Obama nominates Mary Jo White to chair SEC
A Wall Street and Washington veteran, White has served as federal prosecutor, defense attorney, and director of the NASDAQ stock exchange.
After 30 years, Ben Nelson returns to NAIC
The retired Democratic Senator from Nebraska, a former insurance executive and regulator, succeeds outgoing NAIC CEO Terri Vaughn at a turbulent time for the regulation of annuities and other...
A Primer on Safety-First Retirement Planning
Pfau reviews a new book on retirement income planning by financial planner Erin Botsford, who he says "does a good job explaining the safety-first approach to readers who may...
Quote of the Week
"For no fee at all I am prepared to offer to any wealthy person an investment program which will last a lifetime and will not only preserve the estate...
As an Investment, Will Gold Pan Out?
A new research paper asks whether it makes sense to invest in gold and arrives at surprising conclusions--and some interesting historical trivia.
DoubleLine repeats as fastest-growing active fund manager
Strategic Insight published its lists of the 30 fastest-growing managers of actively-managed funds and 30 fastest-growing managers of passive funds. (Photo: Jeffrey Gundlach of DoubleLine.)
Immediate annuities unattractive today: Journal of Financial Planning
David Blanchett's article is filled with charts and tables demonstrating the value of an immediate annuity at different ages, different withdrawal rates, and different prevailing interest rates.
New Cerulli report focuses on the top 1% of U.S. households
There are an estimated 1,078,000 U.S. households worth $5 million or more and about 107,000 Americans worth $25 million or more.
Interested in a D.C. pied-a-terre?
For a 30-year fixed rate mortgage on the White House (assuming 20% down and a 3.276% interest rate), the all-in monthly payment would be about $1.13 million, according to...
Guardian Life launches deferred income annuity
"There’s such a great need for income-producing products, that there's no threat of cannibalizing sales” between Guardian Life's variable annuity with living benefits and its new deferred income annuity,...
Our events calendar is now up to date
More than 30 professional and trade group meetings and conferences in 2013 are now posted on the RIJ home page, under the Events button on the menu bar, just...
Simplifying the British national pension is complicated
Starting in 2017, Britain will switch from a double-tier national pension to a single-tier system. Workers must contribute for at least 10 years to get the minimum benefit. For...
DTCC protests swaps data reporting rules
A proposed CFTC rule would require that customers who trade derivatives at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange must direct their cleared trades to the CME’s own captive swap data repository.
Pew report on public pensions draws ire of public pension trade groups
The groups, which advocate for public pensions, charged that Pew had shown the status of public pensions in the least flattering light by using data from 2009, a nadir...
28% of plan sponsors offer in-plan retirement income solutions: Aon Hewitt
A survey by the HR consulting firm showed that 31% of employers recently changed their DC plan fund lineup to reduce costs and 52% of the remaining companies may...
From Prudential, Prudent Forecasts for 2013
“We’re overweight stocks across the world. We’re also overweight high-yield bonds even though the rally there has been going on a long time,” said Edward F. Keon of Quantitative...
Strategic Insights looks into “managed volatility”
A new proprietary research report asks, among other questions, whether managed volatility funds actually enhance market performance or if they sacrifice too much upside in exchange for downside protection.
“Softer” version of Basel III sparks comment in Europe
Both cheers and Bronx cheers greeted a suggestion that Basel III's demands for greater bank capitalization might be "softened." MIT's Simon Johnson is against any softening.
DC sponsors will go shopping, but most will just be looking: Cerulli
“More than half of plan sponsors they are likely to conduct a search for recordkeepers within the next two years,” said a senior analyst at the Boston-based research...
Forethought completes acquisition of businesses from The Hartford
Robert Arena, who led The Hartford’s individual annuity business, joins Forethought as President, Forethought Annuity, a unit of Forethought Life Insurance Co.
