Great-West Financial, seeking to offer retirement investors guaranteed income, has launched a new “low cost” variable annuity (VA) that doesn’t charge clients until they start shifting funds to the income segment of the annuity…
The number of registered investment advisors (RIAs) grew at an annualized rate of 8 percent between 2004 and 2012, the only channel among six separate advisor channels to record growth in the period, a new analysis reveals…
Wholesale financial services distributor Lincoln Financial Distributors (LFD) has hired three new regional sales directors to expand its intermediary retirement plan sales force and offer more service to retirement plan advisors, the company said…
Monument Advisor, the flat-fee variable annuity offered by Jefferson National Life, has added 23 new investment options to its fund lineup to help advisors manage risk and volatility…
The fortunes of the fixed annuity business are so closely tied to the movement of interest rates that fixed annuity professionals follow rate developments closely. Right now, some professionals might be getting cross-eyed, due to what seems to be mixed messages in this area…
The indexed annuity with guaranteed minimum income benefits rider could be a safer alternative to bonds in your client’s retirement portfolio…
The chief executive officer of one of the nation’s most respected life insurance companies decried the state of the industry…
Top executives with The Principal Financial Group held firm in their long-term acquisition strategy in foreign markets despite a November ratings downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service citing capital constraints…
Excess capital among annuity insurers, low organic growth and financing rates, louder activist shareholders and the narrowing of bid-ask spreads means it’s likely the market will see more private equity deals, an expert said…
American General has added a rider to its guaranteed universal life (GUL) policy that allows policyholders diagnosed with chronic illness to access the policy’s death benefit while they are still alive…
According to a new strategic alliance, Allstate Financial will start selling fixed annuities manufactured and underwritten by ING U.S., effective in January…
A new survey released by Aon Hewitt finds that employers are boosting returns on retirement savings at very little extra cost through lower fees, and by offering non-mutual fund alternatives and adding passive management strategies to the investment mix…
A U.S. bankruptcy judge’s ruling that pensions can be cut to reduce the city of Detroit’s $18 billion long-term liabilities is a “watershed” event in the history of municipal bankruptcies, according to a credit analyst…
Within hours of a U.S. bankruptcy judge clearing the way for cuts to current and future pension benefits to rid a bankrupt Detroit of its $18 billion liability, the Illinois General Assembly on approved an overhaul of the government worker pension system to remove a $100 billion pension debt in that state…
National Plan Holdings, a holding company for four separate broker-dealers with a total of 3,545 registered reps, posted third quarter revenue of $247 million, an increase of 14.8 percent compared with the year-ago period, the company said…
Call it the big disconnect. Roaring stock prices and the solid rebound in the housing market have only led to a “modest” improvement in the prospects of Americans’ retirement security, new research published by the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College shows…
State legislators are forming a new task force to examine the various approaches that states are taking regarding unclaimed life insurance death benefits…
Variable annuity changes recorded by Morningstar dropped to a near-record low of 84 in the third quarter. The record was a mere 59 changes made in first quarter 2011…
An elderly widow sold two annuities and deposited the cash-out into a bank. Thus began a chain of events in which the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) wound up charging two brokers with stealing $300,000 from the widow…
