Our Weight: It’s Gaining On Us
Since the late 1980s, America’s average Body Mass Index, or BMI, has been climbing rapidly. As a result, we’re losing life expectancy relative to people in other rich countries.
DFA Gives Managed Accounts a New Dimension
“For as long as I’ve known him, David Booth has had a desire to find a way to improve retirement for everyone, not just people who have millions of dollars,” Michael Lane told RIJ this week. “That’s his vision, and that’s the whole reason we acquired SmartNest in the first place.”
NY Times Plays ‘Gotcha’ with Prudential
News Commentary: Last Saturday, the Times pilloried Prudential for blocking new contributions from existing contract owners to closed VA contracts with rich income riders. But the Times isn't entirely to blame for getting much of the story wrong.
Why Equity Averages are So High
In the face of a mass exodus to bonds, buybacks and dividends explain the health of the major stock indices, Goldman Sachs' David Kostin told Insured Retirement Institute members in San Diego this week.
Bernanke, Equities and the November Election
In the course of his address, whose meaning was as usual camouflaged in Fed-jargon and stippled with acronyms, Bernanke more or less assured the markets that his motto remains, “Easy does it.”
Featured
The SmartNest Back-Story
SmartNest, the software behind DFA’s new managed account program, was valued at $1.1 million when Trinsum Group, its previous owner, failed in 2009. Last summer, DFA insider Michael Lane, 45, (above) replaced David Deming as the venture’s CEO.
Cold Turkey for Thanksgiving? No Thanks.
Let me channel, for a few paragraphs, the ideas of Warren Mosler, Stephanie Kelton and other proponents of Modern Monetary Theory—which is not a theory so much as a clearer understanding of the way our financial system actually functions.
News
Bank holding companies earn $1.58bn from annuities in first half of 2012
Despite an overall increase in the banks' annuity revenues in the first half of 2012, twice as many bank holding companies saw lower annuity commissions and fees this year than in the first half of 2011. The director of the American Bankers Insurance Association called that “troubling.”
Investors shun full-service firms: Hearts & Wallets
The percent of investors who cite a financial professional as their primary provider of investment advice fell to 21% in 2012 from 25% in 2011, according to the Boston area research firm. Usage dropped sharply among households with $100,000 to $500,000 and over $2 million in investable assets.
“HENRYs” control $8.3 trillion in savings: SBI
The 21.5 million "high-earning not rich yet" households control 31% of total financial assets in the United States—about $8.3 trillion—and have a combined annual income of $3.1 trillion, says Strategic Business Initiatives. (Left: O. Henry)
Quote of the Week
"Investors are not irrational; they are undecided about which path will be chosen by future investors." -- Roger E. A. Farmer, PhD, from "How The Economy Works" (Oxford, 2010), p. 92.
