How to Walk Through Fire
Crossing the retirement "red zone" might be compared to a fire-walk. But here are three advisors who are guiding clients (and their portfolios) from age 55 to age 65...
A Summer Crop of Variable Annuities
Allianz Life, Genworth Financial, John Hancock Life, and MetLife have all introduced new variable annuity contracts. Of the four new entries, John Hancock's stands out as the simplest and...
CalPERS Gives Rating Agencies an FFF
In a new lawsuit, California's state pension fund blames the 'issuer pay system' at the top three rating agencies for part of its investment losses last year.
Feeling TIPSy
Seeing the potential for inflation ahead, analysts now recommend inflation-protected Treasuries, or TIPS,
more strongly than ever. But 401(k) participants buy few TIPs, and not every plan offers them.
A Short Cut to Long-Term Care Insurance
United of Omaha, Genworth Life, Bankers Life, and OneAmerica have introduced LTC/annuity hybrids in the run-up to January 1, 2010, when distributions from annuities to pay nursing home bills...
Raising Private Savings
What might be called the financial version of universal health care is currently the topic of intense discussions and negotiations on Capitol Hill.
Under Putnam’s Hood, A Fidelity Engine Roars
In the past year, Putnam Investments owner Great-West Lifeco has recruited (l-r) Fidelity veterans Robert L. Reynolds, Jeffrey R. Carney and Edmund F. Murphy III, among others, perhaps to...
A Smarter Form of SWiP
Financial advisor Larry Frank Sr. of Rocklin, Calif., a small town in the arid foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, has fine-tuned the classic 4% "SWiP" approach to drawing down...
Making More Than Peanuts at MetLife
The financially fit, well-diversified insurer collected almost twice as much in annuity premiums as its closest competitor in the first quarter of 2009, benefiting from a “flight to quality”...
Can Retirees “Thrive” On Deferred Income Annuities?
Iowa insurance man Curtis Cloke thinks he has solved the "annuity puzzle" by building ladders of deferred income annuities for his clients. Now he and his partners are scaling...
The End of the VA Arms Race
The variable annuity "arms race" is over, a victim of the equity crash, low interest rates, and the destructive effects of competition for market share - mainly among publicly...
Talk About a Shake Out
Faced with capital shortages and ratings downgrades, the ranks of major publicly-held life insurers appears to be headed for consolidation. Historically low stock prices alone have made merger talk...
