advice.” LPL is the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer, an RIA custodian, and a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings Inc.  

Nationwide’s plan sponsor clients who work with a LPL advisor will be able to use the platform’s Employee Transition and Engagement Solutions. This supports the enrollment of employees into retirement plans, promotes financial education and wellness, and helps employees during entry and exit from employment.   

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

In Hartford, a Public IRA Proposal

In the cafeteria of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn., Tuesday, Brian Graff, CEO of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries, and Chad Parks, CEO of theonline401k, were waiting for a meeting of the joint Committee on Labor & Public Employees to begin. 

Both men were set to testify that afternoon in favor of “Senate Bill 249,” which, as currently drafted, would require Connecticut employers with five or more workers to—if they did not already do so—enable their employees to defer part of their pay into an individual retirement account.

The bill, modeled on a law proposed in California, would do what the Obama administration’s “MyRA” plan also hopes to do—expand access to a tax-deferred workplace savings plan to the many full-time workers who don’t currently have it.

Graff, who is based in Arlington, Va., seemed upbeat, as a seatbelt manufacturer might on a day when Congress was about to require every carmaker to install them. By requiring access to a retirement plan, S.B. 249 could potentially create a flood of new business in Connecticut for the third-party plan administrators and others who belong to Graff’s trade group.

But wasn’t Graff concerned that the bill would default employee contributions to be defaulted into a new trust fund, overseen by the Connecticut state treasurer and collectively managed and insured by still-to-be-chosen vendors? Wouldn’t the availability of that fund crowd out the private-sector plan providers whom Graff represented?

No, Graff said. The private providers would offer much better plans than the state plan. “I guarantee that they will kick its ass,” he said, in his characteristic “and you can print that!” manner. He brushed aside doubts that private providers would suddenly rush to serve a retirement market segment they’d never cultivated before.

 *      *      * 

At 2 p.m., the hearing began in a shallow, brightly lit amphitheater nearly filled with legislators, lobbyists, aides, witnesses, cameramen and observers. But, instead of briskly taking up S.B. 249, the committee, or rather, the few committee members in attendance, waded leisurely into their work. I had not known about the Labor & Public Employees Committee’s quaint tradition of entertaining comments on several bills at the same meeting, of hearing witnesses in the order in which they happen to have signed up, rather than grouping them by bill, and of taking testimony from fellow legislators before taking it from the public.

This tradition meant that the meeting would likely drag on (and it did, evidently) until about 10 o’clock Tuesday night. Parks and Graff were the 21st and 22nd public witnesses to be called. Before them, more than a dozen legislators would get their chance to talk, and several were there to jawbone other bills than S.B. 249. Around 4:30 p.m., Graff was in the lobby outside the hearing room. “This is mind-numbing,” he said. “I’ve testified in statehouses all over the country. I’ve never seen anything like this.”  

Somewhere toward 5 p.m., the sponsor of S.B. 249, House Majority Leader Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin/Southington) lowered himself into the witness chair and leaned toward the microphone on the desk in front of him. Naively, I expected vigorous banter about the details of the low-fee IRA fund that the bill would establish.

Instead, Aresimowicz spoke, as legislators often do, about the crisis—in this case, the retirement savings crisis—that the bill would address. And instead of being fed open questions by the Democratic representative who chaired the hearing, Peter Tercyak, Aresimowciz was greeted with two blunt statements from Republican members of the committee. One said that his business-owner constituents think S.B. 249 is a terrible idea. The other said that Connecticut hosts a large and capable financial services industry and has no need for a public retirement plan option. Aresimowicz was thanked and excused after only a few minutes.

*      *      *

A handful of state legislatures have shown interest in a state-sponsored defined contribution retirement plan like the one proposed in Connecticut. Larry Dorman, a public affairs coordinator for Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employers, AFL-CIO, told RIJ on Tuesday that the states need to move ahead with such initiatives. Groups like his don’t believe that the Obama Administration’s auto-IRA, the MyRA plan, which the President revealed in his January 28 State of the Union speech, will ever become law, given the political gridlock in Washington.

California was the first state to consider a public retirement option, and its initiative is currently being studied. S.B. 249 is modeled on the California proposal, Aresimowicz said at a press conference on Tuesday. One of the comments made by Republicans on Tuesday was that Connecticut has no need to rush forward with its own bill until it sees what happens in California. 

In addition to Graff and Parks, representatives of several advocacy groups as well as several small business owners were scheduled to speak in favor of S.B. 249 on Tuesday. Karen Friedman, policy director of the Pension Rights Center was there, along with officers from AARP and the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans. Ken Floryan of West Hartford, a retired investment manager for Babson Capital Management, also supported the bill.    

Two representatives of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, as well as two NAIFA members, Catherine Ernsky of Charter Oak Financial, and John Sayour, a New York Life/Eagle Securities adviser, and Pat McCabe of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association were scheduled to speak against it before the evening was through. Faced with a four-hour drive back to Pennsylvania, I couldn’t stay to hear any of them, unfortunately. But I talked to one of them later.

“I told the committee, ‘If this bill passes, you will line my pockets with money,'” one of the private-sector financial professionals said, referring to the bill’s coverage mandate. “You would think that I’d be for it, but I’m not. They’re going to create a whole bureaucracy, and for what? They [the supporters of the bill] don’t understand the unintended consequences of what they’re trying to do.” This person insisted that people of modest means aren’t saving because they can’t afford to, not because the private sector has neglected low and middle-income employees or small employers. “In any case, it’s too late to help people in their 50s. This is for people in their 20s and 30s.”

Given the Democratic majorities in both the Connecticut Senate and House, S.B. 249 has a good chance of passing, said Matthew Brokman, a political/legislative representative for AFSCME Council 4. “We expect this to be voted out of the Labor & Public Employees committee next week. Then it goes to a second committee, then to the full Senate for a vote, then to the House.” A similar bill would have passed last year, he said, but the session expired before it came up for a vote. One observer suggested that, in an election year, Democratic lawmakers are eager to do something nice for organized labor. As currently written, S.B. 249 would take effect July 1 of this year.

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Two Advisers, Two Strong Opinions of FIAs

Do you want to know what really steams Howard Kaplan? It’s when the LPL-affiliated adviser watches CNBC and hears a talking head speak dismissively about fixed indexed annuities, a product he knows a lot about and likes a lot.

Recently, CNBC Shelly Schwartz financial reporter said, “In the context of bond alternatives, fixed index annuities also bear mentioning—if only to urge caution.” When Kaplan, a CPA and financial planner, hears such things, he jumps on the phone or starts typing protest letters.

Do you want to know what infuriates Philadelphia-area adviser Harry Keller? It’s when he turns on CBS radio and hears Phil Cannella, host of the “The Crash-Proof Retirement Show,” trash the securities industry and boast of an unnamed, zero-risk, no-fee product for retirees that eventually turns out to be an FIA. 

“These products are still being mis-sold, and the sellers are still taking advantage of seniors,” Keller told RIJ. “There are more consumer protections for time-shares and gym memberships than there are for fixed indexed annuities.”

No financial product sold in the U.S. today triggers stronger emotions and opinions than fixed indexed annuities (or equity-indexed annuities, as they were called from 1995 to 2007). Annuities in general tend to provoke controversy, and FIAs are easily the most polarizing annuities.

A decade ago, chances were that you’d find only insurance agents on the “pro” side of the FIA fence and most if not all securities-licensed financial advisers in the “anti” camp. But with FIA sales reaching $10 billion per quarter, the frontier of that debate has drifted across channels. Today, a registered representative may be either for or against FIAs.

Last week, in the first of RIJ’s series on FIAs, we heard from broker-dealers about this product, which works like a structured note (bonds with a dash of equity options), but wrapped inside an insurance guarantee and blessed with the (rarely exercised) potential for conversion to a life annuity.

This week, we hear about FIAs from two independent financial advisers: Kaplan, founder of Kaplan & Co., a New York metro area adviser with a Harvard MBA, and Keller, founder of Financial Independence Group in Conshocken, Pa., just outside Philadelphia. Depending on your own point of view, you’ll probably disagree with about half of what they have to say. 

The argument for FIAs

For Kaplan (right), FIAs are the perfect product for today’s low and potentially rising interest rate climate and for a certain type of risk-averse client. Given his credentials and history, it’s hard to accuse him of opportunism, or to characterize him as a commission-driven product pusher.

“I’m a planner. I do asset management. I’ve also sold variable annuities, fixed annuities and life insurance. I was talking about FIAs, doing seminars and using them for quite a while before the financial crisis,” he told RIJ.

Howard Kaplan

“Ten or more years ago, I’d tell people, ‘We’re in the defined contribution world now. The responsibility for retirement has been dumped on you, so what’s your risk management plan?’ The answer was usually, ‘What’s that?’ or ‘I don’t have one.’ Annuities are about risk management. They don’t replace equities. They’re not a panacea. But there’s a place for them.

“Having a safety instrument that has delivered four to five percent a year in this market environment has been great. It’s as simple as that. It’s not a sales thing. It’s about planning. We’re far removed from hearing that FIAs ‘are sold wrong’ or that FIA buyers ‘think they’re investing in equities.’ That was 2005 and before. I don’t talk about them that way or use them that way.

“There’s a place for these things, particularly for the direction in which things are going. I say, ‘You can afford to give up a lot of upside with these products because you don’t have any downside.’ They’re more appropriate if you can handle a longer holding-period.

“We can pontificate about the need for growth and the importance of equities. But in most portfolios, there’s a place for safety and guarantees. There’s a set of clients that derives comfort from these products. I have clients who are very sensitive to the risk of rising interest rates. In the past, they might have been in bond funds. I like being able to offer them something that won’t generate losses.”  

Regarding specific products, Kaplan likes the Allianz 360 Annuity. One of its index options is the Barclays U.S. Dynamic Balance Index, a managed volatility strategy that moves assets back and forth every day between the S&P500 Index and the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, depending on whether market volatility is down or up, respectively.

As for crediting methods, “I tend to do more annual point-to-point,” he said. “But I’ve also used a blend where I put a third of the assets into annual point-to-point, a third into monthly sum and a third into monthly average. They all seem to have ended up in a similar place. I tend to focus on the S&P500. I haven’t seen anything that convinces me that there’s an advantage to other equity indices. You can get crazy with this stuff.”

The case against FIAs

For Keller (below), the FIA story does not appear to have changed all that much from 2005, when lightly regulated intermediaries were caught making deceptive claims about high-commission, long-surrender-period bonus indexed annuities to 80-year-olds at lunchtime seminars. He can hear it on drive-time radio any day of the week. And he takes it personally.

“In our area, aggressive people advertise on the radio. They advertise the ‘Crash-proof Retirement’ on the air, in fliers, in the newspaper. They tell people to ‘protect yourself against financial professionals with high fees’ and claim that they have a ‘no-cost guarantee.’ Please,” he told RIJ recently.

Harry Keller

“There’s good and bad in any type of investment. But securities have the advantage of being regulated so that representatives can’t exaggerate their benefits and must present the facts. Insurance agents aren’t as heavily regulated. They have more leeway in what they can call themselves. They’re not subject to as many disclosures in their advertising or brochures.

 “I’m not closed-minded. I was at Penn Mutual in 1980 when we created the Diversifier annuity. I’ve reviewed indexed annuities many times. We still review them. They’ve added some living benefits, which I like. But they’re very complicated, and they’re missing some things. A secure retirement requires more than a one percent return. The FIA returns won’t keep up with the cost of living.

“For a small portion of assets, they may be appropriate, but not for more than that. If I have a risk-averse client who wants a CD alternative, that’s where I’d use it. We’d look at contracts that follow the ‘10/10/10’ rule. [Maximum 10% commission, maximum 10-year surrender period, maximum 10% surrender penalty.] But because of the surrender periods and the [issuers’] arbitrary ability to change the rules, I wouldn’t want to lock a client into a even a 10-year product.

 “Last year, I had an event at an Iron Pigs [Phillies Class AAA minor league] game in Allentown and a guy said, ‘Check out these things for me.’ He had $500,000 or $600,000. Someone was trying to sell him an FIA with a 10-year surrender and a three percent earnings cap. I said, ‘This isn’t very good. Your financial plan requires a five or six percent return.’ This was in July 2013, when the market was headed to a 30% return for the year. The contract was already submitted to the insurance company but he had a 30-day [free-look period] and cancelled it.

“These products are still being mis-sold. Agents are still taking advantage of seniors. They’re saying ‘stock market returns without the risk of the market.’ They need to be regulated because they’re giving financial advice and they’re talking about indexes. I can’t make up my own designations like they can.”

Bottom line

Rarely does a discussion about a financial product feel so personal. Kaplan doesn’t like the way FIAs and FIA sellers continue to be portrayed in the media. Keller doesn’t like the way some FIA sellers (at least one of whom has his own radio show) vilify advisers and securities.

They think the smears are unfair. They’d almost certainly agree that bad publicity is bad for business. Both might also agree that FIAs are appropriate substitutes for bonds, not stocks. But they would probably disagree on the breadth of clients for whom FIAs are suitable or appropriate. On the important matter of whether FIAs are still widely “mis-sold” or not, they don’t seem to agree at all.    

© 2014 RIJ Publishing LLC.