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.

The Lifetime Income Disclosure Act introduced by the U.S. Senate last year would require 401k plan sponsors (employers) to provide plan participants (employees) with estimates of the amount of lifetime income that would be generated by their account balances.

Don MaNay is a financial columnist, a Huffington Post contributor and an expert in the field of structured settlements. 

Don’s financial guidance is refreshingly straightforward, filled with good common sense, and geared towards a Main Street audience.  His most recent book is titled Wealth Without Wall Street: A Main Street Guide to Making Money. 

We had an opportunity to speak to Don about his financial practice and his most recent book.  

A common question is how annuities compare to other financial products that seem similar such as bonds, certificates of deposit (CD) and money market funds.  After all, each of these products promises to provide some type of fixed return in exchange for your investment. 

Looking at a simple life annuity can help answer this question and may also highlight what makes the life annuities unique among all financial products. 

There is a case to be made for home equity as the most important source of retirement funding in the United States, and this would seem to make the reverse mortgage a critically important consumer financial product since the reverse mortgage allows an individual to convert home equity into cash.

The reason is that home equity represents a significant portion of the net worth of most retirement age households in the United States.  Consider, for example, some of the following statistics:

Meir Statman is the Glenn Klimek Professor of Finance at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University, and Visiting Professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

His research on behavioral finance has been supported by the National Science Foundation, CFA Institute, and Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) and has been published in the Journal of Finance, Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Portfolio Management, and many other publications.

New York Life Insurance Company reported record sales of fixed immediate annuity products for the third quarter of 2010.

The nation's largest mutual life insurer reported $1.3 billion in fixed immediate annuity sales--an increase of 4 percent over the same period last year.

According to EVP for Retirement Income Security Chris Blunt:

Glenn Daily is one of the top financial advisors in the country. 

Specializing in life insurance and annuities, Glenn is widely recognized for his deep technical expertise and high level of objectivity as his services are strictly on a fee-only basis.

The annuity buying decision is complex and can be affected by commission-based financial incentives. Glenn’s writing, interviews and services are a great way to cut through some of the clutter.

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.

Read on for a glimpse into the most recent generation of product development in the retirement income industry.

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.