Fees

AARP recently offered support for the health reform legislation that is currently circulating in Congress. As discussed by Grace Marie Turner in a recent Chicago Tribule piece, there is a case to be made that AARP's support of the legislation directly conflicts with the best interests of its 40 million members. AARP receives more than half of its $1.1 billion annual budget from fees related to endorsement and sale of health insurance and other retiree financial services products. So called "...

One of the core compensation models for financial advisors involves fees that are based on client assets under management. As a result, it is naturally in an advisor's interest to gather, maintain and grow as many assets as possible. Retirement planning is proving to be a business challenge for many advisors as retirement involves asset decumulation rather than accumulation. In other words, advisors are in a situation where they are reducing assets under management and subsequently the...

"In-Plan" annuities refer to the use of annuities within defined contribution pension programs such as 401k plans. The concept is relatively new, but the timing should be a perfect the concept to gain traction: The financial crisis has devastated the portfolios of many retirees and near-retirees. Millions of baby boomers will add to the 70 million or so U.S. residents over the age of 55. People are starving for stable, guaranteed sources of income in light of market volatility and increasing...