Annuity News

Morningstar's Director of Personal Finance writes about the factors that are within an individual's control and therefore manageable through good planning. The economy and stock market movements are not on the list. Prudent risk management in retirement is on the list. The items that fall into the risk management category include: Longevity risk . Long-term care. Inflation . Regulatory risk and higher taxes. Longevity annuities are discussed in the context of longevity risk. Source: Morningstar...

MetLife 's leading position in the U.S. annuity industry is only getting stronger. The company is benefitting from financial crisis-related flight to quality. In other words, financial advisors and customers who are concerned about credit risk are migrating to a handful of the strongest insurers. MetLife expects variable annuity sales to exceed $15 billion in 2009--exceeding pre-financial crisis revenue levels in 2007. The company has also seen an increase in fixed annuity business. Source:...

This past weekend President Obama discussed his "common sense" steps to reform and simplify the system of retirement savings in the United States. President Obama seeks to extend incentives and simplified savings vehicles to the 78 million Americans who do not have access to a retirement savings plan through their employer. Some of the President's proposed changes include: The ability to put unused leave time, sick pay and tax refunds directly into retirement savings accounts. Simplified 401k...

The business of selling a life insurance policy when it is no longer needed is poised to become a very large industry--particularly as retirees seek to tap into all types of assets for sources of income . According to a recent New York Times article, the life settlement industry could grow to as much as $500 billion. While this figure represents a small portion of the $26 trillion in life insurance outstanding, securitization of life settlements could prove to be a meaningful source of growth...