It’s Hot Around the ‘Collar’

Nervous investors can get an indexed collar strategy from an annuity or an ETF. Great West Financial and Innovator Capital Management have new products in the category. Cap-and-buffer products, pioneered by AXA, are the brightest spot in a dismal annuity sales picture.

A Pre-ICO Lunch at Gibraltar

By Kerry Pechter
I rented a Fiat 500 and drove to Gibraltar for a mid-day meal with Dean McClelland, the creator of TontineTrust, a retirement income product based on crypto-currency.

Fund flows turn negative in February: Morningstar

By Editorial Staff
If one still had any lingering doubt about how bad last month actually was in terms of flows, one only had to look at Vanguard: almost $33 billion in January, barely $12 billion in February, writes Morningstar senior analyst Alina Lamy.

COVER STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

March 22, 2018

In Canada, ‘LIFE’ Begins at 85

By Kerry Pechter
Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald (right or below), a research fellow at Toronto's Ryerson University, proposes a voluntary, tontine-like deferred income annuity called Lifetime Income for the Elderly (LIFE). Canadians could make a one-time payment at age...
March 16, 2018

‘We Shall Never Surrender!’

By Kerry Pechter
At the Insured Retirement Industry's marketing conference in Orlando this week, speakers from AXA, Brighthouse Financial (formerly MetLife’s retail division), Great-West Financial, Jackson National Life, and New York Life described their companies' strategies in...
March 8, 2018

Allianz Life’s New FIA Aims for Accumulation

By Kerry Pechter
'By using volatility controlled indices, we can offer higher caps,' said Matt Gray, vp of product innovation at Allianz Life. 'In such a low-rate environment, those higher caps have been well-received.' (Image from Allianz...