Darla Mercado

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RETIREMENT RETIREMENT PLANNING FEB 19, 2010
Carrier stability still the fly in the annuity ointment

The Labor Department will host a public hearing in the next few months to discuss concerns about including annuities in retirement plans. But addressing plan sponsors' concerns about carrier stability continues to bedevil the regulator.

RETIREMENT LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES FEB 19, 2010
Life insurers facing annuity squeeze

A period of fierce competition to build annuity premiums awaits life insurers as they contend with industry consolidation and the difficulties of standing out from rivals

RETIREMENT LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES FEB 19, 2010
Accounting changes plumped up insurers' capital ratios

Life insurers, whose capital buffers shrank during 2008's downturn, emerged from 2009 with a rebound in capital. The reasons? Regulatory changes and a climbing equities market, according to Moody's

What advisers really think of income annuities
RETIREMENT LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES FEB 19, 2010
What advisers really think of income annuities

Hint: they think the retirement products attract customers who are frightened by the market

ObamaCare means slow going for retirement reform
RETIREMENT RETIREMENT PLANNING FEB 19, 2010
ObamaCare means slow going for retirement reform

Legislators are still tied up with health care issues, leaving retirement initiatives to flounder. Tax proposals may be the exception

RETIREMENT RETIREMENT PLANNING FEB 19, 2010
Officials: Annuitizing 401(k)s won't be easy

Polls show that employees want an annuity option in their pension plan menu. But they also prefer a lump sum to an income stream when they hit retirement age

RETIREMENT LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES FEB 19, 2010
Annuities provide boost to investment portfolio: Study

Combining a variable annuity with a guaranteed-minimum-withdrawal benefit in conjunction with a traditional portfolio can help hike income

RETIREMENT LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES FEB 19, 2010
Sales of fixed, variable annuities fell in 2009

Sales of both variable annuities and fixed annuities fell in 2009, according to the latest data from LIMRA.

RETIREMENT LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES FEB 18, 2010
Goldman abandoning life settlements market

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has retreated even further from the life settlements arena, shutting down Longmore Capital, its life settlements provider.

Life settlement packagers target B-Ds
RETIREMENT LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES FEB 18, 2010
Life settlement packagers target B-Ds

For the first time they can recall, several independent broker-dealers have been solicited by life settlement companies to sell private placements of securities based on life insurance policies.