Many Happy Returns!
As a self-employed person who writes painful quarterly checks to Uncle Sam and pays both ends of his Social Security tax, I made my peace with the infernal revenue...
DOL Hints at Regulatory ‘Relief’ for Indexed Annuities
'Allowing all annuity products to be covered by PTE 84-24 ... could be a signal in terms of where a revision to the rule...
Anecdotal Evidence: Fresh News from the Emerald City
Here's the latest from the nation's capital on the fiduciary rule, the state-sponsored auto-IRA 'Secure Choice' retirement plans, and the 'auto-portability' of 401(k) accounts from old employer to new....
Leaks in the Bucket Method
After reading Wade Pfau's new article on bucketing, I concluded that bucketing has three flaws as a retirement income generator. It calls for equities in the last bucket, not...
Savings Pros Meet in City of Big Spenders
At the NAPA 401k Summit in Las Vegas this week, nearly 2,000 plan sponsor advisors et al worried about policy threats to their industry. At nearby slots and gaming...
Anecdotal Evidence: What Fee-based Indexed Annuities Reveal
Advisors who recommend the purchase of a no-commission FIA should split the yield advantage more or less evenly with the client. As a fiduciary, how could the advisor justify...
DOL Hears Public Comments on Fiduciary Rule (Again)
Brokers and insurance agents told the Department of Labor to kill the fiduciary rule, but robo-advisors such as Financial Engines and Betterment still favored it, as did private citizens,...
The Dollar as Reserve Currency: Benefit or Burden?
Should the dollar abdicate its role as the lingua franca of money? In this exclusive interview, economist Barry Eichengreen of the University of California, Berkeley offers some much-needed perspective.
The Best of Recent Economic Research
The six academic papers cited here identify several points where, even when we don’t realize it, macroeconomics and personal finance intersect.
Fee-Based FIAs Are Customer-Friendly. But Will They Sell?
'While the education process is taking longer than we’d like, the bucket of money is so large that it’s worthwhile,' said Joe Maringer, national sales vice president at Great...
No Quick End to Fiduciary Rule Story
The DOL wants your comments again. It wants to know how much companies have spent on adapting to the rule, and whether it would be cheaper to abandon the...
Anecdotal Evidence: A.I. Is Coming
New reports from PwC, DST kasina, and Deloitte all herald a world of 'Robotics Process Automation' that will probably feature many more chatbots and many fewer phone reps or...
Lincoln and BlackRock Launch No-Commission Variable Annuity
'Lincoln Core Income' offers 4% guaranteed lifetime income with a 2% COLA, plus a choice of three iShare exchange-traded funds and a death benefit for an all-in cost of...
‘We’re the Kasparov Inside’
‘I’ve been on the bleeding edge as much as I’ve been on the leading edge, and it’s not always a comfortable place to be,’ said Judson Bergman, Chairman and...
A Safe Harbor is in Jeopardy
We shouldn’t deprive workers of 'bread' on the chance that brokers will be able to sell 'cake' to their employers.
How Ticos Turn DC Savings to Income
Retirees can take a monthly income equal to 1/12 of the earnings on their DC savings, or they can take a “scheduled withdrawal” where their accumulation is divided by...
Is (or Isn’t) Time Running Out for the Fiduciary Rule?
Three benefits attorneys told RIJ this week that the DOL's fiduciary rule became effective last June, and that it may be hard to stop the rule--or even delay the...
