Morningstar buys HelloWallet, bolsters participant advice business
HelloWallet allows plan participants to create dashboards on their computers or smartphones where they can monitor all of their financial information in one place.
Hungry for rollover data? This pricey report might help
“Retirement is a significant lifestyle change and it may take many individuals extra time to come to a decision, especially if a spouse is still working," write the authors...
Performance of life insurer stocks cools in 2014: A.M. Best
Repurchase activity doubled in the first quarter of 2014. Life/annuity companies spent $2 billion repurchasing their shares, with Aflac ($405 million), Prudential ($250 million) and Voya ($250 million) accounting...
Ten ‘emerging developments’ in FIAs: Oliver Wyman
Several charts in Oliver Wyman's brief but informative new report on fixed indexed annuities provide useful overviews and snapshots of the evolving FIA market and the companies that populate...
The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from Great-West Financial, Transamerica Retirement Solutions, the Insured Retirement Institute and Security Benefit.
Federal judge denies MassMutual’s motion to dismiss ERISA suit
U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris ruled on May 20 that MassMutual became a "functional fiduciary" when it decided to collect a 1% revenue-sharing fee from third-party mutual fund...
EBRI reports IRA statistics for 2012
Ten times the amount of money was added to IRAs by rollovers than by contributions, even though the number of accounts receiving contributions (2.4 million) outnumbered the accounts receiving...
Don’t look for another boom year for life/annuity stocks: A.M. Best
“Further underperformance is expected as stocks are trading at historically high valuations,” the ratings agency said in a release.
Cerulli offers data on growth of index funds
Mutual funds saw net inflows of $27.8 billion in April. For a second consecutive month, taxable bond mutual funds topped all other asset classes with monthly net inflows of...
The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, The Guardian Life, and Morgan Stanley.
Annuity Sales Rose 11% in 1Q2014: LIMRA
Despite the growing number of issuers, DIA sales were down 13% from 4Q2013. It was the first quarter-over-quarter decline for sales of DIA products since LIMRA SRI began tracking...
Changes in family structure parallel rising inequality
Even though 85% of Americans consider themselves middle-class, the Allianz LoveFamilyMoney study found that 57% of members of non-traditional families said they are just “making ends meet,” “struggling financially,”...
DoL to hold hearing on “facilitating lifetime plan participation”
The meeting is open to the public, and Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis Borzi will speak. To address the council or submit a written statement, email requests to the DoL...
Florida Senator proposes expansion of TSP
Senior citizens should also receive a fixed sum for buying health care insurance from a private company or from Medicare, Sen. Marco Rubio said at the National Press Club...
Ruark completes study of FIA surrender patterns
The study covered the period 2007 through third quarter of 2013 and consisted of 9.3 million contract years and 380,000 surrenders.
Quote of the Week
"In matters pertaining to religion, it is prudent to err on the side of faith. In financial matters, it is prudent to err on the side of skepticism." --...
Prudential launches new SPIA
'This launch is reflective of a broader strategy of growth through diversification. We want a broader, complementary solution-set that fits the company’s capital deployment strategy,' said Bruce Ferris, president...
Reinsurance once again available to VA issuers: Fitch
But “it is unclear how much of an impact this will have on the risk profile of VA writers,” a Fitch release said.
Investors rotate from growth to value; REITs outperformed the S&P
“Fund flows have shifted dramatically beneath the market’s calm surface,” said TrimTabs CEO David Santschi, in a release. 'Investors showed an overwhelming preference for value over growth.”
Retirement Clearinghouse to help find missing participants
An estimated 9.5 million defined contribution plan participants change jobs each year, and many leave their accounts behind in former employers' retirement plans.
