Disaster Flick

"Broken Eggs" is a forthcoming film about Boomers and retirement, produced by Chad Parks, founder of The Online 401k. You might learn a lot about your target market by watching the interviews that are embedded in this story.

Sign of the Times

A 'grey market' phenomenon in more ways than one, Airbnb’s lodging website allows Boomers and others to boost their retirement incomes and, conversely, to afford their dreams of retirement travel.

A DIA with Dividends

The distinctive aspect of Northwestern Mutual's Select Portfolio deferred income annuity is that the contract owner can earn income-enhancing, inflation-protecting dividends over the life of the contract. (Photo: Northwestern Mutual's flagship building in Milwaukee.)

The Kreppa that Almost Melted Iceland

Iceland's economy and pension system has come back from the "kreppa" or banking crisis that struck five years ago. This country of the aurora borealis and matronymic last-names is full of surprises (Photo by Bjorn Ludviksson).
Featured

The Ultra-Easy Money Experiment

Mainstream academics and policymakers presume a structurally stable world in which probabilities can be assigned to future outcomes – ignoring uncertainty, stock accumulations, and the financial imbalances of the real world, writes a former Canadian central banker.

The Fed at a Crossroads

Addressing The Economic Club of New York on May 29, the former Fed chairman said that “the Federal Reserve, with assets of $3.5 trillion and growing, is… acting as the world’s largest financial intermediator.”
News

Vanguard issues its annual DC report: “How America Saves”

From the start of 2008 to the end of 2012, the average Vanguard DC account balance rose by cumulative 12% from market performance alone (not counting contributions), according to Vanguard’s fact-filled annual retirement plan report.

More advisors use ‘behavioral finance’ techniques: Brinker Capital

How do your clients respond to a loss? How do you help them 'stay the course' during volatile markets? These and other questions were the focus of the latest edition of the Brinker Barometer, a regular survey of advisors at insurance companies, b/ds and in sole practice.

IRI releases its 2013 Fact Book

A wide range of readers—from insurance company executives looking for sales trends as well as individual investors trying to understand the difference between fixed and variable annuities—is likely to find something useful in this 190-page spiral bound book.

The Bucket

Brief or late-breaking items from Kravitz, Ameriprise Financial and Prudential Financial.