May 15, 2012
By Alan Lavine
A new program shorts futures contracts to hedge ETF holdings inside annuity contracts. It’s not cheap, but some say it’s worth it. ...
Apr 17, 2012
By Alan Lavine
The baby bust in the U.S. is over, and babies are again on the rise. That means more demand for life insurance. ...
Apr 9, 2012
By Mark Miller
Not always: Six ways pension annuities almost always beat a lump sum....
Mar 20, 2012
By Michael K. Kirsh
The drama over Whitney Houston's estate continues to unfold....
Mar 20, 2012
By Alan Lavine
Called contingent annuities, these securities are less expensive than variable annuities and offer better tax treatment for wealthy investors. But availability is limited and some worry the risks will be difficult to cover. ...
Feb 21, 2012
By Alan Lavine
There is a lot of survey noise out there. Before you believe what you read, take a look at this list. ...
Jan 17, 2012
By Alan Lavine
Age expectancies are rising. Are your clients prepared?...
Jan 1, 2012
By Alan Lavine
Insurance firms face some major market risks, and financial advisors should look carefully at the financial strength of a firm before selling its products to clients....
Dec 19, 2011
By Alan Lavine
Financial advisors are increasingly concerned about the financial strength of the insurance companies whose products they sell. They cite low interest rates and exposure to the stock market via product principal guarantees as grounds for their concern, according to a fall study by LIMRA....
Dec 1, 2011
By Alan Lavine
This niche combo product provides guaranteed lifetime income to the beneficiary. It's a great option for clients with poor performing universal life and can be used in prenuptial or buy-sell agreements, and for fulfilling alimony payments....
Nov 15, 2011
By Alan Lavine
What do you get when you splice together a life insurance policy and an immediate annuity?
A reversionary annuity. Yes, that’s a mouthful, but it carries some of the advantages of each and is ideal for certain kinds of clients.
...
Nov 1, 2011
By Alan Lavine
Clients seeking investment guarantees are increasingly turning to insurance products....
Oct 24, 2011
By Diana Britton
Advisors and insurance agents need to focus on building trust with consumers and clients in this environment, one in which the Occupy Wall Street movement dominates headlines, said Bob Baranoff, senior vice president of member benefits at LIMRA, during LIMRA’s annual conference today in New York. ...
Oct 21, 2011
By Diana Britton
A surprising twist we recently uncovered in research about social media usage: Among financial advisors, insurance advisors are most likely to use social media for business purposes and most likely to have landed clients through social media. These results were among the findings of a recent survey by Registered Rep/WealthManagement.com. ...
Oct 17, 2011
By Alan Lavine
You might be surprised what you find if you review your clients’ insurance needs.
Many universal and variable universal life insurance policies underperformed over the past 10 to 15 years due to falling interest rates and huge stock market losses in 2002 and 2008.
...
Oct 1, 2011
By Alan Lavine
Combination products are more affordable, but there's no free lunch....
Sep 14, 2011
By Diana Britton
The week after Hurricane Irene swept through the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states, one of John Papa’s clients in Caldwell, N.J., who was getting ready to retire from her position at Verizon, came into his office to discuss her retirement. Flooding had caused over $50,000 in damages to her home, and Papa, president of Diversified Planning Strategies, recommended she delay her retirement for at least a year to cover the expenses....
Sep 1, 2011
By Alan Lavine
Shorter durations, payment postponements are lowering costs....
Sep 1, 2011
By Kevin McKinley
Few clients have it, but many could use it. It's up to you to help them properly evaluate the costs and benefits....
Aug 15, 2011
By Alan Lavine
Retiring baby boomers are pouring their money into variable annuities with guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits. The problem is, these products have a number of hidden drawbacks. Financial advisors need to keep clients informed....
Aug 12, 2011
By Diana Britton
Product development in the retirement income space has exploded, and for good reason. With about 77 million Baby Boomers coming up on retirement, advisors will have to deal with a larger pool of clients transitioning from the asset accumulation phase of their lives to the asset distribution phase. On top of that, the future of social security benefits is in doubt, and many employers no longer offer defined benefit pension plans and instead put the onus of savings on the employee in defined contribution/401(k) offerings. ...
Aug 9, 2011
By Diana Britton
Advisors affiliated with insurance companies are not locked into the insurance commission mentality; many of them looking to diversify their sources of revenues with other types of investment products as well as AUM-based fees. [What a grand time to make the switch, what with the market volatility scaring retail investors onto the sidelines. You only have to look at fiscal third-quarter trading volumes at, say, TD Ameritrade or Schwab....
Jul 25, 2011
By Lena S. Rizkallah, JD
Almost a year after the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“the Act”) was signed, advisors are still unclear about how the provisions in it will affect the financial industry...
Jul 18, 2011
By Alan Lavine
Might some of your single clients unknowingly need life insurance? “One typical reason young people (in their 20s and 30s) buy life insurance is to protect their insurability,” says Ronald Klein, assistant vice president at Sun Life, Wellesley, Mass. “It is also a good tax-free way to save for the long term.”...
Jul 1, 2011
Just a small segment of the advisor industry accounts for most of the sales of variable annuities in the U.S., so for insurers who are concerned about the long-term growth of the industry, getting more advisors on board to peddle their products is critical...
