How To Market to Advisors
Here's a smarter way for retirement income product manufacturers to segment and sell into the advisor market, according to survey analysts Howard Schneider of GDC Research and Dennis Gallant of Practical Perspectives.
Plan Sponsor Group Joins Hueler SPIA Platform
The deal will allow the 1,200 members of the Profit-Sharing Council of America to give their six million plan participants access to a no-load, multi-issuer SPIA platform. (Photo of Kelli Hueler by David Lubarsky).
Profits, Politics and the Ruin of Fannie & Freddie
Here is the first of three excerpts from "Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Debacle of Mortgage Finance," the compact, illuminating new book by four NYU Stern School of Business professors about the fatally flawed structure of the GSEs.
RIIA ‘Gets’ Open Architecture
Few organizations seem to understand the ascendancy of "open architecture" better than the Retirement Income Industry Association, whose mantra is "the view across the silos." Here's a report on its Spring Conference, held this week.
Featured
What Advisors Say About Wholesalers, Etc.
"Keep the golf balls, umbrellas, coffee mugs, etc., and provide as much info, training and current ideas as possible." That's one advisor's anonymous comment about annuity wholesalers in the recent survey by Howard Schneider (left) and Dennis Gallant.
“The Ultimate Ponzi Scheme”
In the third of three excerpts from "Guaranteed to Fail," the authors explain how off-budget housing guarantees through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have enabled a succession of presidents to encourage ever-larger short-term consumption and spending.
America Isn’t a Corporation
Congressman Paul Ryan's approach to the budget makes sense only if you think America should function like a corporation and that Medicare payments are income for beneficiaries. Nix to both ideas.
News
After 2010, nowhere to go but up for fixed annuities
“The current interest rate environment suggests that fixed annuity sales in banks will gradually increase in 2011,” said Jeremy Alexander, president and CEO of Beacon Research.
Economy improving amid anxiety about end of QE2: TrimTabs
“Our real-time data already shows that wage and salary growth accelerated sharply in March,” said Madeline Schnapp, Director of Macroeconomic Research at TrimTabs.
Polish president signs new pension laws
Poland's deteriorating public finances back in late 2010 drove the changes. The budget deficit is estimated at 7.9% of GDP for 2010.
New York Life plans deferred income annuity for July
A retiree or advisor could use such a product to reduce or eliminate the longevity risk associated with a traditional uninsured systematic withdrawal plan.
The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from Prudential Investments, Putnam Investments, New York Life, and PulteGroup, the homebuilder.
Aspen Institute to host retirement discussion
The 90-minute roundtable will be held at noon, Friday, April 15, in Washington, D.C, and will feature Mark Iwry of the Treasury Department of Michael Davis of the Labor Department.
