Prudential adds an accumulation VA
The new Premier Investment VA contract will be offered in B-shares and no-surrender-period C shares, with insurance charges of 110 and 135 basis points, respectively. Contract owners can choose...
New issue of The Journal of Retirement appears
The Journal of Retirement, the year-old academic quarterly produced by Institutional Investor Journals, underwritten by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and edited by George A. (Sandy) Mackenzie, announced the...
New York Life paid out more than $1 billion to SPIA owners in 2013
The average monthly payout was $682, or about half the average monthly Social Security benefit of $1,294, the company said in a release.
Quote of the Week
"When the rate of return on capital significantly exceeds the growth rate of the economy (as it did through much of history until the 19th century and as is...
AIG and nine IMOs launch income-oriented FIA
The "Power Select Plus Income" fixed indexed annuity's income rider allows contract owners to receive roll-up credits even if they take withdrawals during the deferral period. The initiative is...
Symetra doubles its YOY sales of deferred and immediate annuities in 1Q2014
Higher interest rates and wider distribution of Symetra Financial's annuity products through banks and broker-dealers helped improve sales of fixed index and traditional fixed annuities, the company said in...
Only 6% of DC plan participants contribute the max: GAO
An update of a GAO report shows that few retirement plan participants defer as much salary as they can, and that higher limits on contributions in recent years have...
Growth of Fidelity’s ETF partnership with BlackRock described
The BlackRock Diversified Income Portfolio is an ETF managed account that will be available to all eligible retail investors through Fidelity’s managed accounts service beginning May 1.
Vanguard answers RIJ questions about HFT
For answers to our questions about the impact of high-frequency trading, we turned to Vanguard. The no-load index fund specialist seems to think HTF does more good than harm....
New index gauges retiree health costs as percent of SS benefits
“Many Americans believe that Medicare will cover most or all of their health care costs in retirement. This is simply untrue,” said Ron Mastrogiovanni, founder and CEO of HealthView...
Morningstar publishes March fund flows
Excluding the transfer of Fidelity's mutual fund assets to collective investment trusts, PIMCO was the only fund provider among the top 10 to see net outflows in the first...
TIAA-CREF buys Nuveen Investments
Nuveen will operate as a separate subsidiary within TIAA-CREF’s Asset Management business. The transaction gives TIAA-CREF two mutual fund complexes with aggregate AUM of $181 billion.
State-sponsored workplace savings program passes Illinois Senate
Senate Bill 2758 would provide access to an IRA plan at businesses with 25 or more employees and in business more than two years. Automatic payroll contributions would...
Great-West buys J.P. Morgan’s jumbo recordkeeper
The transaction includes only the recordkeeping services for large- to mega-sized plans, and does not include J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services' (RPS) business in the small plan space.
Record year for bank annuity fee income in 2013
Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Raymond James Financial, J.P. Morgan & Co. and Bank of America were the annuity fee leaders in the bank space in 2013, combining for $2.23...
Financial discipline is important, but uncommon
Sixty percent of the respondents to a Northwestern Mutual survey said their financial planning could use improvement; the most common obstacle to improvement was lack of time, cited by...
New robo-advisor makes use of 401(k) ‘brokerage window’
"401kInvestor.com" shows plan participants how to build their own portfolios using low cost, non-plan ETFs within their existing retirement accounts, said founder Wayne Connors.
Annual report on 401(k) cost information is published
The study shows the average investment expense for a 100-participant, $5 million plan is 1.22%. This figure includes 0.56% for the investment manager and 0.66% for recordkeepers, advisors and...
A TDF reformer/designer calls today’s TDFs “time bombs”
In a new handbook (free to RIJ subscribers), West Coast pension consultant Ron Surz and two co-authors warn that retirement plan fiduciaries may be held responsible if another bear...
Don’t neglect the ‘middle market’: LIMRA SRI
With so many advisers and companies focusing on the high net worth investor market, America's 13 million middle-market investors continue to be neglected and underserved. Therein lies opportunity, according...
