Americans in their fifties have lost much of the equity value in their homes, as well as in their saving and investment accounts, due to the severe economic downturns endured over the past decade.

Retirement planning is now more difficult than ever for this generation, causing many to contemplate moving overseas where the cost of living is not nearly as high, as it is in the states. There is also a subset of retirees that want to return to their homeland, necessitating a major relocation move, in any event.

Mark J. Warshawsky is Director of Retirement Research at Towers Watson.

Dr. Warshawsky served as assistant secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Treasury Department from 2004-2006 and he has held senior level economic research positions at the Federal Reserve Board, the Internal Revenue Service and TIAA-CREF.

Is there a sense of “swimming upstream” when trying to propagate goal-based investing--as described in your new book Risk Less and Prosper--among existing financial advisors? Conventional practices and economic incentives are so heavily skewed towards modern portfolio theory and growing assets under management. 

While it might be an unusual time to provide an explanation of Swiss annuities given what has been taking place of late with the Swiss franc and related decisions made by the Swiss National Bank, it still makes sense for any financial services consumer to understand potential benefits of these products.

The increasingly popular Finovate Conference Series just completed its spring event in San Francisco.

64 very interesting companies presented brief technology/product demos to a large audience of financial services media, analysts, investors, potential partners, competitors, and other industry participants.

All of the presenting companies are focused on technology innovation in finance, and most of the companies are young.

Putnam Investments President and CEO Robert Reynolds spoke on the need to address America’s lifetime income challenge at the recent Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA) conference in Chicago.

While Reynolds has spent most of his career in leadership positions in the investment management industry, his comments and recent initiatives at Putnam focus on what Reynolds believes should be a golden age for innovation in the area of guaranteed income solutions.  

Life insurance companies MetLife and Prudential Financial both reported quarterly earnings that exceeded analysts' estimates.

MetLife reported record variable annuity sales and a sharp rise in its retirement product fees.

Prudential also reported strength in its annuity business.

While annuity sales were strong at both companies, higher hedging costs had an adverse impact on the reported earnings of MetLife and Prudential.

Source: Reuters

An article on indexed annuities appeared in Bloomberg yesterday (click here to read).

The article is substantive and comes from a credible source.  It is provides a good explanation of why surrender fees need to be a front-and-center consideration for any consumer considering the purchase of an annuity.

Coverage of annuities by the broader financial media tends to be negative, with much of the criticism focused on annuity expenses.

The criticism is typically accompanied by a blue-sky investing scenario that makes the case for annuities that much less compelling.  The theoretical retail investor in such a blue-sky scenario invests with perfect discipline, efficiency and rationality in the lowest cost index fund over some absurdly arbitrary time-frame.

Veritat is a start-up seeking to leverage process and technology innovation to scale a business model that is typically saddled with persistent and burdensome variable costs.  If successful, Veritat will be able to deliver premium services to a mass audience.

As a registered investment advisor (RIA) that adheres to the fiduciary standard, Veritat provides comprehensive financial planning services through financial advisors who are employed by the company and share a common sense of mission.