IRI publishes a look back at 2013 and look forward to 2014
In a linguistic gesture that may dismay some fund companies, the report refers to “volatility funds" when describing managed-volatility funds.
View ArticleFinancial / Retirement Planning Software Directory
See the detail on financial planning software including vendors, scopes, costs, and contacts.
View ArticleRetiremEntrepreneur: Lou Harvey
Louis S. Harvey is president and CEO of Dalbar, Inc., a Boston-based research firm that performs a variety of evaluations and quality ratings of financial services practices and communications.
View ArticleThe Ghost of VA Contracts Past
Insurers and asset managers love managed-vol funds and VA portfolios, whose sales are climbing. But in a low-vol bull market, advisors wonder about their value.
View ArticleIs There a Retirement Crisis or Not?
Two recent reports from different organizations paint very different portraits of retirement readiness in the U.S.
View ArticleComment: Goodbye, Mature Market Institute
Last spring, MetLife pulled the plug on its popular, respected thought-leadership unit after a 15-year run. Did the decision signify a loss of faith in the Boomer retirement opportunity?
View ArticleSeven Wishes for the Year Ahead
What will happen in the retirement industry in 2014? Beats me. I can only share a few of the things I hope might happen.
View ArticleInflation-Proof Retirement Income
American College professor Wade Pfau shows how to build a ladder of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities for retirement income. At current prices, a 30-year ladder that would generate $50,000 a...
View ArticleNobelist Sharpe makes retirement income planning software available
The free software will gradually become available through Bill Sharpe's blog, Retirementincomescenarios, and through the website, scratch.mit.edu.
View ArticleAllocations to TDFs continue to climb: EBRI and ICI
Nearly 54% of the account balances of recently hired participants in their 20s was invested in balanced funds, including TDFs, compared with about 7% in 1998, according to a new report.
View ArticleStocks poised to keep rising in 2014: Fidelity
With foreign sales producing about 40% of the revenues of large U.S. manufacturing companies, Fidelity said, rapid economic growth in emerging markets and economic stability in China and Europe bode...
View ArticleFinancial / Retirement Planning Software Directory
See the detail on financial planning software including vendors, scopes, costs, and contacts.
View ArticleThe Ghost of VA Contracts Past
Insurers and asset managers love managed-vol funds and VA portfolios, whose sales are climbing. But in a low-vol bull market, advisors wonder about their value.
View ArticleIs There a Retirement Crisis or Not?
Two recent reports from different organizations paint very different portraits of retirement readiness in the U.S.
View ArticleComment: Goodbye, Mature Market Institute
Last spring, MetLife pulled the plug on its popular, respected thought-leadership unit after a 15-year run. Did the decision signify a loss of faith in the Boomer retirement opportunity?
View ArticleA Guide that Perplexes
“An annuity is a contract with an insurance company.” Sadly, many texts about annuities begin this way. You might as well describe marriage to teenagers as “a legal contract between two people of the...
View ArticleA Liquidity Option for DIAs?
The desirability and feasibility of allowing owners of deferred income annuities to convert income streams to lump sums was discussed at the American Law Institute's Continuing Legal Education...
View ArticleFINRA Talks a Good Game, Part II
FINRA Regulatory Notice 13-45, on the heels of the FINRA Conflict of Interest report, may be its way of telling the DoL that FINRA can make the suitability standard work, and that broker-dealers don't...
View ArticleFor those 65+, work and wealth are linked
The largest single source of income for Americans ages 65 and over, as a group, is earned income, according to a study by AARP based on recent U.S. Census data. In 2012, almost 22 percent of older...
View ArticleBowl games feature new Northwestern Mutual “Columns” ad
The series includes six 30-second spots that will air during the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl and BCS Championship game.
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