Comment: The High Price of Low Rates
A low interest rate policy, while necessary in a crisis, acts as a tax on the average person and plants the seed for the next credit crisis, according to two NBER Working Papers published in July.
Annuities and the Charles Schwab Deal
Most of the annuities now on the Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade platforms are offered by mutual or foreign-owned life insurers. Lincoln Financial is the sole exception.
Longevity Insurance with an Inter-Generational Twist
In MassMutual's new all-digital deferred income annuity, an adult child is the owner, and receives income when a parent (the annuitant) reaches age 91.
Marshmallows and Social Security
Should US retirees delay claiming Social Security until age 70, even if they have to spend savings until then? The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College proposes that strategy as a default option in retirement plans.
Featured
One-Stop Shopping for Retirement Risk
Steve Zaleznick sells insurance direct to the elderly online. But can his call center reps offer more than piecemeal planning?
Banks Reap Record Annuity Income
The steep yield curve enabled fixed annuities to outperform CDs, and drove fixed annuity sales to a new record in the second quarter.
News
Summit Business Media launches ThinkAdvisor.com
The new site is a renaming of and enhancement of Summit's three-year-old site for advisors, AdvisorOne.com.
Prudential Net Income Turns Positive in 2Q 2009
The firm's individual annuity sales boomed in the second quarter, thanks in part to a wave of exchanges of variable annuity contracts from financially weaker insurers.
Securities America, Wealth2K Help Advisors Fight “Big Brands”
To compete, "advisors must introduce high-end, high-impact communications tools,” said David Macchia of Wealth2k.
Cirque du Soleil to Help Burnish Sun Life Brand
The U.S. unit of the Canadian insurer has also hired the ad agency that created Geico's Gekko and Caveman campaigns.
Its Technology Eases Hedging of GLB Riders, UAT Claims
The firm said its real-time portfolio statistics could help insurers preserve GLB features in their products.
