The Overlooked Income Vehicle
Systematic withdrawals from 401(k) plans are a widely-available but rarely-used way to create retirement income. Perhaps because electronic transfers are virtually free, nobody's championing them.
In-Discretionary Accounts
Investment performance of popular “Rep-as-Portfolio-Manager" accounts lags direct-sold packaged portfolios, say analysts at Cerulli Associates and Fuse-Research.
In FIA Arms Race, Hybrid Indexes are the Arms
Investors in Nationwide's New Heights fixed indexed annuities have a new index option: a globally diversified, multi-asset managed-volatility index from JP Morgan called MOZAIC.
MetLife launches QLAC as plan distribution option
Participants in plans with MetLife group annuity contracts can put 25% of their qualified savings (up to $125,000) into this new deferred income product, whose premium can be excluded...
Inside the Beltway, Disinformation Reigns
An article in The Hill, the respected Washington newspaper and website, has gotten the DOL's conflict of interest proposal all wrong. It doesn't even mention rollover IRAs.
A Two-Headed Nightmare: The Robos and the DOL
The Amazon-ification of financial services will eventually disintermediate tens of thousands of financial salespeople. If you didn't get the memo already, consider the conflict-of-interest proposal a final wake-up call.
England Swings (Away from Annuities)
Until April 6, most Britons bought annuities with their DC savings. Now they can do as they wish with those ‘pension pots.’ BlackRock and AllianceBernstein see opportunity. ...
Offer Life Annuity and Whole Life in Tandem: Pfau
Retirees might be more willing to buy a life annuity if it’s part of a plan that also includes whole life insurance, says retirement guru Wade Pfau in a...
The next-gen adviser: Half person, half machine
What will retirement advice look like in the future: Will advisers use the digital advisory channel, or will the digital advisory channel use them? A new report from Celent...
Six Ways to Dress Up QLACs
RIJ spoke with annuity manufacturers and distributors about their strategies for selling qualified longevity annuity contracts, which are deferred income annuities for IRA money. The favorite, but not unanimous,...
Who’s Doing What with QLACs Now
The 'Tax-Free Ninja' is Eric Estrada, a marketer at a Houston-based insurance wholesaler. He's one of the young, social-media savvy entrepreneurs who are enthusiastic about the potential for selling...
On the Road with RIJ: Penn’s Archaeology Museum
We're at the Wharton School's 2015 Pension Research Council symposium, an exclusive meeting of retirement academics and professionals held each year in Philadelphia. Also: A link to slides from...
FIA: Unofficial MVP of the LIMRA Conference
Fixed indexed annuities will “increase their dominant position in the individual U.S. annuity market” and “approach variable annuity sales levels over the next five years,” predicted actuary Tim...
Voya Hires New Retirement Chief
Charles P. Nelson (pictured) will lead Voya Financial's individual and institutional retirement businesses after serving more than 30 years at Great-West Financial. He fills a management gap left by...
DOL to Advisors: ‘Take the Pledge’
In the much-anticipated revision of its 2010 proposal to curb conflicted sales to retirement account owners, the Department of Labor asserts that rollover IRAs are within its jurisdiction. It...
In 1799, They Said ‘No’ to Taxes
In March 1799. not far from where I live today, an auctioneer named John Fries led a protest against the first direct tax on American homeowners. Alexander Hamilton wanted...
Are Annuity Buyers Smarter than Other People?
“The observed lack of annuitization does not necessarily mean that people are better off without annuities,” write retirement specialists Jeff Brown, Olivia Mitchell and others in a new research...
The Fine Madness of the 401(k) Business
Most of the workshops and discussions at the NAPA Summit in San Diego were devoted not to the pending DoL fiduciary proposal but to potential solutions to the problems...
Vanguard Answers a Retirement Riddle
Why do so many affluent retirees pinch pennies, when could enjoy life more? Sellers of annuities and long-term care insurance may be interested in the answers that Vanguard and...
Value Investing for Retirement
“Purgatory is what I’m calling our set of forecasts,” said Ben Inker, GMO’s co-head of asset allocation, at the Morningstar Institutional Conference in Phoenix last week. “We won’t make...
