Insurance & Annuities

Applications for US unemployment insurance were little changed last week, suggesting the labor market remains exceptionally tight.

Mistakes are easy to make but are easier to avoid if you know what a “bad” succession plan looks like.

Several avenues for diversifying cryptocurrency portfolios exist. Investors should weigh the costs and benefits of each of the following three methods.

Traders unnerved by a selloff that hit stocks and bonds alike are looking for refuge, increasing the appeal of investments offering reliable returns such as shares that pay steady dividends.

According to a recent survey, a majority of Republicans and a plurality of Democrats believe the US is in a recession. The question is how seriously to take their complaints.

Economists like to strip food and energy out of their inflation calculations. They’re too volatile to be meaningful, they say. But for everyday Americans coping with exploding prices, those items are pretty much all they care about right now.

It started with bonds. Now even collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) come in green.

The year 2022 sure has felt like a pretty bad one so far: interest rates and consumer prices have spiked up, and stock prices are sharply down. But, in terms of what really matters, many investors are better off than they were at the end of 2021–almost 5% better off for an investor in a diversified balanced portfolio.

The advisors who figure out how to work with Generation Z will take your wealthy Baby Boomer clients away. Stop rolling your eyes and listen to why.

I’ve supported many clients through times of loss and transition such as divorces, deaths of parents or spouses, business failures, and natural disasters. Following are some of the things I’ve learned.

I’m going to review the research on safe-spending rates and then critique common methods of risk mitigation. I’ll offer the practical methods to reduce sequence-of-return risk that I suggest to my clients.

The likely moderation of US job growth in coming months will reflect a combination of hiring challenges in a remarkably tight labor market, shifts in spending patterns and outright soft spots within a handful of industries.

Being immobilized in grief can be deeply painful and damaging emotionally. It can be financially damaging, as well, limiting a person’s ability to make sound financial decisions that can affect their future. This is where objective help and support is essential.

Even in 2022, pensions still command an aura of reverence. A benefit where you work for one company for 30 years and then retire with a livable wage? And you don’t have to fret about picking investments? What’s not to like?

Meet a woman driven to change investment regulation and understand why it’s important that she succeeds.

How are advisors coping with the new Department of Labor (DOL) rollover rules? Here are a dozen observations.

Memorial Day deserves the great recognition it gets. Remembering the service of those who died for our country is a civic duty. This includes remembering, doing and acting in a manner that there is no doubt the character of military and finance leaders must be first.

Advisors can help the sandwich generation assess their risk for LTC and protect financial goals with the right approach to insurance.

The price of foods, fuels and other essential items are spiraling ever upward as Russia’s war on Ukraine compounds supply-chain woes stemming from the pandemic. Central banks may be in the driving seat when it comes to tackling inflation, but it’s governments that face the fallout and so are compelled to act.

I want to draw your focus to the three most important, yet boring, tax strategies that every advisor should be discussing with every client.

RIAs can be paid to service trails-paying annuities without a broker-dealer.

Whenever I surf television cable news channels, I see the plethora of ads for financial planning. But they are run by companies that sell financial products or are owned by huge insurance companies.

This article explores the benefits of annuities with lower explicit fees, a category I dubbed as “annuities Lite” in a previous article that focused on GLWBs.

Since the 1990s, the CalPERS sold LTC policies to its residents. The lawsuit over claims related to those policies illustrates the dangers clients face with government-sponsored insurance programs.

The Fed is at a crucial junction, according to Lacy Hunt. It has to contain inflation. If not, the stability of the U.S. economy over the longer term is seriously in doubt.

At a time when New York towers are struggling with high vacancies and many workers are still remote, money managers are seeking to accommodate growing staff and encourage in-person collaboration with trendier digs. Along with tech companies, they’re helping to fill part of the void left from employers giving up space -- even as Manhattan’s office supply continues to grow faster than demand.

I don’t care how many PhDs are going to argue against me; direct indexing is Wall Street’s attempt at squeezing more fees out of the America public using advisors as the pawns.

While I am not a practice management guru, an experience I had this past year warrants sharing. it led to adding value to your clients in a way few of you do.

The new Investment Advisor Rep CE requirement isn’t just more training required by regulators; it’s an opportunity for advisors to start or continue on the right path with clients.

The Milken Institute Global Conference continues in Beverly Hills, California, bringing together investors, dealmakers, power brokers and celebrities to discuss markets and megatrends. Academics, sports stars, entrepreneurs and politicians among the thousands coming to the Beverly Hilton for the event, which runs through Wednesday.

“Agents are standing by” to help your clients make one of the most pivotal financial decisions of their retirement… a decision that will blindside you as their advisor and throw even the most carefully crafted retirement plan for a loss. Sometimes, a very big loss.

Warren Buffett has simple advice for investors as they stare down the worst inflation in decades: Invest in your own skills.

In an ambitious new book, the economist Andrew Smithers rejects core “Newtonian” principles of economics, replacing them with radical departures from conventional wisdom. But as I will explain, some of Smithers’ theories fail meet the standard of empirical verification.

Imagine that you have joined some friends for a day of fishing. About two miles offshore, you sense that something is wrong. The small, single engine boat’s handling has changed. There seems to be more. Use our premium service to add your company’s logo and send this to clients.

There is a real fear about the cost of seeing a doctor and how it can impact your finances. Millions of Americans receive surprise medical bills each year. That includes insured individuals, according to research by the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. A new federal law, The No Surprises Act, went into effect Jan. 1, 2022, banning most unexpected medical charges.

After hanging in the shadows for most of the pandemic, the billionaire investor and his deputies have been ramping up Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s acquisition machine -- snapping up shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp. and HP Inc. and striking an $11.6 billion deal to buy Alleghany Corp. The flurry of activity comes just as investors are set to flock to Omaha, Nebraska, for the conglomerate’s first in-person shareholder meeting since 2019.

Here are five ways to win new business and clients for life by creating urgency, so your prospects want to create a financial plan now with you.

As chief architect of the finance industry’s biggest climate coalition, Mark Carney said banks and asset managers are doing a better job at steering capital away from fossil fuels than is implied by what he described as “clickbait” headlines.

This is a hard time to retire. The market is down 7% from last year and the rate of inflation has risen to 8.5%. Both are brutal to your bottom line when you're on a fixed income. But buck up! As bad as things seem, odds are you are in better shape than your parents or grandparents. And if they got through retirement comfortably, so will you.

Savers are about to learn one painful and one surprising lesson about interest rates and banks. First, just because the Federal Reserve is raising rates doesn’t mean the rate investors earn on their cash will rise as much — if at all. In fact, the financial repression in the form of zero rates suffered for more than a dozen years by those who are ultra conservative with their savings isn’t going away soon.

“Banks are forever going to be trying to play catchup,” said Michael Moro, CEO of digital currency prime brokerage Genesis. “Crypto is going to move way faster than banks can. We have every bank in the world pretty much having some sort of crypto, blockchain working group.”

Depending upon the annuity that is being recommended and its purpose, your discovery process should include these questions. This article is written for clients and can be forwarded to them using our Premium Membership Service.

The S&P 500 rose 1.6%, its best day since mid-March and only its second gain in seven sessions. The Russell 2000 Index of smaller firms added 2% in its strongest performance of April. Meanwhile, S&P sectors sensitive to the economy -- including consumer discretionary and real estate -- outperformed, with only energy closing lower.

Comparing advisors to big-rig truck drivers makes more sense that you think, once you consider the eerie similarities in their business models.

Six of the largest Western oil producers — BP Plc, Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE — are expected to generate free cash flow, after capital expenditure, of $163 billion this year.

Does the scenario below sound likely? If so, you are among the thousands of RIAs who are likely to lose significant assets over the next decade.

While the lower fees associated with GLWB Lite products make them seem more attractive, the expected income is significantly lower than other annuities.

In this article, I will explain how to structure an income strategy that best serves the needs of constrained investors. Demographic, economic, cultural, and social forces argue for a new approach to retirement planning.

RIAs must align their communications, planning methodologies, and product set with the needs of retirees, especially women, whose chief priority is reliability of income more than return on investment.

For years, small accounts have been overcharged and underserved. I’m encouraged, however, by what I see some advisors doing, I wish the rest of the profession were inspired to similarly elevate the value provided for the price charged small clients.