The Trouble with Calculators
A new critical survey of twelve retirement planning calculators shows why they're so frustrating to use.
AXA Trumpets a Treasury-Linked VA Rider
AXA Equitable Life (and its trademark gorilla) have bounced back from the financial crisis with a novel variable annuity rider that pegs guaranteed accumulation and withdrawal rates to the 10-year Treasury rate, plus one percent.
Can’t Do The Math
You knew it all along, but now there's evidence. Most Americans are financially illiterate. Experts wonder how the millions who don't understand compound interest can possibly fashion successful retirements.
Bridge to Somewhere
"Liability-driven investing for individuals" is how J. Brent Burns, MBA, (left), and Stephen J. Huxley, Ph.D., describe Asset
Dedication, which is the name of their bond-laddering methodology, their book and their company.
Featured
Unfinished Business
Ernst & Young's Lynn Pettus and Hall Kesmodel show how the regulations governing participant education have shifted over the years, and how the changes in Washington have delayed their resolution.
VALIC Sued Over “Redundant” Tax Benefits
Lawsuits accusing insurers of selling tax-deferred annuities to fund tax-deferred accounts have not been entirely unfruitful for plaintiffs.
News
Will “Auto-Enrollment” Kill the Employer Match?
By raising participation rates, auto-enrollment will raise the cost of employer-matching efforts and may encourage some employers to reduce or eliminate their match.
Western & Southern Enhances Income Annuity
Third-quarter 2009 YTD sales of Western & Southern's IncomeSource SPIA were $170.42 million, a 43% increase over the same period in 2008.
Wealthy Less Materialistic, Survey Shows
Thirty-five percent of high net worth respondents “believe that my children may be too spoiled by money and have too many material possessions,” up from 22% in 2007.
Anglo-American Economy Still Needs ‘Sugar Daddy’—Bill Gross
U.S. and U.K. asset markets may suffer from the absence of the nearly $2 trillion of government checks written in 2009, opines PIMCO's founder.
Life Insurers Face Lean Years: Ernst & Young
Instead of relying on a “back-to-basics” strategy in 2010, insurers should focus on innovating in five key areas, said the leader of E&Y's Financial Services and Insurance & Actuarial Advisory Services practice.
