Everybody into the Pool?
If pending legislation passes, retirement service providers could begin to sponsor 401(k) plans. Asset managers are especially keen on these ‘pooled employer plans’ or ‘open MEPS.’
JENGA as a Financial Metaphor
Playing JENGA and watching the interest rate yield curve flatten involve similar degrees of suspense.
Adding a ‘Retirement Tier’ to 401(k)s
Drew Carrington, who markets Franklin Templeton funds through jumbo 401(k) plans, believes that plans should include a “retirement tier” reserved for participants who are nearing retirement. His payout funds...
How Much Retooling Does the 401(k) Need?
At the ERISA Advisory Council's meeting this week and at an EBRI webinar, proposals to inject lifetime income elements into 401(k) plans were debated and evaluated.
Introducing the ‘Alliance for Lifetime Income’
Two dozen major life insurers and asset managers have formed a non-profit to educate the public about the benefits of lifetime income products. That's never been done before, they...
‘Show Me the Income’
The focus was on mutual funds and ETFs at Morningstar's 30th Investor Conference this week in Chicago, but retirement financing and the 'best interest' proposal were also discussed. (Photo:...
SEC Had to Fudge the Definition of ‘Best Interest’
Unlike the DOL, the SEC doesn't need to score to win this game. It can afford to punt.
An Income Strategy for ‘M.T. Knestors’
We gave WealthConductor LLC a real retirement income case to solve. Here's the 'bucketing' plan their IncomeConductor software created for a couple with $663,000.
The Complex Truth about Retiree Medical Costs
The cost of medical care in retirement doesn't look as scary when you break it down into annual expenses and remember that insurance covers most of the big-ticket items.
This Is Worse than the Fiduciary Rule
Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does the retirement industry. Now that the Obama fiduciary rule is gone, some people are realizing that it actually served a purpose. The...
How Not to Sell an Indexed Annuity
Five financial professionals commented on our April 5 story about my neighbor's encounter with an advisor who recommended an indexed annuity for lifetime income. She should 'run like hell,'...
La Vida Robo
After MIT and a stint at Merrill Lynch, Carlos Garcia decided to start Finhabits, the first bilingual English and Spanish robo-advisor and savings tool. It's for first-time savers. It's...
The Bucket Brigade
Time-segmentation stands at the intersection of insurance and investments, of modern portfolio theory and asset/liability matching, and of behavioral finance and quantitative analysis.
The ‘Coverage War’ Begins
Half of Americans have no way to save for retirement at work. But who will help them: private companies, state governments, or a combination of the two?
A Social Security Trial Balloon
A modest proposal: Add 2% to the payroll tax to fund individual accounts that retirees could live on while they delay claiming Social Security until age 70.
With FIA Caps, Higher is Better
CANNEX, the real-time annuity rate provider, has published a study that compares hypothetical fixed indexed annuity returns with the returns of multi-year guaranteed rate annuities. Cannex recently added FIAs...
LIMRA Ponders the Annuity Puzzle
'We can stick with business as usual, or we can work with regulators to remove some of the hurdles to selling annuities,' said Ernst & Young's Doug French at...
Retirement Wonks and Honky-Tonks
Having stopped Congress from cutting tax breaks for savers in December's tax bill, the American Retirement Association celebrated with three-days of reflection and revelry in Nashville.
Little Love for SEC ‘Best Interest’ Proposal
Having kicked the fiduciary can for two decades, the SEC has finally done something. But it didn't seem to do much--or, more importantly, enough--to define the phrase "best interest."
