A Time to Laugh, or Cry
Just in time for the Insured Retirement Institute annual meeting in San Diego September 9-11, LIMRA and Morningstar have released their first-half variable annuity sales reports.
What Happened to the ‘Auto-IRA’?
Mark Iwry (pictured), an assistant Treasury Secretary, came into the current administration with hopes of making the "Automatic IRA," a workplace savings plan for people without a plan, a reality. But it became the subject of conspiracy theories and its prospects are now dim. Photo courtesy of the National Press Foundation.
The NEST Approach to Risk
“We know that there’s no free lunch and that you have to take a certain amount of risk. But we don’t want to do anything stupid,” said the head of investment policy at the National Employment Savings Trust, the U.K.’s new “public option” DC plan.
A New NEST for British Nest-Eggs
This is the first part of a two-part article on Britain’s ambitious national defined contribution fund for undersavers, a "public option" called the National Employment Savings Trust, or NEST.
Featured
Why Growth Matters More Than Debt
The author explains why the national debt shouldn't terrify us. This article first appeared last January in The American, the publication of the American Enterprise Institute.
News
Forecast from Morgan Stanley: Slightly bullish
Sellers of risk protection might not take comfort in its expectation of low rates until 2014, however.
Participants better off in TDFs: The Principal
TDFs are better because they offer wide diversification, automatic rebalancing, and age-appropriate asset allocations, says this TDF marketer. But should all young people have high equity allocations?
Young guns want to eat your lunch
Seattle-based FutureAdvisor just raised $5 million in new venture capital. The high-tech startup already ‘analyzes’ $4 billion in client assets and claims to offer guidance to 11 million 401(k) participants.
Most participants still oblivious of plan fees: LIMRA
As many predicted, the Labor Department’s 401(k) fee disclosure initiative hasn’t stirred a hornet’s nest. But we’re only two months into the sunshine era.
Letter to the Editor
Jeffrey Dellinger, actuary and president of Longevity Risk Management Corp. of Ft. Wayne, Ind., comments on a recent RIJ article.
The High-Voltage Plank in the GOP Platform
Social Security deserves our respect and protection, not our contempt or our scorn. Even if it does crowd out private annuities.
