Overcoming Hurdles in the Variable Annuity Race
Prudential and AXA have remained among the perennial leaders of the variable annuity space by patiently tweaking existing products and exploiting niche opportunities.
Mortality Credits: Sweet and Sour
'The only way to get closer to meeting your spending goals is through some sort of partial annuitization strategy,' said Michael Finke, dean of The American College of Financial Services, at the Retirement Industry Conference in Orlando last week.
In Target-Date Space, It’s Vanguard, Et Alia
Vanguard’s domination of TDF flows in recent years has paralleled its domination of overall mutual funds flows. Competitors search for ways to be different, but not too different.
This Is How You Sell Annuities
'This works really well with couples, where the husband is a risk taker but the wife is worried that she’ll be left without any money,' said Curtis Cloke about Retirement NextGen, a new software tool that replicates his planning techniques.
Featured
Trump’s Tax Reform Dilemma
Tax reform will require more than the mere elimination of waste, fraud and abuse in government, warns our guest columnist, a former Treasury official. Popular subsidies, like the tax deferral for retirement savings, will be scrutinized.
Talking Annuities with Voya’s Carolyn Johnson
"Taking away the variability on the compensation—that’s generally a good thing,' said Johnson, CEO of the combined annuity and individual life insurance businesses at Voya Financial. "Voya hasn’t played the ‘highest commission’ game."
News
New Ladenburg Thalmann unit will help vet indexed annuity sales
The parent of Securities America and other distribution firms has launched a new unit to support fixed annuity sales that are in the clients' best interests.
How myths about the debt cause gridlock
Misplaced dread of the national debt is the sole point of bipartisan agreement in DC, explains economist Stephanie Kelton in the first 38 minutes of this video from the Hyman P. Minsky Conference at the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College in April.
Honorable Mention
Brief or late-breaking items from the CFP Board, iRelaunch, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors, Prudential Financial, Fidelity and Envestnet.
