Experts Assess the Latest on ‘QLACs’

By Kerry Pechter
Mark Fortier, Prudential's Srinivas Reddy, ERISA lawyer Fred Reish, Steve Shepherd of Aon EnnisKnupp and Jody Strakosch shared their views with RIJ about recent statements by Treasury official Mark Iwry (above) on in-plan annuities in target date funds.

Two Robo-Advisors, Two Income Strategies

By Kerry Pechter
Two robo-advisors, Betterment.com and SigFig.com, have retirement income generating functionalities. But are they robust enough to put an advisor with retirement income training out of work? Read and judge for yourself.

Johnny RetirementSeed

By Kerry Pechter
Steve Vernon, actuary-turned-retirement-guru, travels the country spreading retirement planning wisdom... and promoting his books and website: "I joke that I’m a ‘one-rat’ experiment. I’m living the lifestyle I advocate. And then I write about it.”

NARPP Hopes to Do What Auto-Enrollment Hasn’t

By Jenna Gottlieb
The National Association of Retirement Plan Participants aims to boost 401(k) deferral rates through behavioral finance techniques. Despite its name, its direct ties are to plan sponsors and providers. (Photo of NARPP founder Laurie Rowley by Rob Myers.)

A New Robo-Advisor Eyes the 401(k) Space

By Kerry Pechter
"blooom is like a dietician who doesn’t just give you advice on how to eat. It’s like a dietician who actually drives to your store, does your grocery shopping for you and comes back to your house and cooks all your meals for you,” says blooom co-founder Chris Costello (above).
Featured

Will a Robo-Advisor Eat Your Lunch?

By Kerry Pechter
"It comes down to this: ‘How much personalized service am I willing to give up to save 75 basis points a year?” said Jack Waymire about the robo-advisors. He runs a client-advisor matchmaking service at iwd.paladinregistry.com.

AIG Offers First Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract

By Kerry Pechter
“ will take a while to get going,” said Stan Haithcock, of Stantheannuityman.com, “but once people realize that it lets them reduce their RMDs, and that it will be good for their spouses, I think they will flock to it.”
News

Eaton Vance gets SEC approval for ‘managed ETFs’

By Editorial Staff
The SEC has just approved a request to list and trade exchange-traded managed funds on NASDAQ, and has issued a notice of intent to grant exemptive relief to permit offering of exchange-traded managed funds.