RetirePreneur: Laura Varas
'To me, retirement is the most interesting area of finance because it’s about how we live our lives,' says Hearts & Wallets consultant Laura Varas. 'We should give people...
Our 401(k) System, in Black and White
Bloomberg and Strategic Insights gave two opposing views of defined contribution plans in separate reports in recent weeks. Bloomberg reporters called DC plan sponsors stingy. Strategic Insights, in a...
FIAs Come In From the Cold–Sort Of
In this first of a series of RIJ articles on the evolution of fixed indexed annuities, you’ll hear from people at three broker-dealers: One who embraces them, one who...
Journal of Retirement Publishes Winter 2014 Issue
An article by Steve Vernon of the Stanford Center on Longevity lists seven objections to annuities and offers counter-arguments to each. The issue also includes articles on tontines, on...
The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from Prudential Annuities, Woodbine Associates, the National Institute on Retirement Security, USAA and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
U.S. ranks 19th of 20 in Natixis Global Retirement Index
For overall retirement security, the U.S. remains behind the majority of countries in Western Europe and Canada, and ahead only of Israel on the list of the top 20...
Trade groups give one cheer for Maryland retirement proposal
"We will not allow the process to be derailed by other agendas; if a proposal does not meet our criteria, we will do everything we can to oppose and...
How to improve public pensions: SoA panel
In April 2013, the Society of Actuaries commissioned the SOA Blue Ribbon Panel to address burning questions about public pension funding. The results of the Panel’s work were published...
LIMRA: Annuity sales strongest in 11 years
Indexed annuity sales set a new quarterly record of $11.9 billion, an increase of $1.7 billion from the third quarter. For 2013, indexed annuity sales totaled $39.3 billion, up...
Prudential’s New Edge: Dynamic Rate-Setting
To reduce interest rate risk exposure, Prudential has adopted a protocol that allows it to change roll-up rates and payout rates on its living benefit riders within a month,...
Prudential’s New Edge: Dynamic Rate-Setting
"If manufacturers can be more dynamic in reacting to changing conditions they don't have to set prices as conservatively. That should benefit investors," said a competitor about Prudential's ability...
Must-Read Income Research of 2013
Many outstanding research papers on retirement income were published in 2013. The ten described here contain ideas that annuity product developers, annuity marketers and financial advisers can apply to...
BlackRock’s Non-Insured Path to Predictable Income
The five new CoRI Funds may appeal to near-retirees who currently have a lot of money in bond funds and are afraid that those funds will lose value as...
MetLife exits U.K. bulk annuity market
The MetLife-Rothesay deal, still subject to regulatory approval, will move around £3bn (€3.7bn and $5.1 billion) in assets between the insurers.
In the U.K., “collective DC” beats “pure DC”: Aon Hewitt
Collective Defined Contribution (CDC), a hybrid of DB and DC with centrally managed assets and a variable income stream, may be the next big thing in the UK retirement...
What Boomers want, and when they want it: Hearts & Wallets
“Advice source consolidation begins three to four years ahead of retirement, heats up during the retirement event and continues the first three to four years of retirement,” said the...
2014 will be a good year for insurers: Conning
"Regulatory convergence and complexity are commanding insurer attention and resources. Fragmented economic growth is creating new pockets of growth, while challenging established markets," says Conning's 2014 U.S. and Global...
U.S. economy faces four headwinds, economist warns
Economist Robert J. Gordon of Northwestern disagrees with the “techno-optimists” who believe that the U.S. is on the cusp of a surge in technological change. He thinks we’re already...
Send in the Robots (Don’t Bother, They’re Here)
At the "T3" financial software trade show last week, a pair of robots warmed up the crowd with jokes about the limitations of high-tech planning tools. RIJ visited with...
The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from ING U.S. (Voya), MassMutual Retirement Services, Securian, New York Life and MetLife.
