RIJ’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 ArticleQLACs Take Flight, But Will They Soar?
Taxable distributions from qualified longevity annuity contracts can be deferred until as late as age 85. But how popular will they be, and will they be used for longevity risk protection or as a tax...
View ArticleThe Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from AIG, Plan Strategies, Inc., Great-West Financial, OneAmerica, Voya Financial, USAA, LifeYield, Franklin Templeton Investments and TIAA-CREF.
View ArticleNationwide’s ‘blue frame’ goes out the window
On Sept. 4, Nationwide’s NFL advertising, featuring Peyton Manning, will include the insurer's refurbished 'N and Eagle' brand mark. It will also appear on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 car at the...
View ArticleCBO predicts 3.8% fed funds rate by 2019
CBO projects that the federal funds rate will remain near zero until the second half of 2015 and then “rise considerably.”
View ArticleDTCC Publishes first-half 2014 Annuity Flow Report
The report analyzed almost $104 billion in annuity transactions involving 120 insurance companies (44 parent/holding companies), 583 distributors, and 3,463 annuity products.
View ArticleRetirePreneur: Sheryl J. Moore
The founder of Moore Market Intelligence and Wink, Ms. Moore has established herself as one of the most widely respected, quoted and enthusiastic authorities on fixed indexed annuities.
View ArticleDo ETFs Increase Stock Volatility?
Authors of a new study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that a one-standard-deviation increase in ETF ownership of a stock raises its daily volatility and turnover by...
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 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 ArticleQLACs Take Flight, But Will They Soar?
Taxable distributions from qualified longevity annuity contracts can be deferred until as late as age 85. But how popular will they be, and will they be used for longevity risk protection or as a tax...
View ArticleReplacing Those Disputed Replacement Rates
What was so important about a tiny column of numbers, missing from Table V.C7 of the 2014 Social Security Trustees Report?
View ArticleParallels to 1937
"Now, as then, people have been disappointed for a long time, and many are despairing," writes the 2013 Nobel laureate in economics.
View ArticleThe Death Spiral of Capitalism
"The effect of a decade or more with negative real interest rates is likely to be devastating," writes this ever-bearish pundit. He expects the central bank response to the next financial crisis to...
View ArticleRobo-advisors aren't science fiction: Celent
A new report challenges the notion that investors will continue to want or need face-to-face contact with the person managing their money.
View ArticleRisk-reduction strategy pays off for UK fund
Using a custom diversification measure, where 0 signifies absolute correlation and 1 no correlation, the manager of the Now Pensions fund adjusts its portfolio to stop unexpectedly correlated assets...
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