Insurance & Annuities

A simple annuity can effectively replace bond holdings in a retirement plan that are earmarked to meet the lifetime spending goal. The question is why should a retiree hold any bonds in the portion of their asset base designed to cover ongoing retirement spending goals?

Annie Duke, once one of the best female poker players in the world, helped me understand why people work longer than they need to. This got me thinking about the decumulation problem more broadly and planning to live to age 100.

For all of you following the banking crises in the US and Europe, and asking why this is all happening again, I have bad news: Regardless of what laws are passed, or which regulations are issued, banking crises will recur — and not infrequently.

It’s rarely mentioned, but it’s stunning how often the financial planning profession has foreshadowed the evolution of our social environment.

US officials are studying ways they might temporarily expand Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage to all deposits, a move sought by a coalition of banks arguing that it’s needed to head off a potential financial crisis.

If you work with boomer-generation women, are you properly responding to their need for lifetime income? Consider this parable.

A TIPS is risky in the short term and riskless in the long run, which is precisely the opposite of, and complementary to, a T-bill, which is riskless in the short term but, because of reinvestment rate volatility, risky in the long run.

Just over a year before Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse threatened a generation of technology startups and their backers, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco appointed a more senior team of examiners to assess the firm. They started calling out problem after problem.

An acceleration in monthly core consumer prices seems likely to reinforce the Federal Reserve’s determination to raise interest rates to fight inflation, though the decision on next week’s move will be a tough call amid ongoing concern about financial turmoil.

Why don’t sellers of services transparently list one price that includes all fees?

Can we aggressively position assets today that have the potential for strong growth in the next 24 months when a tuition bill is due, without exposing those assets to market risk?

US authorities took extraordinary measures to shore up confidence in the financial system after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, introducing a new backstop for banks that Federal Reserve officials said was big enough to protect the entire nation’s deposits.

Greg Becker sat in a red armchair at an invite-only conference in Los Angeles last week, legs crossed, one hand cutting through air.

President Joe Biden is proposing a series of new tax increases on billionaires, rich investors and corporations in his latest proposal for how Congress should prioritize taxes and spending.

Anyone working with US regulators to salvage Silvergate Capital Corp., the crypto-friendly bank, will have to reckon with a key variable — the wariness of those same officials about digital assets.

I’m writing to ask why the advisory profession isn’t set up to provide more human-oriented support to advisors who are trying to transition.

I took ChatGPT for a test drive by directing it to write an article summarizing important tax rule changes introduced by SECURE Act 2.0. The essay it produced was an epic failure.

Any of the variable spending strategies I analyzed will reduce sequence risk in retirement and allow for greater initial spending rates, potentially greater average spending amounts, and a generally more efficient spenddown of assets than the baseline constant inflation-adjusted spending rule.

There’s one strategy that is not only a great wealth-building solution but is also triple tax-advantaged…

Scores of counties offer a free monitoring service to taxpayers if a new need is filed for a property.

As we begin 2023 and you think about how you want to market your financial advisory business, my number one tip is this…

Being flexible with spending matters. My analysis shows that variable spending strategies – including floor-and-ceiling, guardrail, actuarial and other methods – can dramatically increase sustainable retirement spending.

In the final analysis, Dan's confidence borne of providing good financial advice for 17 years proved meaningless.

For those advisors working with foreign nationals on work visas, I’ll discuss a couple of things you can do to help your clients who are impacted.

US economic growth in the fourth quarter was weaker than previously estimated, reflecting a downward revision to consumer spending as the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation figures were revised higher.

Passively managed equity funds are on the cusp of marking a milestone that’s been more than a decade in the making: Globally, net assets in such products are about to exceed those of their actively managed counterparts, according to Societe Generale.

Let’s explore whether the CFP Board, the most powerful and prominent organization supporting the advisory profession, can do more to support the adoption of a full fiduciary standard. We’ll also ask whether the CFP Board actually owns the trademark for “certified financial planner,” as it claims.

US homes in areas prone to floods may be currently overvalued in the range of $121 billion to $237 billion, according to a report published Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Here are some places where the genuinely rich keep their money.

US producer prices rebounded in January by more than expected, underscoring persistent inflationary pressures that could push the Federal Reserve to pursue further interest-rate increases in the months ahead.

It is far easier to engage people and reach them at an emotional level with video than with any other medium.