Mutual Funds

Retirement experts are working through the Retirement Security Project in Washington to develop concepts that would increase annuity ownership within 401k plans. Concepts include providing 401k participants with the ability to test drive annuities through an "automatic trial income strategy." In other words, at retirement about half of a person's plan assets would be placed in a trial income plan that would pay out a monthly annuity income for two years. Participants would then have the ability...

Traditional asset allocation and many target date mutual funds have not served retirees and near-retirees well during the financial crisis. Many in the asset management community are realizing that diversification and asset allocation are not sufficient. Largely in response to the crisis, several companies are rolling-out new products that combine traditional asset management and insurance . These "hybrid" products use insurance to create a base income that is guaranteed for life and is not...