Can 401(k) Plan Balances Predict the Presidential Race?
The data shows that wealthier states tend to give their electoral votes to Democrats, but wealthy individuals tend to vote Republican. A paradox? Perhaps not. (Left: Bo Lu, CEO...
Suppressed Report Discredits “Supply-Side” Economics
"The reduction in the top tax rates have had little association with saving, investment, or productivity growth," said a September 14 report that was posted on the Congressional Research...
Producers like American Funds, iShares, and Jackson National: Cogent
Jackson led all VA providers in client activity, with 65% of advisors saying they had received a Jackson external wholesaler visit within the past three months, and 73% saying...
Too Big to Handle
"Every time the CEO of is forced to resign, the evidence mounts that these organizations have become impossible to manage in a responsible way that generates sustainable...
Quote of the Week
"Economic management, especially in the United States, would be greatly facilitated if resort could occasionally be had to witchcraft. Monetary policy, by far the most promising possibility, involves none....
New York Life expands retail annuity team
Matt Grove, head of annuities at New York Life, recently alerted his LinkedIn network to two high-level openings in annuities at the big mutual, one in variable annuities and...
Gender has little effect on IRA asset allocation: EBRI
As of year-end 2010, about 46% of all IRA assets were in equities, 20% in bonds, 11% in balanced funds, 9% in money, and 15% in “other” investments, EBRI...
Economy grew faster but business investment fell in Q3 2012: Prudential
“Business investment spending is likely to remain weak in Q4 despite healthy corporate cash levels due to concerns about the ‘fiscal cliff’ and how it will be resolved once...
Financial Engines cites growth of its Income+ program
Participants who use the Financial Engines managed account program, Professional Management, which costs each participant up to 60 basis points a year depending on account size, do not need...
The Fed’s Exit Strategy
William C. Dudley, president of the New York Fed, spoke at the Oct. 15 meeting of the National Association for Business Economics in Manhattan. In this excerpt from his...
The SmartNest Back-Story
SmartNest, the software behind DFA’s new managed account program, was valued at $1.1 million when Trinsum Group, its previous owner, failed in 2009. Last summer, DFA insider Michael Lane,...
Quote of the Week
"Investors are not irrational; they are undecided about which path will be chosen by future investors." -- Roger E. A. Farmer, PhD, from "How The Economy Works" (Oxford, 2010),...
“HENRYs” control $8.3 trillion in savings: SBI
The 21.5 million "high-earning not rich yet" households control 31% of total financial assets in the United States—about $8.3 trillion—and have a combined annual income of $3.1 trillion, says...
Investors shun full-service firms: Hearts & Wallets
The percent of investors who cite a financial professional as their primary provider of investment advice fell to 21% in 2012 from 25% in 2011, according to the Boston...
Bank holding companies earn $1.58bn from annuities in first half of 2012
Despite an overall increase in the banks' annuity revenues in the first half of 2012, twice as many bank holding companies saw lower annuity commissions and fees this year...
Cold Turkey for Thanksgiving? No Thanks.
Let me channel, for a few paragraphs, the ideas of Warren Mosler, Stephanie Kelton and other proponents of Modern Monetary Theory—which is not a theory so much as a...
Major U.S. firms seek to remove DB obligations: Reuters
DB plan sponsors believe that interest rates will remain low, making it more difficult for their currently under-funded plans to meet their long-term obligations to vested participants.
Major U.S. firms seek to remove DB obligations: Reuters
DB plan sponsors believe that interest rates will remain low, making it more difficult for their currently under-funded plans to meet their long-term obligations to vested participants.
Decumulation expert Wade Pfau to teach at The American College
Wade Pfau (at left), the award-winning Princeton-educated retirement income analyst who has been curriculum chief for RIIA's RMA designation, will relocate from Japan to teach at The American College,...
Boomers Aren’t The Only Fish in the Sea
“Accumulators” between ages 28 and 64, and not just income seekers from 55 to 64, are the best prospects for advisors and financial services firms, according to a new...
