Shedding Light on Shadow Reinsurance
New research from the London Business School and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis adds detail to the use of "shadow reinsurance" by life insurers, a practice that frees up...
How to Take the Federal Budget Debate in Stride
Don't let political disruptions in Washington disrupt your long-term investing strategy, say Vanguard's experts.
Goldman Touches the FIA Market
A Bermuda domicile is just one of Global Atlantic Financial Group's competitive edges. Last week, the former Goldman Sachs Reinsurance Group added Forethought, which markets variable, fixed and fixed...
Drew Carrington joins Franklin Templeton’s DCIO business
In the recent past, Carrington served as head of the Defined Contribution and Retirement Solutions Group at UBS Global Asset Management.
Fidelity to raise equity allocations in target date funds
Fidelity is the largest provider of target date funds with more than $170 billion under management on behalf of approximately 6.5 million investors in its Fidelity Freedom Funds product...
Jackson National dominates annuity flows in first half of 2013
Three Jackson variable annuity contracts—Perspective II 05/05, Perspective II L-Series and Elite Access—were among the five best-selling annuity products in the first six months of this year.
An Old Argument for Annuities, Made New
The Thrive Income Distribution System takes an ancient annuity marketing pitch and dresses it up well enough to appeal to high net worth clients who otherwise might not spend...
Selling Income Annuities on Greed, Not Fear
Iowa advisor Curtis Cloke claims that his 'Thrive” system,' which finances retirement with period certain, cash-refund deferred income annuities, offers safety without sacrificing upside. He's one of RIJ's 'RetiremEntrepreneurs.'
The Liability-Driven Retirement Portfolio
Advisors should manage retiree portfolios the way pension funds are managed--with an eye toward funding a specific liability, write three analysts from Russell Investments in the premiere issue of...
Out of Commission
Wondering what life under a strict fiduciary standard might be like? Just ask investors in the U.K. (also known as 'the nanny state') where sales commissions were banned from...
The Elephant in the Room
It's difficult if not impossible for anyone to describe the contours and textures of the annuity/retirement income business, or even any particular section of it. But fortunately there are...
Introducing: The Journal of Retirement
The Journal of Retirement is a new quarterly publication from Institutional Investor Journals. In this three-minute video-taped interview, editor George 'Sandy' Mackenzie describes the aims of the publication, whose...
Have Your Danish, and Eat It Too
A novel retirement plan design, called TimePension (“Tidspension” in Danish) uses a buffer account to smooth out market volatility and ensure a stable income in retirement.
Most Advisors Favor ERISA Fiduciary Standard: Survey
More than 380 advisors from a broad set of business models, registration types and compensation schemes participated in the survey, which was co-sponsored by fi360 and ThinkAdvisor.com
It’s an Index! It’s an Income Calculator! It’s a Fund!
BlackRock’s new CoRI helps older DC plan participants find out how large an income annuity they can afford to buy at retirement—but it stops short of helping them buy...
How to Make Annuitization More Appealing
In the embedded video, Brigitte Madrian of Harvard (pictured) describes the results of two surveys of older Americans about lifetime income that she and a team of other Ivy...
Public Pensions, Version 2.0
In New Brunswick, Canada, city officials and union leaders are experimenting with a new, more frugal kind of public pension that’s based on the principle of “Shared Risk.”
Zombie 401(k) Accounts
Who ya gonna call when former participants disappear, but their retirement accounts remain undead and their checks ($735,000, in one case) go uncashed?
Closer to Where You Belong
Whither the variable annuity business? We asked Bruce Ferris of Prudential, Liz Forget of MetLife, Eric Henderson of Nationwide Financial, Dan Herr of Lincoln Financial Group, Richard Moran, formerly...
The Upside of Falling Bond Prices
Don't worry, be happy. Maine actuary Joe Tomlinson, writing at AdvisorPerspectives.com, argued that retirees who intend to take systematic withdrawals from a bond fund over a long period will...
