Income

Income can refer to cash flow derived from a variety of sources, including personal earnings, investment earnings, businesses or even real estate. These forms of income are generally referred to as earned income. There are also sources of unearned income, particularly when discussing investments. Dividends, capital gains and interest are common examples of unearned income.

3.87 Percent Inflation Increase for Penn Mutual Variable Annuity

The Penn Mutual Inflation Protector variable annuity was launched in November 2010. This variable annuity product incorporates a living benefit feature and is designed to provide owners with an income base that keeps pace with the rate of inflation. The income base of the Penn Mutual Inflation Protector increases based upon the greater of: The rate of inflation as measured by the consumer price index urban (CPI-U), or; Annual market performance. The inflation increases are capped at a maximum...
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Why Fixed Annuities Could Prove Toxic in an Era of Financial Repression

In a recent and highly recommended Bloomberg op-ed, Carmen Reinhart discusses the options available to governments and central banks when attempting to deal with the burden of enormous amounts of public and private debt.

Reinhart suggests that the preferred policy option for many governments--including the United States--is a form of stealth taxation that amounts to...

Short-Term Focus has Adverse Impact on Retirement Income Product Development

Warren Buffett’s most recent shareholder letter focuses on the merits of productive assets such as equities in light of the current low interest rate environment and the potential for future inflation.

Buffett’s view is that although productive assets are variable and volatile, they are more likely to preserve future purchasing power than the fixed or currency-based alternatives.

Buffett’s advice would seem to provide a...

British Insurers Advocate Comparison Shopping for Annuities

The Association of British Insurers announced that the organization will adopt a new code of conduct that could have a meaningful impact on annuity sales. The decision is in response to criticisms of annuity industry sales processes. Critics have argued that current industry practices are inconsistent and opaque, and that this confusing annuity shopping environment ends-up costing financial services consumers real money. A recent report published by a British pension group suggests that current...
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A Benchmark for Lifetime Income

The world is filled with investing indexes and benchmarks, and all professional investment managers measure their results relative to some type of performance standard such as the S&P 500.

On the retirement income front, though, similar gauges of performance are virtually non-existent.  The lack of a baseline performance measure is a problem for the industry because there is no...

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