2014 in Retrospect: The Best of RIJ
Before 2015 arrives, bringing its own urgent demands for our attention, here’s a look back at a dozen of RIJ’s best articles of 2014.
QLAC Status for VAs and FIAs: Yea or Nay?
“Trying to make a deferred annuity with a GLWB into a QLAC amounts to contorting it into something it isn't and shouldn't be,” said John Olsen, co-author with Michael Kitces of The Advisor’s Guide to Annuities.
The Hidden Gold in Mid-Size Rollovers
Inspira, a $20 million IRA recordkeeper, and GuidedChoice, say they can turn small, unprofitable rollover IRAs into revenue generators for a wide range of big recordkeepers and others. "This industry is begging for reinvention," says Inspira's Pete Littlejohn.
Two Robo-Advisors, Two Income Strategies
Two robo-advisors, Betterment.com and SigFig.com, have retirement income generating functionalities. But are they robust enough to put an advisor with retirement income training out of work? Read and judge for yourself.
Featured
Nationwide Settles 401k Fee Suit for $140M
"This is the most substantial settlement ever in an ERISA fiduciary breach case involving the receipt of revenue sharing by a service provider. It is... nearly 10 times greater than recent settlements against ING and MassMutual," according to the FRA PlanTools blog.
With Gibraltar Ventures, Prudential Retirement Aims to Be ‘Disruptive’
"Gibraltar Ventures will explore disruptive strategies and business models, focus resources on those ideas that have the most potential to advance retirement and financial security, and complement our current innovation efforts," said Christine Marcks, president of Prudential Retirement.
News
RIJ Takes a Vacation
Retirement Income Journal will not publish on Christmas or New Year's Day, but will return on January 8, 2015. I will be traveling in France and Spain, asking the residents of Paris and Barcelona how they expect to finance their retirements.
Watchdog group decries change in swaps regulation
MapLight, which tracks the influence of money in U.S. politics, claims that the four banks benefiting most from last week's relaxation of rules against swaps trading by federally-insured banks spent $30.7 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies in 2013 and 2014.
Assets keep flowing toward index and exchange-traded funds
PIMCO's firm-level outflows slowed to $12.8 billion after much larger redemptions in September and October. Janus, with Bill Gross on board, experienced its second positive month in November after 36 consecutive months of outflows.
