Editor Test, Author at Retirement Income Journal

Ford's intended one-time voluntary lump sum offer to most of its salaried retirees by the end of 2013 "appears to be the first such program to specifically target retirees...

Published May 2, 2012

Jackson sidebar ad May 2012

By Editor Test Mon, Apr 30, 2012

Chamber of Commerce offers blueprint for private retirement industry

By Editor Test Wed, Apr 25, 2012

America's #1 business cheerleader recommends keeping the tax deferral for long-term savings and removing obstacles to the purchase of longevity insurance (aka long-dated deferred income annuities).

Macchia, the Man and the Machine

David Macchia, the president of Wealth2k and developer of Income for Life Model, keeps going and going and going... and thinking a lot about the Boomer retirement income opportunity.

Pressure builds for passive pension management in Ireland

The U.S. isn’t the only country where retirement plan fees are coming under unprecedented scrutiny. Take Ireland...

Mind Your ETFs and CITs

By Editor Test Tue, Apr 24, 2012

In this data-rich report, the president of the Center for Due Diligence, a Chicago-based organization for plan advisors, explains which way the winds of the 401(k) world are blowing....

Investment opportunity in China?

Western investors shouldn't assume that they have no shot at managing China’s pension assets, according to a news report in IPE.com.

Annuity net flow was flat in March: DTCC

By Editor Test Wed, Apr 18, 2012

Inflows and net flows have increased in each of the first three months of 2012, breaking a declining trend in 2011, but Inflows and net flows were down in...

How much does asset allocation matter to retirees?

“Financial advisers will be of greater help to their clients if they focus on a broad array of tools – including working longer, controlling spending, and taking out a...

Despite low rates, bond funds continue to grow

Actively managed U.S. large-cap stock funds saw their eleventh straight quarter of net outflows, with $20.9 billion heading to the exits.

16% of Briton retirees will have nothing but state pension: Prudential plc

People retiring this year in the Midlands are the most likely in the UK to rely on the State Pension (40%). This compares with a quarter (28%) of those...

The Financial World Is Round

By Editor Test Tue, Apr 17, 2012

I don’t necessarily agree with all the policy recommendations of Modern Monetary Theory proponents. But, for me, MMT helps explain much of what was previously inexplicable about our financial...

One-Time Crusader Breaks Bad

Matthew Hutcheson, who portrayed himself as a champion of fuduciary responsibility, was indicted by a federal grand jury last week in Boise, Idaho, on charges of stealing millions of...

Mind the Longevity Gap!

By Editor Test Wed, Apr 4, 2012

Ruark Insurance Advisors Inc. estimates that the cost of unhedged longevity risk in a typical variable annuity living benefit could be as much as 1.40% annually on the declining...

Solvency II’s discount rate would hurt FTSE 100 pensions: Deloitte survey

Using a risk-free rate to estimate pension asset growth would increase pension under-fundedness by 20% to 50%, Deloitte survey shows.

Rising T-bond yields won’t awaken bond bear: Standish

Standish's April outlook predicts that 10-year Treasury yields may settle into a new higher trading range between 2.25% and 3% by the end of 2012.

Spectrem Group estimates 2011 retirement assets at $15.374 trillion

There's enough savings in retirement plans to pay off the U.S. national debt, with a couple of hundred billion dollars left over. Maybe we should bail out our beleaguered...

Average retirement age of early Boomers: 58.5

65-year-old Boomers won't consider themselves “old” until they reach age 79, according to a new survey by the MetLife Mature Marketing Institute.

New Lincoln VA funds use Milliman-inspired volatility buffer

By Editor Test Tue, Apr 3, 2012

Lincoln Financial vice president Dan Hayes described the advent of volatility management mechanisms inside today's VAs funds-of-funds as comparable to the emergence of "4G" cellphone technology.