The DOL’s Missed Opportunity
By proposing a solution that could disrupt the distribution of financial products and deny broker-dealers a major source of revenue, the DOL guaranteed resistance. Instead, it might have required...
How to Personalize Withdrawal Rates
Safe spending rates range from 2% to 10%, writes researcher Luke Delorme in the Journal of Financial Planning. It all depends on when people retire, how much guaranteed income...
GM Adds Hueler’s Income Solutions to its DC Plan
GM closed its defined benefit plan in 2012. Its 401(k) provider is Fidelity. To offer its DC plan participants an option to roll over part of their savings to...
The People’s Retirement Industry Group
To mark the Retirement Income Industry Association’s 10th anniversary, RIIA founder and chairman Francois Gadenne (above) spoke with RIJ recently about the group’s past, present and future.
Of Fly-Fishing and Financial Advice
I and most other people would hope that our investment advisors or financial planners would render us the same quality of service, at least in spirit, that I received...
DOL Hearings: Wonkishly Stimulating
“I believe the proposal is intended to eliminate the commission model,” said Ron Kruszewski of Stifel Financial during the hearings on the DOL conflict of interest proposal. Scott Puritz...
RIJ Takes a Vacation
Retirement Income Journal will next appear on September 3, 2015. We will not publish on August 20 or August 27. During that time the management and staff will be...
Conflict of Interests
On Monday, the hearings on the Department of Labor's fiduciary proposal will begin in Washington. Will they deal with the fundamental issues, or with legal technicalities? (Link to the...
If It Ain’t Fixed Indexed, It’s Broken
Fixed indexed annuities remain a niche product, representing only about 10% of annuity sales. But that the niche has grown into an almost $50 billion-a-year business. Sales of FIAs...
Is It Time to End Tax Deferral?
This strikes me as the issue at the heart of the controversy over the Department of Labor's conflict-of-interests proposal—the issue we duck and dodge, while pretending that it’s all...
FINRA Sides with Brokers against DOL Proposal
As it stands, the “fractured approach" of the Department of Labor conflict-of-interest proposal "will confuse retirement investors, financial institutions, and advisers,” wrote FINRA executive Marcia Asquith in a comment...
Would the DoL Proposal Deny Advice to the Masses?
Forcing commissioned brokers and agents to act like fiduciaries would deprive middle-class investors of access to financial advice, critics of Labor's proposal argue. Maybe. It would almost certainly deprive...
Investments + Annuities = Healthy Retirement
Many advisers still treat annuities and investments as apples and oranges--that is, not to be mixed up in a single retirement fruit salad. But experts Michael Finke, Wade Pfau...
Britain’s Exchequer Mulls an End to Tax Deferred Savings
Retirement industry watchers in the U.S. should watch what's happening in the U.K. It's a living experiment in pension and tax reform, and it could offer important lessons about...
‘No Comment’ from NAFA about its Form 990s
The leading not-for-profit champion of fixed indexed annuities should explain the "diversion" of assets that was described in its IRS filing.
The Overlooked Income Vehicle, III
Systematic withdrawals from DC plans are one of the simplest and cheapest ways to generate income from tax-deferred savings in retirement. Rollovers get the headlines, but more people advocate...
Four Little Words, Many Billions of Dollars
A phrase in the DOL's new Best Interest exemption could make it very hard for broker-dealer reps to accept commissions on the sale of variable annuities and proprietary mutual...
A three-bucket blueprint for de-accumulation, from the U.K.
Britain's public-option defined contribution plan, NEST, thinks that a decumulation strategy that used tax-deferred savings to fund a small cash bucket, a big income-generating bucket and a longevity annuity...
In New York, Hanging with Robos
At the InVest financial technology conference in Manhattan last week, hundreds of robo-advisors, vulture capitalists, and Wall Street firms gathered to contemplate a prosperous and collaborative future.
The Overlooked Income Vehicle, II
If more 401(k) plans offered systematic withdrawals, more money might stay in 401(k)s, and the DOL might not need to attempt the difficult and divisive task of policing rollover...
