A Roundup of RIIA’s Meeting in Texas

By Kerry Pechter
Michael Finke of Texas Tech, John Salter of Evensky & Katz Wealth Management, Larry Cohen of Strategic Business Insights and others presented at the Retirement Income Industry Association's annual meeting, held this year at Dimensional Fund Advisors headquarters in Austin, Texas. (Above, the DFA lobby).

A Conspiracy against Public Pensions?

By Kerry Pechter
Either paranoid or perceptive, public pension administrators say they are being sandbagged by a pervasive, persistent stealth effort to convert their DB plans to DC and gain greater control over their collectively immense assets. Maybe they're just observing business as usual.

Goldman Touches the FIA Market

By Kerry Pechter
A Bermuda domicile is just one of Global Atlantic Financial Group's competitive edges. Last week, the former Goldman Sachs Reinsurance Group added Forethought, which markets variable, fixed and fixed indexed annuities, to its stable of insurance businesses, which includes Commonwealth Annuity.

Selling Income Annuities on Greed, Not Fear

By Kerry Pechter
Iowa advisor Curtis Cloke claims that his 'Thrive” system,' which finances retirement with period certain, cash-refund deferred income annuities, offers safety without sacrificing upside. He's one of RIJ's 'RetiremEntrepreneurs.'
Featured

Securian Offers “MyPath” VA Income Riders

By Kerry Pechter
"MyPath is less a statement on interest rates than a reflection of our desire to allow advisers to dial-in what each client needs," said Dan Kruse, second vice president and individual annuity actuary at Securian Financial Group.

Dynamic Withdrawal Strategies Made Easy

By Kerry Pechter
Research from Morningstar's David M. Blanchett introduces two equations for implementing an efficient dynamic withdrawal strategy based on different expected time periods, portfolio equity allocations, the likelihood of achieving the goal, and fees (or alpha).
News

Russian government to freeze DC plan assets in 2014

By Kerry Pechter
"The money will be retained by the state pension fund, and... is supposed to become a sort of an air bag that will be activated in case an emergency breaking of the national economy occurs,” the head of VTB Capital Investment Management told IPE.com.