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...
Indexed annuity sales soar in 3Q 2013
Allianz Life prevailed as the leading issuer of indexed annuities with a 12.91% market share, while Security Benefit Life and American Equity maintained their positions as the second and...
Allianz Life launches Signature 7 FIA, a companion to Core Income 7
The Signature 7 offers a monthly sum crediting strategy and a spread of 1.7% on the Barclays U.S. Dynamic Balance Index. Any return above 1.7% will be credited to...
A model for investing Social Security funds in stocks
An act of Congress in 2001 allowed the Railroad Retirement fund to start investing in equities, and the fund has encountered and overcome some significant risks associated with equity...
Net VA flow ebbs to $1.5 billion in 3Q 2013: Morningstar
“Shifts in market share this year have been massive,” writes Morningstar VA analyst Frank O’Connor in his third quarter and year-to-date sales report, issued yesterday.
A Fool for a Client?
MassMutual is the latest target of the St. Louis plaintiff's attorney Jerry Schlichter, who has won eight-figure judgments and settlements in a series of "excessive fee" cases against high-profile...
The Hangover
Publicly held annuity issuers could be handicapped in the future by lingering liabilities, and should have foreseen the impact of IRA money flowing into VAs starting in 2002, says...
Sign of the times: Fidelity adds short duration bond funds
The funds are: Fidelity Limited Term Bond Fund, Fidelity Conservative Income Municipal Bond Fund and Fidelity Short Duration High Income Fund (Advisor and retail share classes.)
Vanguard tops mutual fund flow charts in October
Vanguard gathered just over $6 billion in the quarter ($60 billion YTD) to lead all fund companies. American Funds, PIMCO, Columbia and Janus all saw outflows of more than...
Hedge fund managers’ eyes are bigger than customers’ budgets: E&Y
The growth ambitions of managers may not be matched by sustained investor appetite," said Art Tully, EY’s Global Hedge Fund Services co-leader said in a release.
More DB sponsors intend to off-load risk
“Pension plan sponsors remain under tremendous pressure to reduce the financial liabilities of their DB plans,” said Michael Archer, leader of the client solutions group for retirement, North America...
The ‘haves’ have retirement plans; the ‘have-nots,’ not so much
White, male, well-educated, healthy and married full-time workers are more likely to have access than non-whites, women, single people, the less educated and the less healthy.
FINRA Talks a Good Game
FINRA's recent report on conflicts of interest at brokerages laid bare some dingy practices. Some say it's a move to burnish FINRA's credentials as a candidate for regulator of...
Driven by VA de-risking, managed-vol funds grow
Assets in funds in this category reached $200.1 billion by mid-2013 after rising to $153.9 billion at year-end 2012 from $30.9 billion at year-end 2006, an annualized growth rate...
Cincinnati voters opt to reform, not replace, an underfunded public pension
Voters apparently reacted negatively to a requirement in the proposal that would have required the city on the Ohio River to pay off the pension’s $862 million liability in...
MetLife and ING benefit from Romanian pension growth
Dutch insurance giant ING, with the biggest Romanian DC fund by assets and membership, recorded the highest profit so far this year, of RON146.7m (€33.1m). As of the end...
Vanguard consolidates three managed payout funds into one
“The funds have faced challenges in meeting their objectives, given a financial market environment marked by a prolonged period of historically low bond yields,” said a Vanguard release.
