As the manager of the largest bond fund in the world and a founder of PIMCO, Bill Gross is a leading authority on all things related to yield.

Since retirement finances are fundamentally about generating income from accumulated assets, retirees should care greatly about any comments and insights from Gross.  This is especially true since the world is starved for yield.

Gross regularly shares his insights through commentary on the PIMCO website.

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. 

Will the European Central Bank choose to step-in and put a stop to a potential run on the euro zone bond markets?

The ECB has ramped-up its purchases of Italian and Spanish bonds over the past couple of months, but the acquisition of $300 billion+ in sovereign debt is not having the desired effect.

Austerity measures are not a viable alternative as even the most draconian and unrealistic measures would not get budgets where they need to be.

This leaves many questioning whether they European Central Bank will come to the rescue as the lender of last resort.

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. 

“Trees grow” is an adage that has stuck with me over the past several years.

In a post financial crisis interview, a successful investment manager was talking about his decision to load-up on Citigroup and a handful of other banks in early 2009 when the decision to do so was difficult to say the least.

A common question is how annuities compare to other financial products that seem similar such as bonds, certificates of deposit (CD) and money market funds.  After all, each of these products promises to provide some type of fixed return in exchange for your investment. 

Looking at a simple life annuity can help answer this question and may also highlight what makes the life annuities unique among all financial products. 

The extreme gyrations in the stock market over the past week create great headlines and quite a bit of trading activity.  Equally if not more important for retirees, however, is the related action in bond markets.

Anyone thinking about retirement income should pick-up a copy of Retirement Portfolios by Michael Zwecher.  This recommendation applies to both financial services professionals and consumers who are approaching or at retirement. 

Zwecher’s book is the definitive guide to constructing and maintaining portfolios that generate sustainable retirement income.  

What options are available to a soon-to-be retired household that is financially constrained?  What levers can be pulled if desired retirement spending is not realistic in light of retirement savings?

Risk Management Solutions (RMS) is well known as a leader in the area of catastrophe modeling and analytics.  The company provides its services to a broad range of insurers, reinsurers, consultants and capital markets participants who are active in the property and casualty insurance industry.