Annuity

An annuity comes in many forms, but a simple definition is that an annuity is a contract that converts a sum of money into a series of periodic payments for an agreed upon period of time. An annuity can be thought of as a financial vehicle that converts a pool of money into a stream of income. Annuities are most useful in addressing the financial planning needs of people in or approaching retirement. Annuities are unique in the financial world because they can provide protection against the risk or outliving one’s assets (longevity risk) by guaranteeing income payments in perpetuity or any other selected amount of time. Annuities can be viewed as a type of personal pension plan. Social Security is similar to an annuity in that money contributed over the course of one’s working years is converted into a series of periodic payments that provide income during retirement.

John Bogle Cautions on the Coming Retirement System Train Wreck

A very good article discusses Vanguard Founder John Bogle's views and work on the retirement system in the United States. Bogle is a highly vocal critic of the status quo: "Our nation's system of retirement security is imperiled, headed for a serious train wreck.That wreck is not merely waiting to happen; we are running on a dangerous track that is leading directly to a serious crash that will disable major parts of our retirement system." There are some interesting and surprising statistics:...

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Individual Retirement Account

Income

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Individual Retirement Account

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Prudential and Ameriprise Decline TARP Funds

Prudential Financial and Ameriprise Financial have both indicated that they will decline funds that are available to them through the U.S. Treasury's TARP program. $22 billion in TARP funds are available to six life insurers: Hartford Financial Services Group, Prudential Financial, Principal Financial Group, Lincoln National, Allstate and Ameriprise Financial. Hatford Financial Group is in the final stages of accepting $3.4 billion in funding while Lincoln National is likely to accept $2.5...

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Life Insurance Companies to Receive $22 Billion in TARP Funds

Life insurance companies that have bank holding company status and applied for TARP funds prior to November 14 2008 will receive $22 billion in TARP funds from the U.S. Treasury. Companies that are set to receive funds include: Hartford Financial Services Group, Prudential Financial, Principal Financial Group, Lincoln National, Allstate and Ameriprise Financial. Many life insurers--particularly those with meaningful variable annuity businesses--have been significantly impacted by the capital...

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Hartford Financial Hit with Downgrade from Fitch Ratings

Fitch Ratings cut their ratings on Hartford Financial Services Group to two steps above junk status. Analysts are concerned about Hartford's decision to pause or cancel annuity sales in Japan, Germany and the U.K. Hartford has also begun implementing major changes to its U.S. based variable annuity business. Hartford is one of the life and annuity insurers that has been particularly hard hit by the capital market risk and volatility that has been rampant during the financial crisis. Source:...

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New Derivatives Market Taking Shape with Longevity Swaps

Corporate pension plans face the real risk of having their plan participants live longer than what is projected by actuaries. In other words, similar to an individual who considers an annuity to offset the risk of outliving their assets in retirement, pension plans must deal with longevity risk . A new derivatives market is evolving to deal with longevity risk on an institutional scale. Many of the deals thus far have been between investment banks such as JP Morgan and insurance companies that...

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