Pimco allows equities investments in Total Return bond fund
The move follows concern that the long running bull market in bonds is in bubble territory and that inflation and economic growth will damage future returns, according to a...
Moral Hazard and the Roots of the Financial Crisis
Which caused the financial crisis? A minority report from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and a forthcoming book from economists at NYU try to explain.
An alert from SPARK Institute on participant fee disclosure
Plan sponsors are required to provide participants with information about all of their plans’ investment options in a single chart or similar format, said SPARK general counsel Larry Goldbrum.
New Tax Relief Bill Summarized by FPA, CCH
The payroll tax holiday alone is estimated to inject $120 billion into the economy in 2011.
HR 4337 modernizes tax code treatment of investment firms
A new white paper from Wolters Kluwer Law & Business details the elements of the law.
Boomers’ Inheritance Estimated at $8.4 Trillion
A study conducted by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College for the MetLife Mature Market Institute estimates the median inheritance per person at $64,000. $2.4 trillion has...
Sun Life’s New VA Riders Have New Risk Controls
Steve Deschenes, senior vice president and general manager for annuities at Sun Life Financial (U.S.), told RIJ, “This is not re-starting the variable annuity arms race. It’s a...
No more compulsory annuities in U.K.
People with defined contribution pension accounts will no longer have to buy annuities by age 75, and may take out up to a years’ worth of funds before retirement.
Phoenix issues “Medicaid annuity”
A Medicaid annuity allows a couple to zero out its assets, qualify for subsidized long-term care for the ill spouse and provide an income for the non-institutionalized spouse by...
Money market funds grow as bond appetite slows
After 22 consecutive months of net inflows, municipal-bond funds saw net outflows of $7.6 billion in November.
E&Y offers four keys to success for life insurers
Life insurers "are expected to increase the ease of doing business through investments in technology and lower their resource costs through shared services, offshore captives and outsourcing," an Ernst...
Social Security Seeks to End Free Loans
“The agency is changing its withdrawal policy because recent media articles have promoted the use of the current policy as a means for retired beneficiaries to acquire an ‘interest-free...
UK pensioners brace for new retirement drawdown rules
Retirees will probably be allowed to spend their savings at the rate they wish as long as they have at least enough guaranteed income to keep themselves from needing...
Treasury to sell last of its stake in Citigroup
A person briefed on the transaction said it would be priced at $4.35 a share, a 2% percent discount. At that price, taxpayers could profit by $12 billion on...
St. Louis Fed president rebuts criticisms of QE2
James Bullard argued that QE has no impact on the longer-run U.S. fiscal outlook and that this outlook remains very poor no matter what the Fed does.
Investment fees represent bulk of plan fees
Costs on a 100-participant plan with a $50,000 average account balance range from .57% to 1.76%, according to the 11th edition of the 401k Averages Book.
Details of the tax compromise revealed
The package would cost about $900 billion over the next two years, to be financed entirely by adding to the national debt, according to The New York Times.
Prices Rise, Benefits Shrink for America’s Most Popular VA
For the second time since the financial crisis, Prudential has reduced the richness of the living benefit riders on its popular Highest Daily series of variable annuities.
The Tax Deal Feels Wrong
Over the weekend, retirees may have lost the first battle of the generational war.
Deficit Commission’s ‘Moment of Truth’
"After all the talk about debt and deficits, it is long past time for America’s leaders to put up or shut up. The era of debt denial is over,...
