The Bucket
Brief or late-breaking items from Market Strategies International (Cogent Reports), MassMutual and Voya Financial.
View ArticleIn-Discretionary Accounts
Investment performance of popular “Rep-as-Portfolio-Manager" accounts lags direct-sold packaged portfolios, say analysts at Cerulli Associates and Fuse-Research.
View ArticleThe Quiet Revolution Begins
The chief economic adviser at Allianz analyzes the clash between traditional and "robo" financial service providers, and recommends 'institutional partnerships that combine the more agile existing...
View ArticleIn FIA Arms Race, Hybrid Indexes are the Arms
Investors in Nationwide's New Heights fixed indexed annuities have a new index option: a globally diversified, multi-asset managed-volatility index from JP Morgan called MOZAIC.
View ArticleHow Vanguard participants save
Vanguard has released its annual almanac on the savings habits of participants in its retirement plans. You can read highlights from "How America Saves 2015" and link to a download of the 106-page...
View ArticleWood you, could you, be my alternative investment?
TIAA-CREF, which announced the close of a new timberland investment vehicle, has been investing in timberland since 1998 and manages a portfolio of over $2 billion in timber assets around the world.
View ArticleRuark reports “good news” on FIA policyholder behavior
AIG Life & Retirement, Allianz, American Equity, Athene, EquiTrust, Forethought, Midland National, Nationwide, OneAmerica, Pacific Life, Phoenix, and Security Benefit participated in Ruark...
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 ArticleMetLife launches QLAC as plan distribution option
Participants in plans with MetLife group annuity contracts can put 25% of their qualified savings (up to $125,000) into this new deferred income product, whose premium can be excluded from RMD...
View ArticleAre Most Glide Paths Upside Down?
Investing in equities early in the lifecycle, when balances are low, offers little advantage and may even discourage young investors who suffer losses. So says one of the studies in this roundup of...
View ArticleIn-Discretionary Accounts
Investment performance of popular “Rep-as-Portfolio-Manager" accounts lags direct-sold packaged portfolios, say analysts at Cerulli Associates and Fuse-Research.
View ArticleRetirePreneur: David Macchia
David Macchia is the head of Wealth2K, a Boston-based retirement income software company.
View ArticleNJ Supreme Court sides with Gov. Christie on pension issues
Last year, Gov. Christie cut $1.6 billion from the state's fiscal 2015 public pension contribution, claiming that the state could not afford it.
View ArticleCerulli: Institutions are switching to strategic beta ETFs
A new report, "Exchange-Traded Fund Markets 2015: Opportunities in the Face of Changing Dynamics," finds that firms have different approaches to strategic beta.
View ArticleCognitive assessment tool receives FDA approval
The new tool, called Cognivue, involves a 10-minute test. The person being tested only needs to grasp the “response device,” a kind of joystick called a manipulandum.
View ArticleMassMutual offers handy Social Security quiz
MassMutual found that only 28% of those surveyed received a passing grade when asked basic questions about Social Security retirement benefits.
View ArticleThe Overlooked Income Vehicle
Systematic withdrawals from 401(k) plans are a widely-available but rarely-used way to create retirement income. Perhaps because electronic transfers are virtually free, nobody's championing them.
View ArticleFor those born from 1941-50, old age really is golden: NYT
Some of the 25 million people born between 1941 and 1950—'war babies' and early Boomers—find themselves in a sweet spot, enjoying DB pensions and DC savings, dual incomes, appreciated homes and full...
View ArticleThe DOL and the Robo-Advisors
The DOL proposal will not make investment advice a commodity; it is a commodity. The DOL isn’t going to make thousands of financial salespeople obsolete; the digital advisory channel already has.
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