If It Ain’t Fixed Indexed, It’s Broken

By Kerry Pechter
Fixed indexed annuities remain a niche product, representing only about 10% of annuity sales. But that the niche has grown into an almost $50 billion-a-year business. Sales of FIAs have grown especially fast at independent broker-dealers since 2013.

Would the DoL Proposal Deny Advice to the Masses?

By Kerry Pechter
Forcing commissioned brokers and agents to act like fiduciaries would deprive middle-class investors of access to financial advice, critics of Labor's proposal argue. Maybe. It would almost certainly deprive advisors of access to investors.

Investments + Annuities = Healthy Retirement

By Kerry Pechter
Many advisers still treat annuities and investments as apples and oranges--that is, not to be mixed up in a single retirement fruit salad. But experts Michael Finke, Wade Pfau and Mark Warshawsky offer recipes for combining them.

At ‘Spirit on Lake,’ Gay Retirees Find Community

By Sheila Eldred
Lucretia Kirby (above) and other LGBT residents of a Minneapolis apartment building celebrated the recent Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. This article, from the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council, first appeared at indexedannuitiesinsights.org.
Featured

Is It Time to End Tax Deferral?

By Kerry Pechter
This strikes me as the issue at the heart of the controversy over the Department of Labor's conflict-of-interests proposal—the issue we duck and dodge, while pretending that it’s all about “advice.”

FINRA Sides with Brokers against DOL Proposal

By Kerry Pechter
As it stands, the “fractured approach" of the Department of Labor conflict-of-interest proposal "will confuse retirement investors, financial institutions, and advisers,” wrote FINRA executive Marcia Asquith in a comment on the DOL/EBSA website.
News

Would the DoL Proposal Deny Advice to the Masses?

By Kerry Pechter
Forcing commissioned brokers and agents to act like fiduciaries would deprive middle-class investors of access to financial advice, critics of Labor's proposal argue. Maybe. It would almost certainly deprive advisors of access to investors.