How to Make US Retirement Policy Work Better
"Wealth After Work," a new book edited by William Gale, Mark Iwry and David John (Brookings Institution Press, 2021) gathers together the many retirement-related reforms that they and other...
A New Path to Inflation-Resistant Income
Achaean Financial's novel hybrid design for a lifetime income annuity is being brought to market by National Western Life. We spoke with Achaean founder Lorry Stensrud and NWL's Chad...
The Bermuda Triangle was Busy this Summer
On August 9, a new Bermuda-based reinsurer created by Brookfield Asset Management (owner of that upscale mall in lower Manhattan) bought American National Life for $5.1 billion and Global...
Bermuda’s Role in a Changing Annuity Industry
In this latest installment in our 'Bermuda Triangle' series, we ask why US life/annuity companies would reinsure liabilities in Bermuda, and why big private equity firms are creating reinsurers...
Social Security Needs Our Attention
Time is money, and the longer we ignore the Social Security situation, the more we'll have to pay to fix it. The just-released 2021 Trustee's Report shows the cost...
Five Ways to Generate Retirement Income
In this pre-Labor Day issue of RIJ, we bring you five ways to create retirement income, based on concepts developed by or real-life cases solved by income experts like...
Research Roundup
Here are summaries of four research papers on topics ranging from the argument for a federal digital currency to the real causes of 'black swan' crises, and from the...
Not All Annuity Issuers Are Alike
When choosing an annuity from a life insurer, advisers and clients need to understand that life/annuity companies have different business models and ownership structures, and that these differences matter....
People are Talking about “OIDs”
The California Insurance Commissioner fined Jefferson National Life (owned by Nationwide) after an 86-year-old contract owner claimed that she didn't understand the variable annuity that her Investment Advisor Representative...
Wade Pfau’s Income Expert Success Tools
Here's the "RISA" method for matching retirees with income-generation strategies, from Wade Pfau, Ph.D., of The American College and RetirementResearcher.com, and his colleague Alejandro Murguia, Ph.D. ("RISA" is Spanish...
RIJ Talks ‘Bermuda Triangle’ on Chuck Jaffe’s Money Life Show
On Tuesday, August 10, I was a guest on Chuck Jaffe's Money Life Show, where Jaffe interviewed me about the 'Bermuda Triangle' trend and its implications for life insurers...
Honorable Mention
Ruark reports on VA/living benefit policyholder behavior; DPL and SS&C partner on new distribution platform; SIMON Markets doubles revenue, raises $100 million; Principal completes integration of Wells Fargo’s retirement...
The Day the Gold Standard Died: 50 Years On
On August 16, 1971, I was cashing an American Express travelers check in a small bank in Melun, France. The tellers were nervous. Something huge had clearly just occurred...
Athene Takes Another Bite at Pensions Apple
In a pension risk transfer deal, Athene Holding will acquire about $4.9 bn in pension assets and liabilities from Lockheed Martin. But when do these deals become too much...
Your Dream Cabin in the Rockies
What's involved in owning a rustic retirement cabin in Colorado? Time, wealth, health, gregariousness, and a passion for the natural world. And an ability to forego cellphones and Wi-Fi...
Research Roundup
We bring you summaries of two papers on the federal debt (and why low interest rates don't justify more of it), an essay on why Biden's infrastructure spending plan...
Is a Life/Annuity Crisis Brewing?
Observers of the "Bermuda Triangle" phenomenon worry about the quantity and the quality of the assets supporting reinsured annuities in regulatory havens like Bermuda, Vermont, Arizona and elsewhere.
How The Elephant in the Room Evolved
In a new research paper, "The Evolution from Life Insurance to Financial Engineering," economists Ralph Koijen of Chicago Booth School and Motohiro Yogo of Princeton continue to describe what...
‘Double Down or Get Out’
If you haven't done so already, t's time to consider how the low interest rate environment has transformed the life/annuity business over the past ten years. And to assess...
An Insider’s Take on the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ Strategy
Willis Re, a reinsurance broker, has had an uptick in calls from life insurers hoping to execute what RIJ calls 'The Bermuda Triangle' strategy, thus removing a millstone and...
