Kerry Pechter, Author at Retirement Income Journal

Articles by Author: Kerry Pechter

Editor and Publisher of Retirement Income Journal, Kerry Pechter is author of Annuities for Dummies (Wiley, 2008) and former editor of the SourceMedia publication, Annuity Market News/Retirement Income Reporter. He has been an annuity columnist for Senior Market Advisor, and his feature articles have appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Men's Health and many other national publications. From 1997 to 2006, he was a writer and editor supporting the Retirement Resource Center at The Vanguard Group. In 2009, he traveled to Taiwan and reported on the retirement industry there as a fellow of the National Press Foundation. A graduate of Kenyon College and recipient of a fellowship in creative writing at Indiana University, Pechter resides in Emmaus, PA, with his wife Lisa, the director of marketing and publicity for the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival at DeSales University.

Watch now: A ‘Deep Dive on Retirement Drawdown Strategies’

By Kerry Pechter Fri, Jan 22, 2021

This one-hour video of yesterday's webinar, sponsored by The American College, features retirement income specialists Joe Elsasser and James DiLellio. Some 1,800 advisers attended. Our story summarizes the webinar...

Published January 22, 2021

NY Life, Schwab Flex Their Annuity Muscles

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Jan 21, 2021

New York Life's new IndexFlex VA has a fixed indexed sleeve--the insurer's first index-linked offering. Charles Schwab's Genesis VA (issued by Protective Life) has lots of income optionality. The...

Published January 22, 2021

Modeling Variable Annuity Owner Behavior

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Jan 14, 2021

Americans own almost $900 billion worth of variable annuities with lifetime income guarantees. Uncertainty over the way policyholders and their advisers might use the contracts can keep life insurer...

Published January 14, 2021

Why Sammons MYGA Sales Spiked in 2020

By Kerry Pechter Wed, Jan 13, 2021

'No one predicted the pandemic, but when spreads gapped, we had an opportunity get some attractive yields. So we saw a monstrous increase in sales of fixed multi-year guaranteed...

Published January 14, 2021

Trends RIJ Will Track in 2021

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Jan 7, 2021

When will annuities be loved? After all the creative destruction of the past 10 years, what’s next for the annuity industry? Which trends will persist? Which products will flourish?...

Published January 7, 2021

Building a Bridge to Social Security

By Kerry Pechter

Middle-class people who retire before age 70 should spend 401(k) assets first and delay taking Social Security, says a leading retirement income expert. In a new research paper, she...

Published January 7, 2021

Making Peace with the Tax Man

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Dec 17, 2020

I’ve adopted a few rationalizations that make it tolerable, if not exactly sweet, to send large checks to Uncle Sam each quarter.

Published December 17, 2020

The Catch-22 of In-Plan Annuities

By Kerry Pechter

Fixed deferred annuities may be the most promising candidates for inclusion in 401(k) plans. But in order to adapt these contracts to the defined contribution space, they must lose...

Published December 17, 2020

Bermuda Triangle Part IV: The Reinsurance Angle

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Dec 10, 2020

Publicly-held life insurers are using reinsurance to improve their balance sheets. But at what cost? 'I believe that many of these blocks of business are only being funded in...

Published December 10, 2020

Treasury Nominee Janet Yellen (the Un-Steve Mnuchin)

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Nov 26, 2020

Yellen, the first woman nominated for Treasury chief, is an academic economist, not a Wall Streeter. As Fed chief, she was known as an interest rate “dove;” more inclined...

Published November 26, 2020

Can Annuities Slow the Cash-Drain from 401(k)s?

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Nov 19, 2020

The Defined Contribution Institutional Investors Association held its annual Academic Forum virtually this week. The ongoing dilemma for this organization of asset managers and others is: How to keep...

Published November 19, 2020

The AAA’s Panel on the SECURE Act

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Nov 12, 2020

The American Academy of Actuaries hosted a webinar on the implications of the SECURE Act last week. As one of the panelists, I gave a presentation on the Act's...

Published November 12, 2020

CEO Chris Blunt of F&G Explains It All

By Kerry Pechter Wed, Nov 11, 2020

In only about three years, Fidelity & Guaranty Life has leveraged the asset management skills of strategic partner Blackstone to become a major fixed indexed annuity provider. Blunt, F&G's...

Published November 12, 2020

A Closer Look at CLOs

By Kerry Pechter Fri, Nov 6, 2020

New research into collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), which are helping reshape the investment policies of the life/annuity industry, explores whether they have the same vulnerabilities as the 'CDOs' in...

Published November 6, 2020

Biden’s Retirement Policy

By Kerry Pechter

Biden has made strong promises about fixing Social Security, strengthening labor unions, and helping to finance a green economy. Will he be able to keep those promises? Does he...

Published November 6, 2020

The ‘Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2020’

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Oct 29, 2020

The House has introduced a sequel to last year's SECURE Act. Once again, legislators have listened to the retirement industry and tried to remove what the industry considers obstacles...

Published October 29, 2020

Now Divesting: AIG, Equitable and Great American

By Kerry Pechter

De-risky business: AIG will spin off its Life & Retirement division, Venerable Holdings will reinsure $12bn worth of Equitable's pre-2010 variable annuities with living benefits, and Commonwealth Annuity (part...

Published October 29, 2020

Nationwide wants five pieces of the in-plan annuity market

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Oct 22, 2020

Nationwide, the 10th-largest annuity issuer in the US and a provider of about 34,500 retirement plans, is launching a cluster of in-plan annuities. RIJ talks with Eric Stevenson, president...

Published October 22, 2020

Drama in Des Moines

By Kerry Pechter Wed, Oct 21, 2020

Rejecting a takeover bid by Athene and MassMutual, fixed index annuity issuer American Equity will partner with Brookfield Asset Management. The deal releases up to $350m in capital for...

Published October 22, 2020

Honorable Mention

By Kerry Pechter Sun, Oct 11, 2020

Protective’s new fee-based VA available at RetireOne; U.S. could save trillions in health care costs in coming decades: McKinsey; Vanguard adds new manager to its International Value Fund

Published October 15, 2020

1 … 8 9 10 11 12 … 60

Data Connection

Lists*