Wedding Bells for TIPS and ALDA

Together, PIMCO's TIPS-based managed payout funds and MetLife's longevity insurance mitigate two big retirement risks: inflation risk and the risk of outliving one’s savings.

LPL Taps Five Insurers for New VA Platform

Advisors who use LPL Financial’s new Fee-Based Variable Annuity platform can manage VA subaccounts just like mutual funds. (Photo at LPL’s San Diego office.)

A Guide for the Perplexed Participant

GuidedChoice is the latest 401(k) advice provider to announce a platform that helps participants turn their savings into income—with or without a rollover to an IRA. (Above: CEO Sherrie Grabot.)

The New ‘Big O’?

The revelation of a novel share class of variable annuities--its working title is "O" shares--was perhaps the most interesting piece of news that emerged from the IRI Marketing conference in Washington, D.C., last week.
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Government-Sponsored Annuity Proposed

Investing in Treasury bonds to fund a retirement annuity would make individual Americans and the nation more financially secure, claim academics Terrance Odean (above) and Henry T.C. Hu.

Pension Debate Roils Japan

In January, the ruling party suggested that the public pension should be funded with payroll deductions, and that there should be a taxpayer-funded guaranteed minimum benefit of ¥70,000 ($860) per month for the poor.
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Phoenix in FIA sales pact with eight IMOs

The wholesaling unit of Phoenix is developing a retirement planning program that provides formats for group and individual discussions between producers and clients.

Origins of ‘Obamacare’ Revealed

The concept of the individual health insurance mandate originated in 1989 at the conservative Heritage Foundation, according to the website Procon.org.