A Simple Idea for Increasing Annuity Sales
'Annuitization decisions can be improved by getting people to think about how annuities help people avoid running out of wealth in old age,' said the Wharton School's Olivia Mitchell,...
The Crypto-Capitalist and His Digital Tontine
“This problem needs to be solved,” Dean McClelland, founder of TontineTrust, told RIJ. With the fervor of a convert, he believes that cryptocurrencies, blockchain, smart contracts and...
Tontines: A New Threat to Annuities?
Life insurers like to say that they have a monopoly on longevity risk mediation. Digital tontines could prove them wrong.
Cannex Launches Annuity Comparison Tools
Advisors, brokerages, IMOs and insurers will be able to use the Toronto-based data company's new analytics to make apples-to-apples comparisons of variable and fixed indexed annuity contracts and their...
Where Defined Contribution Falls Short
The defined contribution system, despite its standardized designs, regulations and contribution limits, reproduces (and may amplify) the economic disparities in the workforce it covers (or fails to cover).
Research Roundup
We summarize five papers: “The Sustainability of U.S. Household Finances," “The Great Debt Boom: 1949-2013,” “Living Below the Line: Economic Insecurity and Older Americans in the States, 2016,” “Building...
A Bitter Sandwich on Thanksgiving
An elderly widow recently suffered a bad fall. Her children, one of whom is still paying college tuition for one of the grandchildren, face the prospect of paying $12,000...
The Word of the Week Is: Thanks
A short note from RIJ... It focuses on gratitude but also includes a hint of changes we plan for 2018.
The Ambiguity of Tax Deferral
A failure to agree on whether or not there's 'government money' in tax-deferred savings accounts has complicated our debates over the DOL fiduciary rule, the need for a harmonized...
The Turmoil inside TIAA
Articles criticizing TIAA appeared in the NY Times recently. In response, two former TIAA executives, speaking anonymously, described the competitive, cultural and financial pressures facing the financial services firm....
Wade Pfau’s Latest Book
'“This book presents the probability-based approach” to retirement spending strategies, Pfau told RIJ in a recent interview. 'If annuities are off the table, here’s what you can do.'
Hope, Despair: SPARK Forum Has It All
At SPARK's retirement conference, Millennium Trust, Paychex and GuidedChoice announced a new workplace IRA plan. Bill Meyer pitched his Social Security-centric planning tool. And BlackRock hinted at new TDFs...
Legal Limbo: Attorneys Await DOL Resolution
At the ALI-CLE's recent conference on securities and insurance law, Tim Pfeifer described new developments in the annuity world. Todd Solash and Merry Mosbacher spoke for and against...
RetireUp Turns Pro
RetireUp Pro is the latest iteration of RetireUp, the popular income planning solution. Its evolution has been shaped by part-owner Annexus Ventures and Annexus, the prominent indexed annuity design...
Trick or Tweet
Uncertainty about tax legislation, and Congress’ apparent disinterest in 401(k)s except as a kind of piñata, lent a daffy, fatalistic tension to many of us at the ASPPA and...
With “Ascend,” Voya Enters the Structured Variable Annuity Race
'It’s a new and improved version of a product that we previously offered called Potential Plus,' said Chad Tope (pictured), president of Annuities and Individual Life Distribution for Voya...
Taxes Will Be Cut But Not Reformed
'The odds of tax reform coming out of this conference are zero percent,' said former Treasury official Mark Iwry at the academic forum of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investments...
JourneyGuide: A New Income Planning Tool from Ash Brokerage
'We’re targeting a ‘soft launch’ in early November... followed with an official market release about a month later,” said Derek Trimble, CEO of JourneyGuide, a spin-off from Fort Wayne,...
Icon: An IRA for ‘Gig’ Workers
Icon will offer a portable IRA to workers at small companies as well as to independent contractors. State Street Global Advisors and Dimensional Fund Advisors will provide low-cost investments....
RIIA Sells RMA Designation to the Investment and Wealth Institute (formerly known as IMCA )
'We asked ourselves, ‘Who would be the best choice for a partner for a joint venture?’ We made a strategic map and the Investment and Wealth Institute was the...
