Editorial Staff, Author at Retirement Income Journal

Published April 13, 2017

Writing in the April issue of the Journal of Financial Planning, the "Nest Egg Gurus" and Morningstar's David Blanchett show that many questions about sustainable withdrawal rates from retirement...

Honorable Mention

Published April 13, 2017

Brief or late-breaking items from eMoney Advisor, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual, and Milliman.

A Bold, Direct-Sold, Multi-Premium DIA from Nationwide

By Editorial Staff Thu, Apr 6, 2017

The new product, currently available only in Arizona and accessible only through a portal on Nationwide's website, is designed for middle-class investors over age 35 with household incomes between...

Retirement Clearinghouse gathers allies for its ‘auto-portability’ solution

At a forum called 'Retirement Plan Portability & Public Policy: Unlocking the Potential in Portability' in Washington, D.C. on March 30, a panel representing EBRI, Groom Law Group, and...

Retirement trade groups gird to protect ‘tax deferral’

The 'SOS Coalition' encompasses the $25.3 trillion retirement industry, which plans to defend the $100 billion-a-year tax expenditure on long-term savings if and when Congress attempts to overhaul the...

DOL provides “significant relief” on fiduciary rule: Wagner Law Group

By Editorial Staff Wed, Apr 5, 2017

'This approach essentially eliminates the need for transition agreements, disclosures, and certain structural changes (such as the appointment of a BICE officer) that were formerly required to be in...

Bank annuity income up 2.3% in 2016: MWA

It was a feast-or-famine kind of year. While bank annuity fee income reached a record level in third quarter 2016, the other three quarters of the year were among...

Honorable Mention

Late-breaking news: MetLife launches its spin-off Brighthouse Financial retail brand, A.M. Best reports on U.S. life/annuity industry's capital losses, Jackson National Life survey shows that a third of investors...

Auto-enrollment promotes debt as well as savings, study shows

By Editorial Staff Thu, Mar 30, 2017

Lower-income employees had the biggest wealth increases from auto-enrollment, but they offset their gains—by as much as 75%—with new installment debt and credit card debt, according to a four-year...

Sales of non-variable fixed annuities neared $100 billion in 2016: Wink’s

The Allianz 222 Annuity was the overall best-selling indexed annuity for the tenth consecutive quarter, according to Wink’s Sales & Market Report for the fourth quarter of 2016.

Transamerica hires Salesforce’s “Einstein” to make distribution smarter

Transamerica Financial Network will use Saleforce's “Cloud Einstein's intelligence and machine-learning capabilities to better understand and predict customer behaviors,” according to a release this week.

Genworth’s medically underwritten income annuity now quoted on CANNEX

A medically underwritten annuity contract offers higher monthly payments than a traditional immediate annuity if the beneficiary has a certifiable health condition that shortens his or her life expectancy

Fixed Annuities Outsold Variable in 2016: LIMRA SRI

By Editorial Staff Wed, Mar 22, 2017

The final quarter of 2016 was a bloodbath. Fixed annuity sales fell 13% to $25.7 billion, after strong results in the first three quarters. Variable annuity sales totaled $25.3...

Assets flowed to fixed income and passive equity funds in February

U.S. equity has been in positive-flow territory for four consecutive months, a feat not witnessed since late 2014, according to Morningstar's fund asset flow report for February.

T. Rowe Price launches its version of a hybrid robo-advisory solution

IRA investors can get a model portfolio of actively managed T. Rowe Price funds, digital services and access to a live phone rep. All costs are built into the...

Retirees confident about retirement; workers not so much: EBRI

“Debt, lack of a retirement plan at work, and low savings,” are the three main contributors to low retirement confidence, said Craig Copeland, EBRI senior research associate and co-author...

For many, marriage and lack of debt define ‘middle class’: LIMRA study

Oddly, 81% of the upper class, as defined by Pew Research, describe themselves as middle class, according to a survey by LIMRA and Maddock Douglas.