Wealth2k Enhances Income Illustration Software
The software will solve for a “floor” of guaranteed retirement income, and can incorporate a variety of income sources in the “flooring” calculation.
Allianz Life Introduces First Inflation-Protected FIA Income Rider
For an extra annual fee of 60 basis points, the Simple Income III Rider also offers an 8% annual roll-up of the benefit base.
Pacific Life Launches Its First SPIA
Pacific Income Provider offers 10 payment options, including Life with Cash Refund, inflation adjustments, and the one-time ability to increase or decrease income payments.
SunAmerica Offers Two New Lifetime Income Options
Income Plus 6% locks in the greater of investment gains or an annual income credit of up to 6% for first 12 years. Income Builder 8% locks in the...
Gorilla Marketing
In Manhattan and at the Jersey shore, AXA-Equitable Life staffers with a Flip camera interviewed passersby about retirement and posted the videos on YouTube. One man's retirement strategy: Meet...
French Fight to Retire at 60
Traffic was snarled in France's cities last week, fewer than half of the Paris Metro's lines worked normally, and about half of the long-distance trains were canceled, as an...
Obama Signs Partial Annuitization Law
H.R. 5297, which President Obama signed into law yesterday, contained a section allowing VA owners to annuitize part of their contract without first exchanging it for two new contracts....
Quote of the Week
"...We pledge to dedicate ourselves to the task of reconnecting our highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values our nation was...
Fed Charts a Course for “QE2”
If the economy needs a second dose of quantitative easing, the Fed might try an alternative to the "shock and awe" approach of 2009-10.
Quote of the Week
"The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 0.25 percent... Economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and...
FRC and Blue Frog Ink Data Distribution Deal
Blue Frog, based in Pompano Beach, Fla., will supply specialized data on variable annuity contracts and riders to FRC for distribution to FRC clients. FRC will provide analytical tools...
Lincoln Financial Group Acquires Treasury Warrants
The company paid $16.60 per warrant at an auction held by the Treasury. The warrants have an exercise price of $10.92 and expire on July 10, 2019. The transaction...
Become Your Future You, TIAA-CREF Ad Campaign Urges
Besides ad spots in every media, the campaign will feature videos that demystify such challenges as how to pursue your passions and still save, how not to run out...
Great Ferment on the U.K. Retirement Scene
Within six months of retirement, workers in the U.K. should get two half-days off for retirement income counseling, and they should be provided with three competitive annuity quotes, says...
Century Bonds Illiquid: Towers Watson
Geert-Jan Troost, an investment consultant at Towers Watson, said that while these bonds can serve as a "great" diversifier from a liability point of view, there were a number...
In-Plan Income, the Mutual of Omaha Way
Mutual of Omaha, in a program led by retirement plans product leader Tim Bormann, offers a deferred income annuity option called the Lifetime Guaranteed Income Account to small and...
Quote of the Week
“The fiduciary issue is so daunting that it ends the conversation. Sponsors ask, ‘We’re guaranteeing payments for 30 or 35 years?’ It stops the conversation. It’s a wall.” David...
The Pros and Cons of 401(k) Annuities
One witness at the DoL/Treasury hearings this week asserted that mandatory annuitization of DC assets at retirement is needed. The government, as well as sponsors and plan providers, have...
In Search of Safe Harbors
At this week’s hearing on in-plan income options, industry executives asked the DoL for several kinds of regulatory relief—especially a safer ‘safe harbor.’
Eight Ways to Simplify Retirement Accounts
The government “spends” $118 billion a year on tax-deferred accounts whose complexities discourage many people from using them, according to the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
