RIJ’s Annual Variable Annuity Review

By Kerry Pechter
Every July, RIJ assesses the VA market. This year, we look at the “investment only” or “IO” VA, the structured VA, and the VAs with novel income options. All address the public’s need for growth and safety without costing a lot or threatening to backfire on the issuer.

Danish DC Model Draws a Crowd in Britain

By Vanessa Drucker
Through a subsidiary called "Now: Pensions," Denmark's national defined contribution plan provider (ATP) is making hay of the UK's requirement that all British employers auto-enroll their workers into a DC plan by 2017.

Life Just Got Easier for Qualified DIAs

By Kerry Pechter
The new Treasury regulation on "longevity insurance" does more than promote late-life annuities. By removing an RMD barrier, it makes retirement income planning easier for middle-class people whose savings are mainly in qualified plans or IRAs.

What’s In Their Wallets?

By Kerry Pechter
Vanguard inventoried the wealth and income of affluent older Americans and found that a surprising number of them are still receiving defined benefit pensions. Income-wise, Vanguard identified eight types of afflluent retirees.
Featured

Time for Fed to Take ‘Beer Goggles’ Off

By Richard K. Fisher
“Early next year, or potentially sooner depending on the pace of economic improvement, the FOMC may well begin to raise interest rates in gradual increments,” said the CEO of the Dallas Fed in a speech this week.

My Dad’s Reverse Mortgage, Part II

By Kerry Pechter
I was staring into the smirking face of Moral Hazard itself. The stain of it was smeared on me too, because I was wishfully thinking that the condo might not involve me after all.
News

Life Just Got Easier for Qualified DIAs

By Kerry Pechter
The new Treasury regulation on "longevity insurance" does more than promote late-life annuities. By removing an RMD barrier, it makes retirement income planning easier for middle-class people whose savings are mainly in qualified plans or IRAs.

Quote of the Week

By Editorial Staff
"At some point you cross the line from reviving markets to becoming the bellows fanning the flames of the “Booming and Bubbling”... I believe we have crossed that line. I believe we need an adjustment to the stance of monetary policy" -- Richard K. Fisher, CEO, Dallas Fed.