Are You Being Served?
After my father died, I called his reverse mortgage lender and said the house was theirs. Little did I know that I'd get "sued," that the house had to...
Video: RIJ Editor at The American College
In this video, Retirement Income Journal publisher and editor Kerry Pechter chats with David Littell of The American College about opportunities and challenges that await advisers who choose to...
The federal income tax turned 100 this week
"The need to fund our involvement in World War I moved income taxes to the center of federal finances," the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week, in noting the...
Half of U.S. women fear becoming ‘bag ladies’—Allianz Life
Despite growing confidence among women, “Irrational fears about losing it all and becoming a bag lady remain,” said Katie Libbe, Allianz Life vice president of Consumer Insights, which sponsored...
The QWeMA Group inks deal with The Principal, launches annuity benchmark
Principal Financial has licensed the same RIS tool that ManuLife, John Hancock and Pacific Life have also licensed from Moshe Milevsky's QWeMA Group, which he sold to CANNEX last...
Schwab introduces all-ETF 401(k) plan
"The real question is whether there is a significant price difference between index funds and ETFs, and will it matter in the small and mid-size market?" commented Fred Barstein...
Popular FIA adds new index crediting method
The new Morgan Stanley Dynamic Allocation Index option on Security Benefit's Secure Income Annuity fixed index annuity offers exposure to a mixture of equity, fixed income and alternative assets...
MyRA Defies the Equities-First Rule
Contributions by young workers to President Obama's proposed MyRA accounts go into a government bond fund. Does that policy contradict the conventional wisdom that young people should invest mainly...
Quote of the Week
"We are undoubtedly living with many delusions that we do not even realize"--Nate Silver, in The Signal and the Noise (2012).
Flight plans and financial plans seem to fly together
It's reassuring to know that airline pilots like to think ahead, rather than wait for accidents (financial or flight-related) to happen.
Armenians protest mandatory national DC plan
Protesters have argued that people should be able to decide what happens to their salaries, and that any supplementary pension payment should be voluntary, IPE.com reported.
The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from: T. Rowe Price, MassMutual and TD Ameritrade.
Fidelity tops two lists of ‘top-of-mind’ retirement brands
In two surveys, Cogent Reports (formerly Cogent Research), a unit of Market Strategies International since last May, asked plan advisors and investors to name the most familiar DC providers...
Pondering the End of QE
"After more than five years, QE has arguably entrenched expectations for continued low or even negative real interest rates – acting more like addictive painkillers than powerful antibiotics," writes...
Obama Gives ‘Auto-IRA’ a Shout Out—and a New Name
Mr. Obama has ordered the creation (on a pilot basis) of a "myRA" program, bringing closer to fruition a multi-year effort by liberal policymakers to expand access to workplace...
“Do you believe in the American Dream?”
“American dream” means different things to different people. About 80% of older Boomers consider it to mean home ownership and financial independence, while younger people “focus on developing a...
The system is working: EBRI
For many, the achievement of an adequate income replacement rate in retirement may require having 30 years' access to a 401(k) plan and undiminished Social Security benefits, according to...
Vanguard partners with HelloWallet
Washington, D.C.-based HelloWallet, provides automated, Internet-mediated financial guidance. Founded and led by 38-year-old political scientist Matt Fellowes, it has financial backing from Morningstar, Inc., TD Fund, Grotech Ventures, and...
Where do the wealthiest Americans buy their financial services?
The three biggest types of providers of financial services to the wealthy are the so-called wirehouses, with $2.4 trillion, private client groups, with $1.4 trillion, and state-registered trust companies,...
