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.
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
Hint: they think the retirement products attract customers who are frightened by the market
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
Legislators are still tied up with health care issues, leaving retirement initiatives to flounder. Tax proposals may be the exception
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
Combining a variable annuity with a guaranteed-minimum-withdrawal benefit in conjunction with a traditional portfolio can help hike income
Sales of both variable annuities and fixed annuities fell in 2009, according to the latest data from LIMRA.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has retreated even further from the life settlements arena, shutting down Longmore Capital, its life settlements provider.
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.
