“Empathy for Geeks”
Annuity product manager and actuary Lance Poole of Protective Life gives a "TED talk" in which he explains how even actuaries can learn empathy with customers and demonstrates that...
Deconstructing Warren
In new research, three quants from AQR Capital Management have tried to explain exactly why Warren Buffett has been so successful. They neglect to mention that he made the...
Nationwide Ties New VA Income Rider to Managed-Vol Funds
For its deferral bonus, the "Income Capture" GLWB offers a simple interest rate credit of 3% plus the nominal rate of the monthly 10-year Treasury constant maturity (currently 2.86%).
The Ghost of VA Contracts Past
Insurers and asset managers love managed-vol funds and VA portfolios, whose sales are climbing. But in a low-vol bull market, advisors wonder about their value.
Unions balk at proposal to cut Illinois pension benefits
Chicago's glittering downtown may be stunning, but the Illinois state pension system is underfunded by an estimated $100 billion and the state has the worst credit rating in the...
Colorado “trader” charged with duping retirees in $4 million Ponzi scheme
Gary Snisky is charged with telling elderly investors that he would invest their money in government-backed agency bonds. Instead, he used $2.8 million of investor funds to pay his...
Managed-vol funds added to JeffNat’s Monument Advisor VA
The new managed-vol funds include three from American Funds that use the Milliman risk management technique, along with the Federated Managed Tail Risk Fund II and the Goldman Sachs...
Aegon reduces longevity risk exposure in Netherlands
The risk is assumed by third-party investors and reinsurers, including SCOR, a €32.6 billion reinsurer operating in 31 countries.
Five fat years may be followed by five lean ones: T. Rowe Price
“The U.S. bull market is aging,” said Bill Stromberg, T. Rowe Price’s head of equity. “International investments, especially in emerging markets, represent the best long-term value from here in...
PacLife launches fixed annuity with GLWB and roll-up
The product, which may be unprecedented, merges the most popular annuity options with the most basic annuity chassis. It’s a little like opting for heated leather seats, turbo and...
RetiremEntrepreneur: Lou Harvey
Louis S. Harvey is president and CEO of Dalbar, Inc., a Boston-based research firm that performs a variety of evaluations and quality ratings of financial services practices and communications.
Four Fallacies of the Second Great Depression
The statement, 'The more the government borrows, the more it has to pay for its borrowing,' is sometimes true and sometimes false, writes this economist and author.
Use These Maps to Find Boomer Wealth
Recent surveys of plan participants and IRA owners from Cerulli Associates and the Investment Company Institute shed light on a pivotal question: Which type of account will most Boomers...
First you’re retired, then you’re not
"As retirement evolves into a more flexible yet complicated life stage, financial services providers could benefit from understanding the multiple stages of retirement better," says SRI Consulting-Business Intelligence.
When unemployment goes up, so does number of ‘partially-retired’
High inflation also "discourages full-time work and encourages partial and full retirement,” according to a trio of researchers from UC-Berkeley, the University of Michigan and the Social Security Administration.
Harbinger details annuity sales results for fiscal 2013
On Nov. 1, Harbinger unit Fidelity & Guaranty Life announced it would leave Maryland and relocate to Iowa for that state’s “deep insurance talent pool, sophisticated regulatory approach to...
Does threat of layoffs make workers work harder?
A new study by economists at Stanford and the University of Utah suggests that less-productive workers start working harder when local unemployment rates go up.
The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from New York Life, MassMutual, Towers Watson, Jackson National, Fidelity Investments and Guardian Life.
Quote of the Week
"The most common qualification of the economic forecaster is not in knowing, but in not knowing that he does not know. His greatest advantage is that all predictions, right...
Asia’s appetite for alternatives on the rise: Cerulli
"Managers that start engaging institutions early, even when the latter are not ready to allocate to alternatives, will stand a better chance of winning mandates when an institution is...
