How The British Save More for Retirement
In Britain, if you contribute £100 to your defined contribution plan and have a 25% tax rate, the government adds £25 to your account. Our system doesn't work that...
Three Advisor-Friendly Reverse Mortgage Strategies
In this installment of our HECM series, we review three strategies that should entice advisors: the HECM-for-purchase, the HECM-LOC for liquidity in down markets, and the HECM-LOC created at...
The Wealthier, The Quicker to Sell in a Downturn?
In a new research paper, a group of Big Ten economists and an IRS analyst say that wealthy people and older people are the most likely to sell in...
The ‘Kosher’ Reverse Mortgage (IV)
A kosher reverse mortgage lender will share what he or she earns when selling the loan by waiving or reducing the borrower's costs, says Wharton emeritus professor Jack Guttentag,...
The Latest from an RIJ Competitor
Catch the Spring 2016 edition of The Journal of Retirement for research on Social Security claiming for widows and widowers by Reichenstein and Meyer, for John Turner's discoveries when...
First Sign of Blood from DOL Fiduciary Rule
'The unexpected change regarding FIAs in the final DOL rule and the related Best Interest Contract Exemption has cast a cloud over our future growth rate,' said John Matovina,...
The Reverse Mortgage Puzzle: Part III
“There’s still a dark cloud over HECMs,” said Michael Banner, a long-time advocate of reverse mortgages who has a CE-accredited business devoted to teaching financial advisors about HECMs.
We’re 10X Too Fearful of a Crash: Shiller
The actual likelihood of an extreme crash occurring in the next six months, Yale economist Robert Shiller and colleagues found, is only about 1.7%.
Surprise: DOL Rule Targets Indexed Annuities
The DOL may have put a crimp in the sales of the hot-selling but controversial annuity product when, without specific warning, it raised the regulatory bar for the sale...
A Conversation with Jackson National’s CEO
'If a guy is getting ready to lose his house, and the VA account is the only liquidity he’s got, he’s not going say, ‘But our guarantee is in...
Selling like Coldcakes
This week, RIJ features the first installment of a three-part series on the reverse mortgage industry, and why it's shrinking when it should, on paper at least, be growing....
Bright Ideas from the SOA Investment Meeting
Last week, the Society of Actuaries held its investment conference in New York. We weren't far from the brass statue of the Wall Street bull, but the sell-side's unquenchable...
NCAA Financial Ads, in Black and White
During the first weekend of March Madness, I saw a commercial for Northwestern Mutual Life that emphasized the importance of combining insurance and investments--and that seemed to have chosen...
Phyllis Borzi, Savior of Tax Deferral
The DOL wants the investing experience of IRA rollover owners to look and feel like the experience that IRA rollover owners knew when they were participants—an online, low-cost, education-oriented,...
Bad Apples in the Brokerage Business
A new study from the University of Chicago asserts that "some firms 'specialize' in misconduct and cater to unsophisticated consumers." Overall, 7.28% of registered brokers and investment advisors...
Stan the Annuity Man Goes (Almost) Robo
Insurance super-agent Stan Haithcock, aka Stan the Annuity Man, says that his new cluster of annuity sales websites position him to become the first truly direct seller of fixed...
Scaling Retirement Solutions
At the EDHEC Risk Institute in France, financial researchers are trying to figure out how advisors can leverage technology to "mass customize" the goal-based approach to retirement income planning....
The Old Folks are Alright (More or Less)
The Society of Actuaries has published the results of focus groups and interviews with middle-class older retirees. Despite little planning, most people seem to muddle through 'reasonably well.'
Mission Improbable
Economist Teresa Ghilarducci of The New School wants a national, mandatory retirement savings plan to complement Social Security--and to replace the ERISA-regulated 401(k) system. I agree that the 401(k)...
What Social Media Can Teach Retirement Marketers
Target marketers, the word "retirement" is a buzzkill. That's what sociologists at research startup MotivIndex concluded after studying Facebook threads, Instagram feeds, and LinkedIn posts.
