Annuity News

A survey of UK-based pension plan sponsors indicates that 40 percent expect longevity derivatives --such as longevity swaps--to play a strong role in mitigating longevity risk . UK defined benefit pension plan sponsors are seeking solutions that will allow them to off-load the risk that their pension plan participants live longer than expected. Use of derivatives to address longevity risk and other pension funding related issues serves as an alternative to other solutions such as a full pension...

The UK-based firm PensionFirst is shifting its focus from providing investment products such as longevity bonds to the risk measurement software that has been developed over the past several years. The company will provide risk measurement and analytic services to companies that sponsore defined benefit pension plans. Many of these companies or plan sponsors are interested in removing longevity risk from their pension plans. The software developed by PensionFirst is able to deliver an actuarial...

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has published a guide titled " Women and Retirement Savings ." The guide discussed retirement planning from the perspective of women and highlights eight fundamental questions that women should ask themselves when preparing for the financial aspects of retirement. Sources: DOL and Wall Street Journal

There is a great op-ed piece in the Washington Post that discusses what the authors refer to as the "retirement problem." In a detailed article, the authors lay-out a case for why it may not be so wise--from a public policy perspective--to leave all retirement planning decisions in the hands of individuals and the free market. In a nutshell, the authors point out that: On the whole, we save too little. On the whole, retail investment returns lag average returns by significant margins due to...