More Advisors Budgeting Health Care Costs in Retirement Planning

New fixed-indexed annuity products with shorter seven-year surrender periods are driving down commissions, new data shows. First-quarter indexed annuity commissions dropped to 4.96 percent from 5.37 percent a year ago.

Senate Democrats ramped up opposition to the emerging Republican health-care bill, launching a series of mostly symbolic moves including speeches that went late into the evening and a push to slow other Senate business to a crawl.

While financial advisory fees have undergone some compression, they remain surprisingly robust in mid-2017 and should stay that way for the foreseeable future, a new paper predicts.

Financial planners say pressure from taxes and regulation are making them less likely to recommend life and annuity products. Can these products adapt and thrive beyond 2017?

States are charging into the fiduciary pool, with Nevada passing a fiduciary standard for any advisors licensed to do business in the state. Others are seeking fiduciary language via other means.

Financial advisors recruited to independent broker-dealers (IBD) are as likely to come from the insurance distribution channel as they are from big wirehouses, new research found.

Investment advisors and financial advisors who leave or break away from their captive channel to start new in the independent channel is lower than speculated. The Department of Labor fiduciary rule might move the number northward.

A new report said the House Republican health care overhaul plan could result in nearly 1 million jobs being lost nationwide by 2026.

The latest Fed rate hike, announced in a statement after a policy meeting, comes as the U.S. economy is growing only sluggishly. Further slow rate hikes are expected going forward.

Mass Mutual Life finished as the top seller of whole life insurance in the first quarter 2017 in a new report, repeating the top spot it held for all of 2016.

Shouldn’t the real question be how the new rule impacts the ordinary investor?

President Donald Trump suggested that more money might be needed for the Republican health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Technology has made the traditional camera obsolete, and financial advisors could be the next to find themselves discarded in the wake of new technology, according to a speaker at an Insured Retirement Institute conference.

Indexed life insurance sales were greater than they have ever been in any first quarter, since their introduction 20 years ago, according to Sheryl J. Moore, president and CEO of Moore Market Intelligence and Wink, Inc.

Republicans are taking a big political risk on health care. They’re trying to scale back major benefit programs being used by millions of people. And they’re trying to do it even though much of the public is leery of drastic changes, and there’s no support outside the GOP.

New studies show more women taking on the role of financial breadwinner. Data also shows women unprepared to inherit wealth or pass their own wealth on to loved ones. An opportunity for advisors?

The Department of Labor fiduciary rule begins taking effect at 11:59 tonight. That means acting as a fiduciary, making no misleading statements and accepting only “reasonable compensation.”

Firms large and small make their final moves to get into compliance with the Department of Labor fiduciary rule, which begins taking effect at 11:59 p.m. Friday. What comes next?

Ohio National adds creative rider to new fixed-indexed annuity product. Does it signify future direction of FIA products? How will the impending fiduciary rules affect sales?

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta blasts the Obama administration for failing to consider industry concerns about the fiduciary rule. The DOL is busy reviewing the rule for possible changes, he told a House subcommittee today.

Senate Republicans received a broad outline of their still-evolving legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, as time dwindles and pressure mounts from the White House to put the contentious measure to a vote before the summer recess.

Defined contribution plan-focused online advisory firms are expected to double over the next five years as clients flock to a pay-as-you-go method of saving for retirement, according to an industry expert.

Individual life insurance new annualized premium increased five percent in first quarter 2017 compared to first quarter 2016, according to LIMRA’s First Quarter 2017 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales Survey.

Growth in the number of online-only advice firms in the business-to-consumer segment is apparently leveling off, according to new data. Robo models will have a role in the future, analysts say, but how big of a role is unknown.

If President Donald J. Trump gets his way on taxes, the traditional mortgage interest tax deduction would change dramatically. But would it depress home ownership? Advisors might have to recommend renting.

The Senate has an opportunity to craft a health care bill that actually helps expand health care coverage.

Fifty-two percent of lump sum recipients say their budget would be more predictable if they’d chosen annuity payments from an employer pension or defined contribution plan, a new survey finds.

About 13,000 Voya Financial policyholders agreed to surrender variable annuity contracts in the company’s latest offer. The company will be looking for further opportunities to reduce its risk exposure, execs say.

Voluntary benefit participation rates rose by 567 percent in the Midwest, more than twice the rise in any other region. Employers and employees both like voluntary benefits.

Variable annuities are under pressure from Department of Labor regulations that begin taking effect next week. That hasn’t stopped insurers from offering new and creative death benefits. Will the moves save VAs?

New FINRA notice requires broker-dealers to keep records of any text message correspondence, and take responsibility for any links or shares to third-party content providers.

Here is a rundown of the the top 10 fixed annuity sellers and where they finished in the first quarter.

Insurers and annuity companies have reported a record 26 filings for fee-based variable annuities in the six-month period that began Dec. 1.

Senate Republicans have a plan to avoid answering questions on the House legislation to repeal large portions of the 2010 health law: to say it’s not their bill.

When members of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) visited Washington for the organization’s annual Congressional Conference, they brought their stories of how pending legislation and regulation will affect their clients back home on Main Street.

The health care bill Republicans recently pushed through the House would leave 23 million more Americans without insurance and confront others who have costly medical conditions with coverage that could prove unaffordable, Congress’ official budget analysts said.

Enacting the American Health Care Act (AHCA) would reduce federal deficits by $119 billion over the coming decade but increase the number of people who are uninsured by 23 million in 2026. That was the word from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation, which released their analysis of the AHCA Wednesday afternoon.

First quarter 2017 sales of fixed indexed annuities (FIAs) dropped 14 percent to $12.9 billion compared with the year-ago period, according to Wink’s Market & Sales Report.

Any lawyer can sue on recommendations made after June 9 under the new fiduciary rule, one industry analyst says. Here’s what agents/advisors need to do to meet the new compensation regs.

Literally all avenues remain open to Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to amend or rewrite the controversial fiduciary rule, analysts say. The rule begins to take effect June 9.

Sales of fixed indexed annuities (FIAs) are expected to be hit the hardest as new regulations and uncertainty among distributors will dampen new sales of individual annuities in 2017. LIMRA’s forecast is for sales of all U.S. individual annuities to drop between 5 percent and 10 percent in 2017.

The Department of Labor fiduciary rule will begin taking effect as scheduled on June 9 after new Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta declined to delay the rule again.

The House passed its version this month, but not without difficulty, and now Republicans who run the Senate are finding hurdles, too.

Industry witnesses joined House Republicans Thursday in calling on President Donald J. Trump to further delay the Department of Labor fiduciary rule. The rule is slated to take effect in two phases: June 9 and Jan. 1, 2018.

The bill will be “dismantled” in the Senate but will never pass the Senate in its entirety, she predicted.

U.S. annuity sales were $52.0 billion, a slight uptick from fourth quarter, but a 12 percent decline from the first quarter 2016, according to LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute.

Confusion surrounding the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule has caused insurance distributors to hold back on specific sales strategies and that could affect annuity sales this year, insurance company executives said.

The federal government sued UnitedHealth Group, alleging the health care company wrongly received from Medicare at least $1 billion in “risk adjustment” payments based on inaccurate data submissions.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wants to make it easier for small employers to offer health insurance to their workers, and to promote agent and broker participation in the process.

The number of uninsured could start climbing again under some of the policies now being considered by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

Simple income annuities are among the most straightforward income products in the retirement income marketplace. Will they catch fire with the masses approaching retirement?

Not much is known about President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan, which remains a broad outline, with no specifics in sight. One thing experts do know, however, is that it will be good for business — though how good remains to be seen.

Newly sworn-in Secretary Alexander Acosta holds the fate of the Department of Labor fiduciary rule. Will he choose to fight to delay and amend the Obama-crafted rule? Absent a reprieve, the rule begins taking effect June 9.

President Donald J. Trump’s tax plan looks highly favorable to financial consumers, especially affluent ones. But what will it look like once it emerges from Congress?

While Republicans rewrite the Affordable Care Act in Washington, the immediate future of the law has grown hazier with the nation’s third-largest health insurer saying that it will completely divorce itself from state-based insurance exchanges.

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta wants to freeze the fiduciary rule in a way that will “stick,” according to an email…