How Many VA Owners Will Bail Out?
Issuers of variable annuities with income benefits could face lower-than-expected lapse rates and higher reserve requirements over the next 18 months, says Oliver Wyman.
Tell Us What You Really Think
At the LIMRA-Society of Actuaries Retirement Industry Conference in Baltimore last week, Scott Stolz from Raymond James, Greg Jaeck from Edward Jones and Jarrod Fisher from Simplicity Financial Distributors delivered frank opinions about annuities and annuity issuers.
Why Indexed Annuity Sales Are So Strong
Many factors are driving the increase in indexed annuity sales: More manufacturers, better products, more distributors, competitive commissions, aging boomers, and relaxed regulation. But does the bubble contain the seeds of its own deflation?
Lessons from a Living (DC) Experiment
Israel has found that even a mandatory defined contribution system can’t resolve all of the behavioral, economic, or administrative issues that prevent low-income and minority workers from saving for retirement. (Photo: Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem.)
Featured
“Too Good to Last”
Curiosity about investments in secondary market annuities, which earn up to 9%, is growing. But these “factored products” are scarce—and virtually unregulated.
Five Ways to Adjust to a New Tax Landscape
A consortium of advisors who represent Securities America offered these suggestions for how investors and their advisors can adjust to the expiration of EGTRRA and JGTRRA at the end of 2010.
News
NIH Devotes Only 11% of Budget to Elderly Studies
Although there has been moderate growth in spending at all 27 N.I.H. research centers, the growth is slower at the National Institute on Aging.
Orszag to Depart OMB Director Post
“Basically, the OMB Director is a brutal job and subject to quick burnout," commented one political blogger.
Towers Watson Explains New Pension Relief Law
A Client Alert details the implications of the "Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010."
The Guardian Offers New SPIA
As an inflation hedge, the product’s Annuity Payment Increase Benefit option increases the annuity payment each year by a fixed dollar amount.
The Global Distribution of Millionaires
In Singapore and Hong Kong, millionaire households account for 11.4% and 8.8%, respectively, of all households, according to Boston Consulting Group.
