During the first quarter, assets of target-date mutual funds and 401(k) plans increased to record highs, the Investment Company Institute said. Overall retirement assets, including annuities, as well as government and private defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans, rose to $24.1 trillion in Q1 from $24 trillion in Q4. Pensions & Investments…
Prudential Financial says retirement-plan sponsors as well as advisers, brokers and insurers could enhance the use and acceptance of annuities by employees in defined-contribution plans if they better promoted the products. In a report, Prudential suggests using automatic enrollment and escalation combined with guaranteed lifetime income options and talking about…
The first wave of baby boomers is closing in on the IRS deadline for making required minimum distributions from qualified retirement accounts, writes Mary Beth Franklin, a certified financial planner. Boomers can cut the required distribution by putting 25% of a 401(k) or individual requirement account, up to $125,000, into…
First-quarter annuity sales increased to $56.7 billion, a 7.6% increase year-on-year, driven by a 47.2% increase in fixed annuity sales, a seven-year high, Beacon Research and Morningstar report. Industry groups, however, fear the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule will negatively affect annuity sales, and they have launched court challenges saying…
The IRS has published a notice in response to questions about whether money paid by a qualified defined-benefit plan to an employee participating in a phased retirement program counts as an annuity payment under Section 72 of the Internal Revenue Code. The new guidance explains when these payments are taxable….
A new kind of fixed indexed annuity can be used to avert adverse tax consequences that sometimes arise when the annuity's owner and its annuitant are different individuals, write William Byrnes and Robert Bloink. "Whether an annuity contract is annuitant-driven or owner-driven can be of critical importance," they write. "However,…
In surveys of people who have bought its annuities, TIAA has found that 92% of its customers are happy with their decision, says Roger Ferguson, the company's president and CEO. "There is no buyers' remorse when it came to the major source of their retirement income, which is an annuity,"…
Deferred-income annuities can give people a dependable income stream in retirement, and their structure can provide death benefits to beneficiaries, making them a valuable part of clients' retirement strategies, writes David Simbro of Northwestern Mutual. InsuranceNewsNet Magazine (6/2016)
The Labor Department's fiduciary rule will have a significant effect on the way advisers sell annuities, writes lawyer Marcia Wagner. She discusses five things that advisers should understand in order to remain in compliance with the rule. ThinkAdvisor (5/26)
MetLife executives explained to analysts their concern that regulators will eventually consider variable annuities to be a nontraditional insurance line, which could leave the company facing tougher capital requirements. Separating the retail unit is expected to decrease that risk. The Charlotte Observer (N.C.) (2/4)
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