Research Roundup

Recent research suggests that factor investing may beat passive; air pollution promotes dementia; investors buy active funds because they believe hard work pays off; Fed 'surprises' cause wider ripples than previously thought; a Nobel prize winner talks about trust in fintech firms vs. banks.

Fidelity Launches Two More Zero-Expense Funds

By Editorial Staff
Fidelity now offers four zero expense ratio index funds: Zero Large-Cap Index, Zero Extended Market Index, Zero Total Market Index and Zero Total International Index funds.

‘Pent-up demand’ lifted annuity sales in 2Q2018

By Editorial Staff
'The Insured Retirement Institute has remained confident that annuities sales would rebound due to pent up demand for these solutions,' said IRI President and CEO Cathy Weatherford, in a release.

COVER STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

September 6, 2018

Making Annuities Easier for RIAs

By Kerry Pechter
It's no longer a minority report. We talk to executives at Envestnet, DPL Financial, RetireOne, Allianz Life and United Capital about new platforms for helping registered investment advisors integrate insurance products into retirement plans...
August 30, 2018

Meet the First ‘Structured Outcome’ ETF

By Kerry Pechter
Innovator Capital Management and Milliman have built the first structured outcome product on an exchange-traded fund (ETF) chassis, challenging the annuity monopoly in this category.
August 9, 2018

The Science (Not Sci-Fi) of Social Security

By Kerry Pechter
The overlap of Social Security policy and behavioral finance was the subject of several papers aired at the Retirement Research Consortium’s 20th annual meeting last week. Economists are trying to figure out the best...