Systemic Risk is Worse Now than in 2008
"When monetary policy is so extreme for so long, it results in more systemic risk. It's as simple as that," worries our ever-gloomy guest commentator, who pens the Bear's Lair column at prudentbear.com.
View ArticleRetirement assets total $23 trillion in 1Q2014: ICI
IRAs held $6.6 trillion in assets at the end of the first quarter of 2014, up from $6.5 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013. Forty-six percent of IRA assets, or $3.0 trillion, was...
View ArticleCerulli explains strange bond weather
Life insurers, holders of $2.6 trillion in long-term bonds, added about $52 billion in high-quality bonds to general account investment portfolios last year, Cerulli reported.
View ArticleUK creates framework for DB/DC hybrid
It’s still not clear whether the hybrid approach—called “defined ambition” by UK Work & Pensions secretary Steve Webb—has widespread support or interest among employers or if it’s mainly a private...
View ArticleAIG to help officers accused of 'fraud on the market'
The “fraud on the market” theory in class action litigation asserts that the price of shares traded in an “efficient market” reflects all available information, including alleged misrepresentations by...
View ArticleIntroducing the free ‘Social Security Maximizer’
To access the Maximizer, subscribers (after logging in to the RIJ website) should simply click on the Social Security Maximizer image in the right navigation channel of the RIJ homepage.
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 ArticleIs Time Running Out on the Fiduciary Proposal?
'If it takes six months for a comment period and six months for hearings, and then time to develop a final rule, by then we’re running into an election year,' Steven Saxon of Groom Law Group said at...
View ArticleWhat’s In Their Wallets?
Vanguard inventoried the wealth and income of affluent older Americans and found that a surprising number of them are still receiving defined benefit pensions. Income-wise, Vanguard identified eight...
View ArticleLife Just Got Easier for Qualified DIAs
The new Treasury regulation on "longevity insurance" does more than promote late-life annuities. By removing an RMD barrier, it makes retirement income planning easier for middle-class people whose...
View ArticleIt Just Keeps Getting Better
"Don't worry. Be happy," suggests the president of PPCA, Inc., who attached this video when distributing copies of his "Review of the Capital Markets in the First Half of 2014." He deconstructs a...
View ArticleDanish DC Model Draws a Crowd in Britain
Through a subsidiary called "Now: Pensions," Denmark's national defined contribution plan provider (ATP) is making hay of the UK's requirement that all British employers auto-enroll their workers into...
View ArticleTo raise retirement security, ban DC cash-outs: EBRI
Getting rid of cash-outs during job changes could mean that 38.3% more of the poorest Americans would have saved enough to replace 60% of their pre-retirement income (when combining DC savings and...
View ArticleSkads of Data about Americans over 65
The June 2014 report on the elderly by the U.S. Census bureau is a must-have for anyone trying to map this market. It has dozens of useful charts and graphs.
View ArticleThe Bucket
Nevin Adams to leave EBRI for as-yet undisclosed position. Also, brief or late-breaking items from Voya, Nationwide Funds and Securian.
View ArticleHow does an unshackled pension fund invest? Ask Sweden’s SPK
“We’ve invested in a Goldman Sachs fund, which includes credit, high yield and emerging market debt. It’s a broad mandate that we believe has the ability to make money in a rising interest-rate...
View ArticleThirteen Life and Annuity Specialists Rated 'Successful' by Conning
“In our analysis we see a greater focus on annuities among the successful insurers than we had previously,” said Steve Webersen, director of research at Conning.
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 Article