The American Council of Life Insurers has submitted to the Labor Department comments that criticize provisions of the agency's proposed fiduciary rule. The rule "limits consumer access to education and information about annuities, the only financial products in the marketplace that guarantee lifetime income," ACLI said. InsuranceNewsNet online (4/18)
Many defined-benefit pension plans are frustrated by persistently low interest rates and are preparing to move pension liabilities off their balance sheets, and many of them will use annuities to reach that goal, according to a report by Richard McEvoy of Mercer. "Over the next five to 10 years, we…
Insurance companies and independent marketing organizations have provided comments to the Labor Department to explain their views on changes to contract terms after fixed-indexed annuities are issued. The department has proposed a fiduciary-rule exemption for IMO sales of commission-based FIAs, and the comments arrived in response to that proposal. InsuranceNewsNet…
The Trump administration's plan to roll back financial regulations could include the Harkin Amendment, which exempts annuities from securities laws and instead lets them be regulated as insurance products, experts say. In such a scenario, many indexed-annuity distributors "would stop selling them or would need to obtain [a securities license]…
The Labor Department has issued a letter clarifying the fact that annuities can be used in target date funds that are designated by 401(k) retirement plans as qualified default investment options. Employers who take that approach should help plan participants understand the liquidity limitations that come with using annuities, the…
People getting close to retirement should develop a strategy for dealing with potential long-term-care costs, writes Steve Vernon, a research scholar at the Stanford Center on Longevity. "This can include buying long-term care insurance, keeping your home equity in reserve if you need to pay for long-term care, buying a…
Retirees may need to reconsider their timing of income withdrawal from annuities, pensions and Social Security if President-elect Donald Trump's tax cuts proposed during the campaign become law, Jeff Fosselman writes. "With a potentially lower rate environment on the horizon, it is essential to review income planning," he writes. Next…
Retirement savers poised to take advantage of increasing bond yields can benefit from income annuities, writes Matt Carey, a former Treasury Department policy advisor. "Payouts on income annuities are up from their post-Brexit lows," he writes.
Annuities are an option for financing long-term care for people who didn't buy insurance early enough, writes Chris Orestis of Life Care Funding. A guaranteed income stream can cover long-term care and retirement expenses through the purchase of a medically underwritten immediate annuity, he writes. LifeHealthPro (11/29)
The Labor Department fiduciary rule won't end annuity sales to people preparing for retirement, but it will bring big changes to the way the products are sold, industry experts say. The rule will bring some less costly and more transparent products to the market, the experts say. Financial Advisor online…
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