As regulatory activity increases, more and more advisors are going the independent route, partly to reduce the cost obligations of compliance as a broker-dealer firm.
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The SEC gave the public a first glance at its investment advice rules for brokers. The panel divided in its assessment, but voted 4-1 to tentatively adopt the rules.
Nationwide’s move might set a precedent for other mutuals to sell exclusively in the independent channel.
Agents might take for granted that prospects and clients know the basics about life insurance, but a survey showed that they don’t even know that benefits are not taxed.
The Securities and Exchange Commission will meet publicaly Wednesday afternoon for its first board discussions on an investment advice rule for brokers.
Employees want to build their own pension with annuities through employers, according to a MetLife survey.
U.S. stocks were broadly higher in afternoon trading, adding to the market’s gains last week. Technology companies, health care stocks and banks accounted for much of the rally.
Someday the bear will come. How well are advisors preparing clients?
“We can tell them what to do, and yet we have a hard time taking our own medicine.”
Traditional advisory payment models are steadily disappearing as younger clients expect flexibility and competitive fees. With that in mind, many advisors are creating new payment options that are gaining favor.
The SEC plans a public meeting Wednesday to discuss its progress to establish investment advice rules for brokers and advisors.
Digital-first agencies find that step No. 2 might be handing it off to an advisor.
Advisors are not paying attention to inheritances from sources other than parents and are losing clients in generational transfer, according to Spectrem.
Americans generally worry about wages, but younger workers are also concerned about affordable education.
Assets are pouring into the fee-based advisory space, allowing rapid expansion.
ETFs are growing more popular but some warn that they are encouraging short-term thinking.
Asian markets have risen amid uncertainty about an escalating U.S.-Chinese trade standoff after President Donald Trump said a settlement was possible but his advisers said other governments might pressure Beijing. Benchmarks in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney all advanced.
As the business of money merges, so are the platforms that moves that money, a report says.
A new report shows large employers spent $2.6 billion to treat opioid addiction and overdoses in 2016, an eightfold increase since 2004. More than half went to treat employees’ children.
Another flare-up in trade tensions between the U.S. and China sent the stock market sharply lower for the second time this week.
More than 50 percent of financial advisors expect to go deeper in their social media relationship with their clients.
The emerging U.S.-China split is nothing like your father’s divide between the countries, which was closed only with the unlikely hero of ping-pong diplomacy in the 1970s.
The U.S. trade deficit rose for the sixth straight month in February, reaching the highest level since October 2008 and defying President Donald Trump’s efforts to rebalance America’s lopsided trade with the rest of the world.
The 18 states that have not expanded their Medicaid program are running out of excuses from an analytical standpoint, according to a leading health care law expert.
Allianz is finding traction with fixed indexed annuities in the financial advisory world with the top-selling FIA in the independent broker-dealer channel.
Stocks are opening sharply lower on Wall Street as an escalating trade dispute between the U.S. and China poses a threat to global economic growth and corporate profits.
Fewer employers are offering just one plan, with a majority offering a traditional and high-deductible health plan.
InsurMark says Simplicity acquired it because of its success in the financial advisor market.
It’s crunch time for clients who have not yet filed their income tax returns, and some clients may be feeling the pain of seeing how much tax they are paying on their investments.
Stock markets in Asia and Europe saw declines, but did not suffer losses as steep as those Monday in U.S. markets where continued fears about a U.S.-China trade war and a verbal attack on an online retailer by President Donald Trump sent stocks lower.
An economy that’s chugging along may not be enough for voters to credit the party in power, which means Republicans need to figure out a way to tie the economy to how voters feel about the president before November.
A new Chubb survey finds that clients want their advisor to deliver property & casualty solutions, but only 28 percent of advisors offer these coverages.
Walmart is in talks to acquire Humana, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The hybrid indexes control volatility in fixed indexed annuities, but some say that FIAs inherently protect against volatility already.
Four life insurance agents in Southern California were accused of setting up fraudulent policies and collecting $1.9 million in commission.
A peek at leading indicators are signaling that further economic growth and stock market gains lie ahead, economic analysts say. In particular, manufacturing production and consumer confidence.
Politicians at all levels of government are fearing another round of sticker shock for consumers this fall as insurers jack up prices, blaming both the original 2010 health law and the moves Congress and the Trump administration have made to undercut it in the years since.
Low interest rates are being blamed after multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) sales fell 9.5 percent to $30.3 billion in 2017 compared to 2016. MYGA sales were strong in the fourth quarter, however.
The 350 Independent Marketing Organizations serving independent agents could shrink by 30 to 50 percent due to pressing regulation on several fronts, experts say. Many IMOs will be looking to buy or sell for the foreseeable future.
Planning experts offer advice on crafting a responsible retirement plan that takes into account sharply rising health care expenses. A retirement plan that shorts health care planning can leave a client high and dry, they say.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners voted Saturday to accept more comments for 30 days on its best interest rule for annuity sales. The model law draft has drawn criticism from both sides for being both too tough and too lenient.
What if you have a client who needs to make a significant withdrawal during a bear market early in retirement? That scenario can devastate a nest egg, and avoiding it takes plenty of planning.
President Donald Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending measure averting a government shutdown at midnight, acting just hours after saying he was considering a veto.
Congress gave final approval to a giant $1.3 trillion spending bill that ends the budget battles for now, but only after late scuffles and conservatives objected to big outlays on Democratic priorities at a time when Republicans control the House, Senate and White House.
The Trump administration continues to take steps to weaken the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but it’s still not clear what the future of health care looks for Americans.
Stocks plunged after the Trump administration slapped sanctions on goods and investment from China. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 700 points as investors feared that trade tensions between the world’s largest economies would escalate.
Total indexed annuity sales for 2017 were $53.9 billion, a decline of 7.1 percent from the year prior, according to Wink’s Sales & Market Report.
Omitted from the plan were federal subsidies that President Donald Trump ended for insurers who lower deductibles and co-payments for lower-earning consumers, as required by the Affordable Care Act.
Congressional leaders finalized a sweeping $1.3 trillion budget bill that substantially boosts military and domestic spending but leaves behind young immigrant “Dreamers,” deprives President Donald Trump some of his border wall money and takes only incremental steps to address gun violence.
The Federal Reserve is raising its key interest rate and signaling confidence in the U.S. economy’s durability but plans to continue a gradual approach to rate hikes for 2018 under its new chairman, Jerome Powell.
More consumers are anxious about their finances and want to hear about annuities, according to the latest Greenwald survey.
Indexed universal life (IUL) sales kept overall life insurance sales in the black last year. Will it spur more companies to enter the market?
Federal policy uncertainty drove health insurers to implement significant premium increases for Affordable Care Act policies in 2018, according to a new report which predicts higher prices and more insurer withdrawals from the individual market in 2019.
The Department of Labor fiduciary rule could be dead, or it could be in front of the Supreme Court in the near future. It all depends on how federal government attorneys decide to respond to a court of appeals decision last week.
Battles over priorities in a huge governmentwide spending bill are essentially settled, leaving a scaled-back plan for President Donald Trump’s border wall and a huge rail project that pits Trump against Capitol Hill’s most powerful Democrat as the top issues to be solved.
UnitedHealthcare is taking a page out of a competitor’s playbook to crack down on emergency room claims that critics say will be harmful to patients and hospitals.
The polarizing politics of abortion have burst into the congressional budget debate, overwhelming bipartisan efforts to help millions of consumers who buy their own health insurance policies get relief from soaring premiums.
Faced with the possible third government shutdown, Congress has five days to approve a $1.2 trillion spending bill that would provide the greatest increase in years.
With time running out, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is pleading with Congress to rally behind his health care stabilization plan for two simple reasons — it will slash premiums, and it pays for itself.
Advisors should give fixed indexed annuities (FIAs) a serious look because FIAs offer a compelling story in an era of low bond yields, according to Roger G. Ibbotson, one of the most recognizable names in finance.
