Retirement

The majority of Americans are keenly interested in retirement income , but they are unable to make the connection between how their retirement savings translates to income. A recent survey and related report from JP Morgan indicates that 86 percent of 401k plan participants acknowledge that they need to know how much of their pre-retirement income they will be able to replace. At the same time, however, two thirds of the survey respondents indicate that they have no idea how much they need to...

Structured products are hot. U.S. sales rose 46 percent in 2010 to $49.5 billion. The appeal is understandable in the wake of the financial crisis. As folks in the indexed annuity business know, a floor of principal protection or "guaranteed" income combined with some upside potential is an easier sell in the current environment. Structured products also happen to be a hot topic with regulators. For example, FINRA just issued a warning to investors about structured products with principal...

Richard Thaler is a professor at the University of Chicago and he is a renown economist. Best known for his work in the area of behavioral finance , Thaler focuses on how human psychology affects economic decision making. Thaler recently wrote a piece on annuities which was published in the New York Times. The Times article focused on the annuity puzzle . The term annuity puzzle is used to describe the lack of annuity adoption (purchases) relative to what economists would consider rational...