Life 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 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 ArticleRIJ’s Annual Variable Annuity Review
Every July, RIJ assesses the VA market. This year, we look at the “investment only” or “IO” VA, the structured VA, and the VAs with novel income options. All address the public’s need for growth and...
View ArticleWhat's Your ZIP Code's Annuity Potential?
IAP, a small market research firm, analyzes and compares two giant databases to discover whether a particular ZIP code in the U.S. is saturated with annuity sales, underdeveloped, competitive or...
View ArticleThe Fed in Denial
The largest US banks are still 95% debt-financed, according to the Global Capital Index. With that much leverage, it does not take a lot to create fear of insolvency, writes this leading blogger.
View ArticleBooming Until It Hurts?
As usual, the stock market appears to be climbing a wall of worry. This 2013 Nobel laureate believes that such worries are healthy, but only as long as they don't fuel an over-reaction to the next...
View ArticleEx-official calls for a 'universal 401(k)’
As one way to finance the program, Gene B. Sperling suggested reducing the estate tax exclusion for couples to $7 million from $10.7 milllion, a move that he said would generate over $200 billion in...
View ArticleThe Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from Fidelity Investments, Security Benefit Life and Phoenix Companies.
View ArticleBritons transition to DC, step by painful step
Imagine if participants in doomed defined benefit plans could move their accrued benefits to a defined contribution plan. That seems to be what's happening in the UK as the country shifts to an...
View ArticleHalf of working-age Americans save too little
A household is at risk, according to the CRR, if it’s not on track to reach retirement with enough savings to generate an income (from an inflation-adjusted life annuity) that’s at least 90% of its...
View ArticleAlliance Benefit Group partners with Hueler Income Solutions
Over one million participants in 16,000 retirement plans administered by ABG will be able to access Hueler's online platform for purchasing single premium immediate annuities, deferred income...
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 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 ArticleRIJ’s Annual Variable Annuity Review
Every July, RIJ assesses the VA market. This year, we look at the “investment only” or “IO” VA, the structured VA, and the VAs with novel income options. All address the public’s need for growth and...
View ArticleWhat's Your ZIP Code's Annuity Potential?
IAP, a small market research firm, analyzes and compares two giant databases to discover whether a particular ZIP code in the U.S. is saturated with annuity sales, underdeveloped, competitive or...
View ArticleAnatomy of a Success: Elite Access
Jackson National Life's Elite Access variable annuity zoomed from zero to a $1 billion in quarterly sales in less than two years. Using the craze for 'liquid alts' as a hook, it revived the concept of...
View ArticleMan Bites Vanguard
A whistleblower's suit accusing Vanguard of transfer pricing and tax evasion reminded me of the time I asked, 'What does Vanguard do with its own money?'
View ArticleConsider the Alternatives!
Liquid alts are the hottest topic in mutual funds. Some have suggested that they can solve sequence risk and temper longevity risk in retirement portfolios. To demystify this topic, RIJ called Keith...
View ArticleSocial Security: Short by 2.9% of payroll
Raising the payroll tax rate to 15.23% (without alternating the level of income subject to the tax) or reducing benefits by 17.4%, or a combination of the two, would fix Social Security overnight, the...
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