A Reference Work Built for You

The Society of Actuaries' recent book (available here in pdf form) puts the reader at the center of a web of hundreds of articles, research studies, other resources relevant to the risks and opportunities of Boomer retirement.

Breakthroughs in Behavioral Finance

As an advisor, you can actually put clients in an annuity 'frame of mind.' These and other findings from behavioral finance research were presented at the 2011 Boulder Summer Conference on Consumer Financial Decision-Making last June.

Do VA ‘Roll-Ups’ Have the Desired Effect?

Deferral bonuses, a key feature of many VAs, may not prevent contract owners from taking withdrawals, according to Milliman’s latest survey of issuers of VA guaranteed living benefits. Photo courtesy of Whimsicalwhisk.com.

‘Financial Services for the Greater Good’

Andrew Carnegie, founder of the non-profit Teacher's Insurance & Annuity Association, now TIAA-CREF, could not possibly have foreseen how his group annuity would lead to today's profitable trillion-dollar variable annuity industry.
Featured

How to Demonstrate the Value of an Income Annuity

In this edited version of a monthly bulletin from the Qwema Group, Moshe Milevsky (left) and Simon Dabrowski show advisors how to demonstrate the value of an income annuity to their clients.

East and West Approach Retirement from Opposite Directions

Starting from a level of great wealth, North Americans and Europeans feel a sense of decline, while Asians, starting from a level of deep poverty, feel a sense of upward mobility and optimism, according to a recent global survey by HSBC.
News

Many elderly carry mortgages

About a third of the 65-and-older households that owned a home in 2009 had a mortgage, according to the Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey.

Many factors point to a longer average working life

The average retirement age for men, which was 65 in 1962, fell to about 62 between 1985 and 1995 but has since risen to 64, according to a new paper from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

The Bucket

Brief and late-breaking items from ING, Strategic Insight, TrimTabs, Great-West Retirement Services, Brinker Capital, Frontline Compliance LLC, and John Hancock Retirement Plan Services.