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You may not have noticed, but over the summer a “Buckets” war broke out in the retirement income business. It seems that everyone has discovered “Buckets,” a reference to time-segmented asset allocation or “laddered” income-generation strategies.
In June of this year the non-profit National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) launched a retirement income-focused website called [...]

What factors stand in the way of independent advisors and broker-dealers maximizing their success in the retirement income and Rollover IRA markets? It’s a complicated question with multiple answers including the impact of potentially disruptive changes in the regulatory landscape.
One area that I am convinced will really matter is the quality of advisor-client communications. [...]

Last week an Ignites article by Hannah Glover highlighted a study of Boomer-directed websites that found that most companies’ retirement websites fail to live up to their sponsors’ advertising pitches. The report entitled, “Online Support for the New Retirement,” conducted by Practical Perspectives and Gallant Distribution Consulting, found retirement firms’ websites are typically, “…too scant, [...]

As someone who generally plays the role of interviewer, I’m appreciative of Senior Editor, Kerry Pechter, for the interview he conducted with me that appears in the December ‘07 issue of Annuity Market News. Kerry asked my about a variety of issues that are important to me including the state of the variable and fixed [...]

Based upon the number of responses it elicited there clearly was no shortage of interest in Part One of this series. I can understand why. Many annuity agents have been thrust into something of a netherworld by events largely beyond their control.
Annuity agents are experiencing a continuing disruption of their traditional [...]

In spite of its warts, the indexed annuity industry and the products it provides may well play an important role in helping Boomer investors maximize their capacity to generate retirement income. People like me who advocate for an improved annuity industry hope that the indexed annuity industry will meet its varied challenges head-on and ultimately [...]

“Let’s go sell some annuities!” We got the tools, and the education too.”
“We got the drive, it ain’t no jive. We got the only game alive”
“We got the FMO to see us through!”
The Cracker Rappers
“Let’s Go Sell Some Annuities”
Don’t you just love YouTube? It allows everyone in the world to see what everyone else [...]

Yesterday’s essay focusing on the indexed annuity marketing utilized by Tony Bass of Georgia elicited quite a lot of interest. I heard from Mr. Bass who informed me that he removed his YouTube video and “free report” as a result of my writing about them. He also asserted that he was not attempting [...]

I don’t know where to begin or who to blame: The annuity agent trying hard (and very creatively) to market indexed annuities? Or the carrier or carriers he represents? The regulators? Maybe it’s just a manifestation of “The Process” out of which negative results emerge from the efforts of good people.
Today I [...]

Nevada insurance regulators are portraying some sellers of annuities as people who are really “bad animals.”
National Underwriter Online Edition- June 19, 2007
Well, if annuity providers won’t use videos to compliantly communicate the value of their products then I guess regulators will use videos to stop their annuity sales.

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You may recall the four-part series entitled The Preventable Demise of the Fixed Annuity Industry. This series sought to identify the seeds planted years ago that have sprouted into the negative public image and distribution challenges facing today’s fixed annuity industry. It also led to an OpEd published by InvestmentNews.
The fourth and final installment presented [...]

Is what I’m about to describe the next great life insurance sales opportunity? Is it possible to successfully market a life insurance policy designed to act as a personal defined benefit plan? Will individuals for whom limitations on retirement plan contributions make it impossible to fund adequate retirement incomes flock to a life insurance [...]