Secure 2.0: A Booster Shot for Qualified Savings Industry

The proposed bill would allow ETFs in variable annuities and remove the 25% limit on the share of IRA money that can be used to buy a Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract. But it would keep the QLAC dollar cap at $135k. (Photo: Ways & Means Committee chair Richard Neal (D-MA), left, with ranking member Kevin Brady (R-TX).

Did QLACs Get a Last-Minute Haircut?

By Kerry Pechter
The Ways and Means Committee considered raising the limit on pre-tax contributions to a deferred income annuity to $200,000, but then, apparently for budget reasons, let the current limit of $135,000 stand.

Honorable Mention

By Editorial Staff
SPCG, a new consulting group, focuses on structured products; MassMutual and Arconic Corp in $1 billion pension risk transfer deal; ‘Jackson Financial’ appoints new directors; Allianz adds 'auto lock' to indexed life and annuity products; Principal, Wilshire and BlackRock partner on model portfolios; Protective VA adds investment options from four major fund companies; American Trust Retirement makes another acquisition.
Guest Column

A Quick Way to Estimate Portfolio Longevity

By Jim Otar
Our guest columnist describes a simple tool that inputs historical market performance, a client’s account balances, her personal “sequence of returns” in the first five years of retirement, and her expected withdrawal rate, to estimate the longevity of her current portfolio in years.

Expect RILAs to outsell FIAs by 2024: Wink

By Editorial Staff
'At the current pace, sales of structured annuities (aka registered index-linked annuities or RILAs) will have climbed higher than those of indexed annuities at a comparable point in the product life cycle,' said Wink president Sheryl Moore.

COVER STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

April 29, 2021

Research Roundup

By Kerry Pechter
We summarize four recent papers: 'Portfolios for Long-Term Investors,' 'What is the Value of Annuities?,' 'Public Economics and Inequality: Uncovering Our Social Nature,' and 'Financial and Total Wealth Inequality with Low Interest Rates.'
April 22, 2021

An Annuity’s ‘Moneyness’? There’s an App for That

By R. Michael Markham
How will variable annuity contract owners use their income benefits? That question is vital to annuity issuers and to fiduciary advisers with clients who own VAs. This Texas Dep't of Insurance actuary knows a...
April 15, 2021

A Chip Off the Old Rock?

By Kerry Pechter
Bloomberg reported this week that Prudential is considering selling its retirement plan recordkeeping business. Prudential didn't confirm the report, but several industry insiders did. Low interest rates, high costs of IT makeovers, and ...