Celebrating 20 years of being the industry’s number one news source!
A handful of billionaires and multimillionaires are making a renewed push for the government to raise their taxes and siphon away some of their holdings. As Democratic presidential candidates debate a new tax on wealth rather than on incomes, this group of uber-rich people is urging them on.
Read more
A new study from BNY Mellon Investment Management revealed the majority of Americans surveyed have limited understanding about fixed income investing regardless of age, income or education level. For example, only 8% of those surveyed were able to identify the definition of fixed income investments.
Since last year’s Global Factor Study, there has been a notable increase in the proportion of North American respondents who believe factor investing can be extended to fixed income. Invesco found that 61% of institutional investors and 76% of wealth managers now view the approach as being applicable.
For those of us that try to keep up with current economic activity, it seems like it is getting more difficult trying to figure out where this economy is going. There are both positive and negative factors as we get current readings on the overall health of the economy.
In a letter this week to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kent., Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., lobbied for immediate Senate consideration of the bipartisan Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) Act. The bill passed the House by a 417-3 vote on May 23.
A new Eaton Partners’ survey finds that an overwhelming majority of investors (69%) say they are concerned about the anti-private equity rhetoric by some U.S. presidential candidates, even though most respondents admit any potential action remains unclear. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have railed against Wall Street.
The Annuity Suitability Working Group is making a furious bid to nail down language of an annuity sales model law by the NAIC fall meeting the first week of December. The group took on the heart of the model this week: “The Duties of Insurers and Producers,” starting with “Best Interest Obligations.”
The economists hold out the possibility that world growth will improve if the most important countries, including China and the United States, adopt sensible policies and cooperate with one another. Here’s how IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath summed up the present situation:. Inevitably perhaps, the IMF predicts that global growth will rebound next year.
Retail sales fell 0.3% last month following a 0.6% gain in August, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Consumer spending was strong in the spring and economists had been counting on continued strength to protect the U.S. economy as it is buffeted by the fallout from President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.
The open enrollment period for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, begin on Nov. 1 and last until Dec. 15, a period that has been shortened from 92 days to 45 days under President Donald Trump’s administration. Meanwhile, two Democratic presidential candidates support backing out of private insurance in order to implement a universal plan.
A judge recently ordered the Zurich American Life Insurance Company to place Sandra Kalosky’ s insurance benefit into an escrow account rather than pay it to her husband Robert Kalosky. Judge Victor Bolden said since the March 2018 homicide is unsolved the insurance company is in an untenable position.
Bernie Sanders has released a major proposal to “end corporate greed and corruption” by requiring large companies to give ownership stakes to their workers. The senator has been recuperating at his Vermont home for nearly two weeks since having a heart attack while campaigning in Las Vegas but will travel to Ohio for Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate.
The state of Michigan’s retirement systems have ended a contract with an investment company that managed more than $600 million in pension funds after the CEO made “completely unacceptable” comments at a conference. The decision came two days after Fisher Investments’ founder and CEO Ken Fisher spoke at the Tiburon CEO Summit in San Francisco.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren held a 31% to 25% edge over Mr. Biden among voters across 18 early primary and caucus states, up from a 1- point, 26% to 25% edge over Biden in surveys released last month, according to the CBS News polling. Warren and Biden were also tied at 22% apiece in Iowa, after Warren had trailed the former vice president by 12 points last month.
Janet Yellen, former head of the Federal Reserve, says the U.S. economy remains in good shape overall but with risks ahead, including modest growth, an aging population, weak gains in worker productivity and high federal deficits. Still, many worries remain as the economy continues its record expansion, she added.
Regulation 187 was finalized in 2018 and took effect Aug. 1 of this year for annuities. Life insurance sales will fall under the rule on Feb. 1, 2020. It establishes a best-interest standard, mandates enhanced disclosure and documentation, required of the producer and insurance carrier, as well as training programs.
The U.S. economy added a modest 136,000 jobs in September, a gain that managed to help lower the unemployment rate to a new five-decade low of 3.5 percent. A group of business and academic leaders explain what it means to the economy at large.
The Federal Reserve is easing restrictions imposed on banks following the 2008 financial crisis, giving a victory to the banking industry and President Donald Trump. The Fed on Thursday approved a set of rule changes that implement legislation passed by Congress last year to loosen restrictions, particularly for smaller community banks.
During a fireside chat, Fisher, founder and chairman of Fisher Investments, made what some attendees called “absolutely horrifying” comments during his session with summit attendees. Some say the growing diversity in financial services is the reason such talk is being rejected; others say there is much work to do.
Ken Fisher reportedly made several offensive remarks during a “fireside chat” at the Tiburon Advisors’ CEO Summit, which has traditionally been a place for industry execs to speak candidly and off the record about their respected fields. The Tiburon managing partner says Fisher will never be invited back.
Federal Reserve officials were sharply divided last month when they decided to cut their key policy rate for a second time this year, a split that indicates the path forward for future rate cuts remains cloudy. The Fed’s benchmark rate currently stands in a range of 1.75% to 2% with the next meeting coming on Oct. 29-30.
The Annuity Suitability Working Group wants to make sure its annuity sales model law will not disturb exemptions granted under Dodd-Frank. The group is holding two-hour conference calls in a bid to finally complete the model law before the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ fall meeting in December.
There were 490 announced insurance agency mergers and acquisitions during the first three quarters of the year, according to OPTIS Partners’ M&A database. It was the highest nine-month total ever, beating the 481 deals announced in 2018.
And as time runs out on aging Holocaust survivors, some are trying to recover insurance policies that were not honored by Nazi-era companies, which could be worth at least $25 billion altogether in today’s dollars, according to the Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation USA.
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, speaking in Denver on Tuesday, said the nation’s central bank was ready to boost its balance sheet again to address a cash crunch in the financial system. In no sense is this quantitative easing, Powell told members of the National Association for Business Economics, which is holding its annual meeting in Denver.
A broker who sued Ohio National to recoup trail commissions will appeal an Oct. 2 ruling dismissing his lawsuit, his attorney says. Stephen Cook, a Dallas-based advisor affiliated with Triad Advisors, filed a class-action lawsuit filed in March challenging Ohio National’s decision to stop paying trail commissions on certain variable annuities.
A judge for the Southern District of Ohio tossed out a pair of lawsuits by separate brokers last week, bolstering Ohio National’s 2018 decision to eliminate trail commissions on certain variable annuities. But a pair of other lawsuits can proceed, judges have ruled.
An organization of business experts said in a new survey Monday the U.S. economy will grow by less than 2 percent in 2020– the slowest pace in three years. The National Association for Business Economics said in its October outlook it expects U.S. gross domestic product to grow by just 1.8 percent next year– a decline from the 2.1 percent projection it made in June.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday that the U.S. economy is facing some risks at the moment, but overall it is in a “good place” and the Fed’s main job is to “keep it there as long as possible.” Powell noted that unemployment is at a half-century low and inflation is running close to the Fed’s 2 percent target.
On Thursday morning, the Institute for Supply Management announced that the nonmanufacturing index hit a three-year low. Economists and traders alike already knew that manufacturing was in a recession as a result of the global slowdown brought on by the U.S. trade war.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell in September to a new five-decade low of 3.5%, while employers added a modest 136,000 jobs. Hiring has slowed this year as the U.S.- China trade war has intensified, global growth has slowed, and businesses have cut back on their investment spending.
LIMRA research finds the top reason employers offer benefits is to retain employees (73%), followed by attracting new employees (56%) and staying competitive in the market (51%). One reason that retaining employees is a significantly bigger motive than attracting new employees comes down to cost.
With the John Hancock Vitality Apple Watch program, life insurance policyholders can walk, run, bike or swim, share their activities and earn points that go toward monthly payments for their watch over a two-year period. The program first launched in 2015 amid some privacy concerns.
The latest wave of selling came after a report showed hiring by U.S. companies slowed more than economists expected last month, with mining and manufacturing particularly weak. It added to worries that shook markets a day earlier, when a reading on U.S. manufacturing growth dropped to its worst level in a decade.
The latest wave of selling came after a report showed hiring by U.S. companies slowed more than economists expected last month, with mining and manufacturing particularly weak. It added to worries that shook markets a day earlier, when a reading on U.S. manufacturing showed the sharpest contraction in a decade.
The Accelerated Underwriting Working Group had its first conference call today and vowed to stick with a deliberative schedule that has the group deferring a work product until next summer. Annual surveys show insurers steadily adopting additional Big Data and accelerated underwriting efforts.
While millennials see investing as the primary vehicle for saving for the future, they also find it overwhelming and intimidating, a new Investopedia survey finds. Nearly half of affluent millennials say they think they will be forced to work beyond retirement age.
The Annuity Suitability Working Group is holding two-hour conference calls in a speeded-up timeline designed to finally complete the model law. The group wants to present the model to the A Committee during the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ fall meeting in December.
Millennials value financial openness in their relationships, with 31 percent saying they would consider breaking up with their partner if they discovered hidden debt or a bad credit score, according to the fifth annual Love and Money Survey by TD Bank.
U.S. factory activity hit its lowest level in more than a decade, as President Donald Trump’s trade wars take a toll on American and global manufacturing. But it appears to be having the opposite effect, spurring the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter-point in September for the second time this year.
While lowering the Fed rate may excite some investors, it may only further hamper those trying to get a home loan, since lower rates can discourage lenders from extending credit to all but the most-qualified buyers. Experts say more is needed to spark the economy for those lower wage earners.
Congressman Chris Collins of New York announced his resignation Monday, a day before he was set to change his plea in an insider trading case in Manhattan federal court.
Just weeks after defense attorneys asked a judge to throw out criminal charges in the insider trading case against Chris Collins, the Republican congressman is expected to enter a guilty plea.
As concerns about cyber threats have grown, a higher percentage of businesses across nearly every industry reported taking proactive measures to safeguard against cyber risks, including buying cyber insurance.
Americans’ confidence in their ability to pay their credit card bills continued to decline in September, according to a new report from CompareCards.com, as fewer cardholders manage to pay their statement balances in full at the end of the month.
A new study finds that more and more seniors are delaying retirement to work longer. The labor force participation rate for the 65-74 age group alone has increased by nine percentage points, from 18% to 27%, in the past 20 years. For the 75+ group, the labor force participation rate nearly doubled over the same time period.
The Trump administration’s trade war with China is largely to blame for stocks’ screeching halt on Wall Street since April, analysts and economists say. The Trump trade war’s drag on Wall Street is a dramatic turnaround for investors, who survived a whip-saw winter that saw the S&P plunge late last year only to recover at the start of this year.
Representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Eugene Scalia played a major role in convincing an appeals court judicial panel to vacate the Obama Labor Department’s fiduciary rule. The DOL is working on a replacement rule to be unveiled by the end of the year.
Most employers said they offer physical (63%), financial (65%) and mental (74%) wellness programs. Organizations also cover at least some of the cost for these physical and financial (51% each) and mental (64%) wellness resources. The survey found that employers plan further benefits’ offerings in the months ahead.
The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America supports the bill, which would protect agents and brokers who write insurance coverage for legitimate cannabis-related businesses from criminal prosecution and civil liability. The bill passed the House with a vote of 321-103.
The Securities and Exchange Commission was accused of failing its mission as “Wall Street’s cop” in the first appearance of the full SEC board in Congress since 2007.
LIMRA research shows 26% of all U.S. workers participate in gig work either as their primary job or as a secondary source of income and almost three-quarters of these workers believe they will continue working in this capacity over the next five years. Lack of access to benefits that are usually offered to traditional workers is one of the big challenges of this work.
Bernie Sanders, a Vermont senator, announced a plan Tuesday to tax the nation’s wealthiest households. He vows to go further than Warren and generate more than $4 trillion over the next decade, substantially reducing billionaires’ fortunes. Whether any such plan can get through Congress is debatable.
Stopping just short of predicting a recession in the U.S. through its 2021 forecast horizon, the UCLA Anderson Forecast, in its third quarterly report of 2019, expects the national economy to slow to 0.4% in the second half of 2020, before rebounding to 2.1% in 2021.
A new study finds the majority of Americans are stressed about their financial situations, with 3 out of 4 Americans wishing they could get a financial planning do-over. However, according to the survey by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, the outlook isn’t all grim.
Almost two-thirds of American workers did not automatically choose the same benefits as the previous year, indicating they are putting more thought into their choices during open enrollment, a new survey released by Prudential Financial shows. Also, a majority of American workers (58%) said that if auto-enrolled in an insurance policy, they would likely keep it.
Elizabeth Warren’s plan to pay for a series of far-reaching government programs with a 2% wealth tax has liberal audiences chanting ” 2 cents” in much the same way that President Trump’s vow to build a wall along the southern border led to a “Build that wall” battle cry.
Advisors say being easily influenced by recent news, playing it overly safe and seeking information that reinforces established perceptions are the most common behavioral biases that impact their clients’ investing decisions.
A few hours before a divided Federal Reserve trimmed interest rates last week to keep the economy primed, the boss at one of the world’ s biggest banks addressed whether the U.S. was in danger of slipping into a recession. “My own gut tells me it’ s not imminent,” JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said.
No more are actively managed funds the kings of Wall Street. Index funds usurped actively managed funds for the first time this week, confirming a major shift in the way people invest. As of Aug. 31, index funds held $4.27 trillion in assets, compared to $4.25 trillion currently in active funds, Morningstar research found.
