Interest Rates

Interest rates represent the cost of capital or what you pay to borrow money. A detailed definition of interest rates is beyond the scope of this glossary. What is important to remember is that interest rates are critical components of virtually every financial product you consume. This is especially true with annuities because, in general, insurance companies manufacture annuity products through a combination of bonds and derivatives. As a result, interest rates are the raw material of all annuity types.

An Interview with Peter Nakada of RMS

Peter Nakada is a Managing Director, capital markets at Risk Management Solutions (RMS).  We had a chance to speak to Peter about...

An Interview with Gordon Woo of RMS

AD: Your book Calculating Catastrophe discusses the dynamic nature of catastrophe risks, and you have written elsewhere about how...

Key Phrases Autotag: 

Annuity Duration

Duration is a measure of the time associated with cash flows or payments from a bond. Duration measures the amount of time (in years from the purchase date) required for a bond owner to receive interest and principal payments that are equal to the cost of the bond.

Long duration bonds have payments that are spread-out over a relatively long period of time (...

Notes from the CFA Institute Fixed Income Conference

The CFA Institute just held its 2012 fixed income conference in San Francisco.

Speakers shared a very broad range of perspectives on fixed income issues over the course of about a dozen sessions.

Session notes and observations (in no particular order) include:

Demographics and Deleveraging -- Rick Rieder, Blackrock

The Best Idea in Light of Demographic and Fiscal Challenges -- Scott Simon, PIMCO

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