Financial Planning

The number of mass affluent investors using an independent financial planner is roughly equivalent to the number using a full service broker . A recent survey of 1,498 households with assets between $100,000 and $1,000,000 reveals that 22% use an independent financial planner as their advisor. The number of mass affluent households using full service brokers is also 22%. The number of households using registered investment advisors (RIA) is 6%--a decrease of 4% from the previous survey in...

There is an interesting and worthwhile article in Financial Planning that discusses the post-financial crisis retirement landscape. The author draws a picture of a new set of retirement norms for Baby Boomers and the generation following Boomers. Issues addressed include: Longevity . The financial crisis' impact on retirement planning . Sequence of returns risk . Social Security . Use of annuities. Employment in retirement. Recreation in retirement. Source: Financial Planning Full Story

The Bank Insurance and Securities Association compiles and index of securities brokerage and annuity -related revenue of 20 U.S. banks. The BISA-Singer Bank Brokerage Index shows that 61% of the second quarter 2009 revenue of participating banks came from annuity sales. Annuity-related revenue was $95.3 million for the second quarter, a decline of 15% from the previous period. Source: Financial Planning Full Story