The View from Taroko Gorge
Touring this marble-walled canyon, I could see millions of years into Taiwan's geological past and a few years into its demographic future.
Taiwan Grapples With Retirement Finance
Over lunch in Taipei, economist Jack Wu explained the pension dynamics of an aging society.
Unsolved Mystery
In Matt Greenwald's "mystery shopper" experiment, near-retirement couples met with eight financial advisors to find out if they would recommend income annuities. None did.
In the ‘Green Zone’ with Jim Otar
The Toronto engineer-turned-advisor has self-published an exhaustive new book and launched a refined version of his Retirement Optimizer software.
Featured
Red Zone Strategies
Near-retirees who are in Jim Otar's "crowded" Red Zone don't have a lot of options. "Their only choice is annuities," writes the Canadian author/advisor in the concluding chapter of his new book.
An Income Feather in BoA’s Hat
Bank of America’s new service, My Retirement Income, is a revival of a program created at Merrill Lynch in 2006.
News
Urban Myth: Retirees Need $300,000 for Health Care
The $300,000 figure is one of 10 “myths” that the FRC dispels in a new report, “Making Sense of Investor Needs in the Retirement Income Market.”
Record Retail Sales at Jackson National
During the first nine months of 2009, Jackson, a subsidiary of the UK's Prudential plc, generated $6.7 billion in VA sales, a 32% increase over the same period of 2008.
Genworth Financial Announces Profitable Third Quarter
After losing $258 million in the third quarter of 2008, Genworth reported net income of $45 million in the same period this year, before provision for non-controlling interests.
MassMutual Retirement Services Posts Record Sales
“A lot of plan consolidation is taking place and those plans that are changing providers want a seamless transition,” a MassMutual executive said.
To Prevent Inflation, Australia Hikes Baseline Interest Rate
If the Australian economy continues to expand as expected, rates could return to “a more normal 5%” in the next year or two, one analyst said.
