DOL Hearings: Wonkishly Stimulating
“I believe the proposal is intended to eliminate the commission model,” said Ron Kruszewski of Stifel Financial during the hearings on the DOL conflict of interest proposal. Scott Puritz of Rebalance IRA looks on.
How to Build an ‘Income-Oriented’ Portfolio
In this research roundup, we summarize six important new research papers, including analyses of retirement income strategies by experts from Morningstar and The American College. Story includes links to research.
If It Ain’t Fixed Indexed, It’s Broken
Fixed indexed annuities remain a niche product, representing only about 10% of annuity sales. But that the niche has grown into an almost $50 billion-a-year business. Sales of FIAs have grown especially fast at independent broker-dealers since 2013.
Would the DoL Proposal Deny Advice to the Masses?
Forcing commissioned brokers and agents to act like fiduciaries would deprive middle-class investors of access to financial advice, critics of Labor's proposal argue. Maybe. It would almost certainly deprive advisors of access to investors.
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RIJ Takes a Vacation
Retirement Income Journal will next appear on September 3, 2015. We will not publish on August 20 or August 27. During that time the management and staff will be on vacation. We will return phone calls and emails when we return in September.
Summer issue of Journal of Retirement is released
The current issue includes articles by David Blanchett, Moshe Milevsky, Olivia Mitchell and Mark Warshawsky, among others.
News
Edward Jones to pay $20 million SEC fine
Instead of offering bonds to customers at the initial offering price, Edward Jones and Stina R. Wishman took new municipal bonds into the firm's own inventory and improperly offered them to customers at higher prices, the SEC found.
Would the DoL Proposal Deny Advice to the Masses?
Forcing commissioned brokers and agents to act like fiduciaries would deprive middle-class investors of access to financial advice, critics of Labor's proposal argue. Maybe. It would almost certainly deprive advisors of access to investors.
Tax-efficient fund management pays off, study shows
A hypothetical investment of $10,000 in mutual funds in 1990 was shown to grow to $37,800 after 22 years in the most tax-inefficient funds and to $48,800 in the most tax-efficient funds.
Study alleges fund “favoritism” in bundled 401(k) plans
“Plans remove just 13.7% of affiliated funds in the lowest performance decile, 25.5% deletion rate for unaffiliated funds in the lowest performance decile,” said a new study from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
