The Third Stage of the Rocket
The Treasury Dept. limited QLAC premiums to the smaller of $125,000 or 25% of qualified savings. A retiree can’t produce much monthly income from such a small premium unless he or she delays the...
View ArticleThird-quarter annuity sales a mixed bag
Income annuity sales reached $3.11 billion during the third quarter of 2014, an 8.3% drop from $3.39 billion in the previous quarter, but a 10.5% increase from sales of nearly $2.82 billion in the...
View ArticleJudy Zaiken joins LIMRA as research executive
Zaiken succeeds and will report to LIMRA senior vice president Alison Salka, Ph.D, who is moving up to the position of director of LIMRA research. Joe Montminy, head of annuity research at LIMRA, will...
View ArticleAmendment would erode pension rights, AARP charges
“This last minute backroom deal would, for the first time, amend the pension law to allow the earned vested benefits of retirees to be cut,” said AARP senior vice president Joyce A. Rogers, in a press...
View ArticleDCIIA publishes FAQs on longevity annuities
The Defined Contribution Institutional Investors Association said it "expects these new regulations... to support the transformation of participant‐directed savings plans into plans structured for...
View Article“Longevity bonds” will help pensions transfer longevity risk: OECD
The OECD warned pension funds that fail to recognize the impact of future mortality improvements could cause them to underestimate liabilities by 10%.
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 ArticleThree Reasons for Gratitude Today
What should the retirement income industry feel grateful for? I can think of three things.
View ArticleThe Hidden Gold in Mid-Size Rollovers
Inspira, a $20 million IRA recordkeeper, and GuidedChoice, say they can turn small, unprofitable rollover IRAs into revenue generators for a wide range of big recordkeepers and others. "This industry...
View ArticleQLAC Status for VAs and FIAs: Yea or Nay?
“Trying to make a deferred annuity with a GLWB into a QLAC amounts to contorting it into something it isn't and shouldn't be,” said John Olsen, co-author with Michael Kitces of The Advisor’s Guide to...
View Article2014 in Retrospect: The Best of RIJ
Before 2015 arrives, bringing its own urgent demands for our attention, here’s a look back at a dozen of RIJ’s best articles of 2014.
View ArticleNationwide Settles 401k Fee Suit for $140M
"This is the most substantial settlement ever in an ERISA fiduciary breach case involving the receipt of revenue sharing by a service provider. It is... nearly 10 times greater than recent settlements...
View ArticleWatchdog group decries change in swaps regulation
MapLight, which tracks the influence of money in U.S. politics, claims that the four banks benefiting most from last week's relaxation of rules against swaps trading by federally-insured banks spent...
View ArticleTowers Watson cuts out middleman in longevity risk transfer deals
Towers Watson’s service, Longevity Direct, will give pension funds access to a “ready made insurance cell,” which it said could write insurance and reinsurance contracts for longevity swap transactions.
View ArticleAssets keep flowing toward index and exchange-traded funds
PIMCO's outflows slowed to $12.8 billion last month, according to Morningstar. Janus, with Bill Gross on board, experienced its second positive month in November after 36 months of outflows.
View ArticleWith Gibraltar Ventures, Prudential Retirement Aims to Be ‘Disruptive’
"Gibraltar Ventures will explore disruptive strategies and business models, focus resources on those ideas that have the most potential to advance retirement and financial security, and complement our...
View ArticleRIJ Takes a Vacation
Retirement Income Journal will not publish on Christmas or New Year's Day, but will return on January 8, 2015. I will be traveling in France and Spain, asking the residents of Paris and Barcelona how...
View ArticleFinancial / Retirement Planning Software Directory
See the detail on financial planning software including vendors, scopes, costs, and contacts.
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