annuity

Lorry Stensrud, a seasoned executive turned entrepreneur, is on the leading-edge of retirement income product development with his new Venture Achaean Financial.

Achaean’s Income Plus+ product provides a relatively high level of guaranteed starting income while maintaining both liquidity and upside potential.

Anna Rappaport is widely recognized as a leading expert on retirement systems, workforce issues, the impact of changing demographics and women’s retirement security.

Much has been written over the past couple of weeks about the Obama Administration's support of annuities.

The New York Times ran a story about the "unloved annuity getting a hug from Obama."

Bob MacDonald has had a storied career as a leading entrepreneur and executive in the financial services industry.

Some of Bob’s roles include: president and CEO of ITT Life; founder, chairman and CEO of the highly successful LifeUSA, and; CEO of Allianz Life of North America.  Bob is also a noted business author with several best-selling management books to his credit.

As a widely acknowledged thought leader and product innovator in the financial services industry, Bob is able and willing to share a wealth of experience and insights.

Jerry Golden--often referred to as the father of variable life insurance and variable annuities--has had a distinguished career as an innovator and entrepreneur in both the insurance and personal retirement businesses.

Jerry most recently spent four years as president of the Income Management Strategies Division at MassMutual after selling his business to the company in June, 2005.

Since leaving MassMutual in May, 2009, Jerry has been actively developing a new venture which will deliver yet another set of innovations to the personal retirement marketplace.

Francois Gadenne is the Chairman and Executive Director of the Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA).

Formed in 2006, RIIA is bringing together the leading minds and resources in the relatively young retirement income industry.  RIIA members include leading academics, banks, insurers, fund companies, financial advisors, brokerage houses, researchers, technology companies, marketing firms, consulting firms and media.

Is there a financial equivalent to the maxim “first do no harm?”

What if one of the guiding principles of medicine was applied to the world of financial advice?

What would the financial services landscape look like if product manufacturers and advisors were required to play by rules similar to those that exist for physicians?

First, my guess is that the financial corollary to the application of primum non nocere (first do no harm) would be:

Many financial advisors seem conditioned to wear annuity criticism as a sort of badge of honor. 

As the past couple of years have so painfully revealed, however, this conventional wisdom rests on shaky ground.

What types of questions might a client present to an advisor who appears to have a reflexive inclination to dismiss most or all forms of annuities?  Consider the following:

1.  How are my assets hedged against longevity risk?  In other words, how am I protected from outliving my money?

Investment News reports that state insurance regulators from 35 states have voted to allows insurance carriers to terminate an annuity benefits if the owner sells the contract.

The vote deals a blow to the nascent secondary market for annuities since it would be increasingly difficult to sell an annuity into the secondary market.

The trade Group LIMRA just published a list of the 20 companies that sold the most individual annuities in the United States during the fourth quarter 2009.

The list reveals the level of concentration among product manufacturers in the annuity industry.