Standalone Living Benefits Provide Guaranteed Income without Annuities
The standalone living benefit (“SALB”) is a relatively new and innovative product in the retirement income arena.
A SALB is basically the same thing as the guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (GLWB) that accompanies many variable annuities. The GLWB feature allows the contract holder to…
SOA Paper Examines Retirement Income Reality Gap
A recent paper sponsored by the Society of actuaries provides an impressive and comprehensive review of retirement income-related research.
Slides from David Babbel's Fixed Indexed Annuity Study - Recent Historical Evidence
This is a follow-up on two previous entries that discuss the fixed indexed annuity study from Wharton Professor David Babbel.
The previous and related posts can be found here and here. Proper attribution, disclaimers and context for the study are discussed in these previous posts. It is worth…
The Singularity Presents an Extreme Scenario for Retirement and Annuities
There is a prominent and growing group of people who believe that the exponential pace of technological progress will have a profound near-term impact on society. Singularity is a term often associated with this school of thought.
Should You be Less Concerned about Liquidity?
Some very famous professional investors have built careers on the notion that liquid assets have higher returns than liquid assets.
Sheryl Moore on Fixed Indexed Annuities and the SEC Proposed Rule 151A
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed Rule 151A would change the securities status of indexed annuities from fixed insurance products to registered, securities products.
Short-Term Focus has Adverse Impact on Retirement Income Product Development
It seems a bit misguided to let a couple quarters of anomalous earnings drive business decisions that will play-out over years or even decades.
A Roth IRA Conversion Might Make Sense with Tax Increases on the Horizon
Both traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Roth IRAs are tax advantaged accounts.With a traditional IRA, contributions to the account are tax deductible. Appropriate distributions from the account are taxed in the future at income tax rates that apply to the account owner's future…
Robert Merton's Retirement Income Lecture
MIT Professor and Nobel laureate Robert Merton delivers a lecture on the challenges involved with retirement income planning.
RMS Model Provides a New Perspective on Longevity Risk
Annuity Digest interviews a SVP at RMS about the company's new longevity risk model and related longevity risk initiatives.
Risk Tolerance and Fixed Indexed Annuities - Why Rational Investors Will Prefer Annuities to Alternative Investments
This is a continuation of a series of posts that discuss a fixed indexed annuity study from Professor David Babbel.
Previous posts discussed the comparative performance of fixed indexed annuities and alternative investment options. Comparative performance was examined over the past 15 years and…
Retirement Vulnerability Index Highlights Need for Sources of Guaranteed Income
A not for profit coalition of organizations known as Americans for Secure Retirement has published an interesting summary of an Ernst and Young study that focuses on the impact of longevity risk on middle-income Americans.
The Retirement Vulnerability Index is an interactive map that provides…
Reverse Mortgage Data
Reverse mortgages are critically important sources of retirement financing because home equity is a majority portion of the net worth of tens of millions of retirement-age U.S. households.
Retirement Planning Options
What retirement planning options are available to a soon-to-be retired household if desired retirement spending is not realistic in light of savings?
For Retail Investors Who Want to Sleep at Night
For retail investors seeking alternatives to the madness of daily market volatility, few information sources that are better than Zvi Bodie.
