The Weird Math of Charitable Gift Annuities
Here's how the wealthy buy lifetime income while giving zip to insurance companies, a pittance to the IRS and--unless they live a very long time--a sizable gift to charity.
Will RIAs Sing This ARIA?
ARIA Retirement Solutions and AEGON/Transamerica have created a stand-alone living benefit (SALB) for the $1.3 trillion managed account market.
Jackson Hits the Alt-Option Key
Jackson National Life's newest variable annuity contract, Elite Access, offers a variety of high-turnover alternative investment options inside a tax-deferred wrapper--and no living benefits.
The Income Expert
In this video, Mark J. Warshawsky, director of Retirement Research at Towers Watson, discusses his new book, Retirement Income (MIT Press, 2012) with RIJ editor Kerry Pechter. Their conversation focuses on the author's recommended strategy of buying a series of immediate annuities during retirement.
News
The direct channel is growing: Cerulli
Cerulli predicts the direct market will grow to close to $5 trillion and will control close to 10% of retail managed accounts assets by 2014, equating to $380 billion.
Advisors, investors talk past each other, says Russell report
Advisors say that clients’ return expectations for 2012 are slightly higher than their own: 4.3% for a conservative portfolio, 6.5% for a balanced one and 9.3% for an aggressive one.
Uniform fiduciary standard will require new technology: Citi
“Financial advisors can expect significant technological and operational challenges to adhere to any new fiduciary standards,” said a co-author of a new whitepaper.
Millionaire ranks grew by 200,000 in 2011
The total millionaire population in the U.S. has climbed to 8.6 million households, but remains below the pre-recession high in 2007 of 9.2 million.
A.M. Best places Hartford’s ratings under review
The Hartford will place its individual annuity business into run-off effective April 27, 2012, A.M. Best said, and is pursuing other options for certain product lines within its Wealth Management segment, including sales or other strategic alternatives.
Don’t Cut Pensions, Expand Them
This economist at the New School argues that, rather than curtailing public and private pensions, New York and other states could save millions of workers from impending poverty by creating public pensions for everyone.
In Case You Missed the RIIA Conference
This year’s spring conference, held again at Morningstar headquarters in downtown Chicago, may have been RIIA's most substantive, timely and productive to date.
