'Tell Ken Fisher To Stuff It'
That's what variable annuity pioneer Bob Saltzman said at the Insured Retirement Institute's 25th anniversary conference in Florida this week. The fiduciary rule, he added, will lower the cost of...
View Article‘Rothification is a Stupid Idea’
During a panel discussion at the IRI conference, former Treasury official Seth Harris, Voya's Sean Cassidy and former Oklahoma congressman J.C. Watts shared strong opinions about tax reform, the DOL...
View ArticleTo increase sales of active funds, bundle them with passive: Cerulli
'Asset managers must be able to shift and reshape as the industry does. As advisors' needs are changing, so must the product lines,' said Brendan Powers, senior analyst at Cerulli Associates, in a...
View ArticleAs risk premium shrinks, so does investors’ risk appetite
Investors pulled $23.0 billion out of actively-managed U.S. equity funds, compared with $19.6 billion in July, according to Morningstar’s latest monthly asset flow report.
View ArticleHow wholesalers should adapt to disruption: DST
A new report from DST, "Prevailing in a Changing Distribution Landscape," describes how investment product wholesalers can respond to changes in the advisory and brokerage world.
View ArticleEconomic conditions lift interest in retirement plans: Nationwide
Competition for the best workers and confidence in the economy are causing more business owners to start offering retirement plans or enhance the ones they have, according to a new survey by Nationwide.
View ArticleFinancial / Retirement Planning Software Directory
See the detail on financial planning software including vendors, scopes, costs, and contacts.
View ArticleSocial Security Maximizer
The Social Security Maximizer is an integral tool for a retirement planner's comprehensive financial planning calculations.
View ArticleOn the Case: Income from a ‘Certified’ Used Annuity
In this latest income solution for "Andrew and Laura," a real couple near retirement, Bryan Anderson of AnnuityStraightTalk and Nathaniel Pulsifer of DCF Exchange combine a secondary market annuity,...
View ArticleBob Reynolds Sees the Future of 401ks
In his new book about the U.S. retirement system, the CEO of Great-West Financial and Empower Retirement endorses the embedding of guaranteed lifetime income options in 401(k) plans. He also talks...
View Article'Tell Ken Fisher To Stuff It'
That's what variable annuity pioneer Bob Saltzman said at the Insured Retirement Institute's 25th anniversary conference in Florida this week. The fiduciary rule, he added, will lower the cost of...
View ArticleHonorable Mention
Brief or late-breaking items from One America, Voya, BlueRock, the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, New York Life, Prudential, MassMutual, Ubiquity Retirement + Savings, and HealthEquity.
View ArticleMarket value of U.S. retirement savings reaches $26.6tr in 2Q17
Mutual funds managed $3.3 trillion, or 65%, of assets held in 401(k) plans at the end of June 2017. Forty-eight percent of IRA assets, or $4.0 trillion, was invested in mutual funds, according to the...
View ArticleWells Fargo led all banks in annuity fee income in 2Q17
Among large bank holding companies, only Citigroup and KeyCorp posted significant increases in annuity commission revenue in the second quarter of 2017, according to the Michael White Associates...
View ArticleDon't Mess Up a Good Thing
Fee-based indexed annuities have generous crediting terms. But unless fee-based advisors can decide how to bill clients for holding such a safe, low-maintenance product, they may not recommend the...
View ArticleDeja´ Voodoo
'The key lesson of Ronald Reagan’s “voodoo” supply-side economics has not changed: tax cuts like the ones proposed by President Trump do not lead to faster growth, but only to lower revenues,' writes...
View ArticleHow About ‘Free-Based’ Index Annuities?
If advisors choose not to sell fee-based FIAs because the remuneration is unattractive, then the fiduciary rule will have backfired.
View ArticleThreats to broker-dealer model: It’s more than DOL
Even if the DOL conflict of interest rule is ultimately diluted, it has reinforced [the] shift to fee-based advice from commission-based sales, according to Bing Waldert, managing director of research...
View ArticleWhy most 401(k)s don’t offer in-plan annuities
Technically, the 401(k) is a profit-sharing plan, not a pension plan. Under federal law, only pension plans need to offer in-plan retirement income options. A new TIAA whitepaper explains.
View ArticleFidelity’s global unit to experiment with variable fees
The annual management fee will rise if an actively-managed fund outperforms its benchmark index, but will fall if the fund underperforms its benchmark, according to press reports.
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