The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from MassMutual, the Investment Company Institute, 'Enrich Life Over 50,' and the German pension market.
Daniel Kahneman on Intuition, Etc.
In this continuation of our video of Daniel Kahneman at the Investment Management Consultants Association conference in New York last month, the Nobel Prize winner explains why expertise is...
Schwab goes robo
What yesterday was called “robo-advice,” and which today some are calling the “digital advisory channel,” seems to have passed a tipping point.
Symetra launches two new fixed indexed annuities
Available in both annuities is the JPMorgan ETF Efficiente 5 Index, which generates returns by utilizing an array of exchange-traded funds and a cash index.
Cerulli: 30% of U.S. HNW investors identify as ‘self-directed’
More than half of high-net-worth investors have direct or online trading account balances between $500,000 and $1 million, according to the Boston-based research organization.
Jackson National Life income up 17% in 2014, a record
Jackson, a wholly owned subsidiary of Britain-based Prudential Plc, recorded sales and deposits of $28.3 billion in 2014, up 3% over 2013.
The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from ASPPA, Financial Engines, Prudential and Transamerica.
Pension buy-out sales more than double in 2014
In fourth quarter 2014 Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Motorola each transferred their group pension obligations to Prudential. The sales from these two deals represented more than half of the $8.5...
New living benefit rider from W&S has 7% (simple) 10-year roll-up
The rider has an aggressive roll-up that’s paid for with a substantial rider charge and the issuer’s right to raise the charge to 2% a year.
Explained: The fall and rise in the average retirement age since 1880
In a paper entitled "The Average Retirement Age - An Update," the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College describes the factors that drove earlier retirement...
With acquisition, Envestnet arms itself against robo-advice threat
“Upside helps financial advisors compete against other digital advisors, or ‘robo advisors,’ by leveraging technology and algorithms to advise, manage, and serve clients,” an Envestnet release said.
In Denmark, interests of retirees and urban renters collide
A new law requiring 25% of construction land in Denmark to be used for “social housing” could hurt the value of real estate investments by pension funds and disrupt...
The Bucket
Late-breaking news about Fidelity's new IRA bonus offer, and brief items from Wagner Law Firm, 401k Averages Book, Cerulli Associates, Betterment and Northwestern Mutual.
Rising sales of “medically underwritten” group annuities reported in UK
Four UK insurers offer medically underwritten group (“bulk”) annuities: Aviva, Just Retirement, Legal & General, and Partnership, with Partnership and Just Retirement doing the majority of business.
A product that ‘no one likes’ sold over $235 billion in 2014
Americans contributed $12.4 billion to immediate or deferred income annuities in 2014, and $48.2 billion to indexed annuities, many of which had income riders, according to LIMRA. VA sales...
Video: Obama talks about Borzi rule at AARP
The president spoke at the offices of AARP in Washington Monday, praising the re-proposal of the Labor Dept. rule holding retirement advisors to a "fiduciary" standard of conduct. The...
U.K. life insurers to suffer as forced annuitization ends
The major life insurers are expected to be profitable, according to Thomson Reuters data, but profits at Aviva, Friends Life and Legal & General are expected to be flat...
Giant banks are “systemically-important” for different reasons
Over-the-counter derivatives positions, which contribute to the complexity of the financial system and helped trigger the financial crisis of 2007-2008, were particularly high at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs....
Staying married and avoiding nursing homes can trim your retirement shortfall risk: EBRI
Being part of a couple, receiving Social Security benefits, not needing long-term care, and having participated in a workplace savings plan are all associated with a reduced risk of...
Citing long-term care exposures, A.M. Best lowers Genworth’s strength ratings
Genworth’s LTC business “is likely to exhibit volatility going forward due to the limited credibility of claims data, the profile of its in-force block and the challenge of achieving...
