Pacific Investment Management Company (Pimco) founder and co-chief investment officer Bill Gross offered a revised view of the global investing landscape in a letter published on the company’s website. 

As the manager of the Pimco Total Return Fund, Gross’s 2011 investment decisions were driven in part by the “new normal” thesis. 

The new normal view suggests that investors should seek emerging market debt because developed countries will experience a prolonged period of sluggish growth, high unemployment and inflation. 

Canadian insurer Sun Life recently announced that it will exit the variable annuity and individual life insurance markets in the United States.

Continued equity market volatility has resulted in a variable annuity business that is plagued with uncertainty and higher costs.

Insurers such as Sun Life offer guarantees that are linked to the performance of underlying equity portfolios.  These guarantees are a liability for the insurance company, and equity market volatility contributes to the cost of these liabilities.

Recent data indicate that wages and salaries as a share of national income have fallen to the lowest level since 1948—a time when the government began to collect the data.

During the third quarter of 2011, wage and salary compensation represented 49.4 percent of national income.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that the profit margins of U.S. companies are at the highest level in 40 years.

The profit margins of non-financial companies in the United States reached 15 percent during the third quarter of 2011.  This is the highest level since 1969.

Annuity criticisms are a dime-a-dozen. 

The majority of financial advisors seem to have some issue with annuities, consumer perception is generally terrible and the financial media often appears to provide a reflection and reinforcement of prevailing sentiment.

There is a case to be made for “control of assets” as the common denominator for both the consumer and financial advisor perspectives.

Control of assets basically refers to the fact that annuities involve handing over money to an insurance company. 

Wired magazine recently reported on longevity-related research that involves the successful application of technology to cellular senescence.

Cellular senescence is a term that describes the aging and overall breakdown of cells.

The problem with the aging cells is that they do not die and disappear from the body.  Scientists believe that the old, broken-down cells stick around and contribute to the degeneration of healthy cells in a body and ultimately to age-related diseases such as cancer.