Headlines about "Ret plan investments - self-directed"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
Why Pension Funds Are Eating Your 401(k)'s Lunch
"Pension funds have the benefit of investing for a whole pool of people; they can look longer term and take different risks. Still, there are lessons to be learned by the two types of retirement plans' disparate returns.... The bigger the pool, the better the returns.... Fees matter... Don't play follow the leader.... Don't rule out the return of pensions." (Reuters)

The Perfect Fit for One-Size-Fits-All Target Date Funds (PDF)
"There are two indisputable truths in defined contribution retirement savings: [1] Saving enough is critical to retiring with dignity. [2] There is a risk zone spanning the 5 years before and after retirement during which losses can materially disrupt retirement lifestyles, even if savings are sufficient.... These facts are largely ignored when it comes to target date funds." (Target Date Solutions)

Wagner Law Group Legal Updates in ERISA, Employee Benefits & Human Resources, May 2013
Articles include: Tax Reform Proposals Regarding the Retirement System; DOL Offers Tips on TDFs; Definition of Fiduciary; Re-Enrollment Default Investments: Bidwell v. University Medical Center; 408b-2 and 404a-5 Disclosure Aftermath; Brokerage Accounts; New Areas of Potential Litigation. (The Wagner Law Group)

Younger Prospects Getting Cold Shoulder from Advisers
"[T]wo-thirds of executives at broker-dealer and registered investment adviser firms ... said they are still focused on serving and attracting baby boomer clients, while just 23% said they're targeting Gen X (ages 34-48) and Gen Y (18-33)." (Investment News; free registration required)

Improving Retirement Savings Options for Employees (PDF)
"The core principles of trust investment law ... establish a presumption in favor of passive (index) investing and against active investing ... The key question is what this presumption implies for a situation where plan participants are allowed to exercise control over their accounts -- control explicitly endorsed by ERISA.... [P]lan fiduciaries' duty to protect participants from poor investment choices does not simply evaporate in this context." (U. of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law Review)

A Nervy Approach to Retirement Saving: Self-Directed IRAs Using Exotic Investments
"[W]hile many Americans rely on their savings or 401(k) plans to see them through their golden years, high-end folks are falling in love with another option -- something called the self-directed individual retirement account. The idea is simple enough: Invest in anything you want, but put the investment into a special IRA, so it isn't taxed until retirement ... [But] some experts are expressing serious reservations about the skyrocketing growth of self-directed IRAs ... because many parts of this business aren't regulated." (The Wall Street Journal)

Retirement Plan Participants: Comparing Concerns of Men to Those of Women
"There are few retirement readiness issues on which men and women feel equally secure.... When asked about future prospects, men are more likely than women to say they expect to be better off financially one year from now. They also express greater concern with their level of household debt. Women are more concerned about not saving enough for retirement, health issues and the financial situation of their children." (Spectrem Group)

Personality Type Theories and Investing
"Individuals are different in the way they process information, vary in the way they behave when faced with a financial decision, and have different risk preferences, so it is essential that advisors interact with each client effectively. This often means that you must change the way you speak to different types of clients even though your advice may be similar across your client base." (Morningstar Advisor)

Consumer Fact Sheet: The Basics of Investing
"The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) and the National Retirement Planning Coalition (NRPC) released a new fact sheet focused on the basics of investing as part of their six-month national retirement planning campaign.... According to research by IRI, only about 17 percent of Boomers believe that they are extremely or very knowledgeable about making financial investments. Even more alarming, more than 40 percent of Boomers say that they are not very or not at all knowledgeable about investing." (Insured Retirement Institute)

[Opinion] Beware of Target-Date Funds
"[D]espite the growing popularity of TDFs, flaws with these types of investments abound.... TDFs encourage people to be lazy.... TDFs don't properly tackle the issue of longevity.... TDFs undermine the crucial role of professional investment advice.... TDFs are not adequately diversified." (Advisor One)

Rethinking Target Date Funds: Fulfilling Fiduciary Responsibilities (PDF)
"[S]ignificant differences among target date offerings exist -- asset allocation, underlying design and philosophy -- presenting a challenge for plan sponsors in the selection and monitoring of target date strategies." (Plan Sponsor Advisors)

[Opinion] The Social Costs of Choice, Free Market Ideology and the Empirical Consequences of the 401(k) Plan Large Menu Defense
"Under the 'large menu defense'" courts have held that, even assuming a failure to exercise due care in selecting plan options, the employer can nonetheless claim the protection of the employee-control safe harbor under ERISA because, when the plan's menu is sufficiently large, the plan participant is deemed to have exercised legal control over the relevant investment decision.... Research has shown that large 401(k) menus result in lower participation rates, overly conservative allocations, inferior investment options and other adverse effects that, collectively, cost workers billions of dollars every year." (Mercer Bullard via SSRN)

Participants Need a Retirement Income Plan
"[W]hile retirement plan providers and plan sponsors are offering information, calculators and retirement income products, this is not enough.... Participants need help understanding how their investment allocation should be different in the distribution phase than it was in the accumulation phase." (PLANADVISER.com)

Making the Most of 401(k) Accounts
"[S]ome 35 years since their inception, 401(k) plans have been harshly criticized for failing to close ... a $6.6 trillion difference between what people have saved and what they need to save for retirement. ... [T]he overwhelming majority of participants in defined-contribution plans are neither professional money managers nor especially investment-savvy, putting them at a severe disadvantage when it comes to deciding how they will invest for their retirement years." (Investment News; free registration required)

Investment Decisions in Retirement: The Role of Subjective Expectations
"[A] model with heterogeneous subjective expectations about stock market returns is able to account for low stock market participation, and tracks the share of risky assets conditional on participation reasonably well.... [T]here is considerable scope for welfare improvement as a result of consumer education regarding stock market returns." (University of Michigan Retirement Research Center)

Expenses and Fees Paid on Mutual Funds in 401(k) Plans (PDF)
"Plan participants have a broad range of mutual funds from which to choose, but they heavily favor lower-cost funds.... 84 percent of 401(k) plan assets in equity mutual funds were invested in funds with expense ratios of less than 1 percent at year-end 2012. Thirty-five percent of 401(k) equity mutual fund assets were in funds with expense ratios less than 0.50 percent." (Investment Company Institute)

'The Retirement Gamble' Facing Us All -- PBS Frontline Show on Retirement Crisis Airs Tonight
"America is facing a retirement crisis. One in three Americans has no retirement savings at all. One in two reports that they can't save enough. On top of that, we are living longer, and health care costs, as we all know, are increasing. But ... those advertisements are imploring us to start saving for one simple reason. Retirement is big business -- and very profitable.... And as long as they don't run away with our money or invest it in a Ponzi scheme, they have little in the way of accountability to us when something goes wrong. And even then it can be hard to fight back." [Note: The author, Martin Smith, is the PBS correspondence who prepared the FRONTLINE story 'The Retirement Gamble'.] (PBS)

Seventh Circuit Issues Sweeping Decision in Favor of Fiduciaries in a 401(k) Stock Drop Case
"The Court ... expressed 'fundamental doubts' about the common theories of liability in 401(k) stock drop cases, recognizing that 'it will be difficult' for any future plaintiff to rebut the presumption of prudence. The Court noted that, absent misrepresentations or other misconduct, 'plaintiffs in such cases under ERISA must try to hit a very small and perhaps non-existent target' to establish liability." [White v. Marshall & Ilsley Corp., No. 11-2660 (7th Cir. Apr. 19, 2013] (Sidley Austin LLP)

The Participant Disclosure Regulation: Turning 'Experts' Into Informed Participants (PDF)
"[F]ive years after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the global financial crisis that followed, some participants are waking up to the fact that in order to properly invest their retirement account, they need accurate, reliable and understandable information about their retirement plans and investment alternatives. Unfortunately, other participants -- many with the encouragement of class action plaintiffs' attorneys -- are convinced that their losses must be someone else's fault: the result of excessive fees, substandard investment options or improper disclosures." (Groom Law Group via Plan Consultant)

[Opinion] Text of Comments to DOL on Final Rule for Disclosure in Participant-Directed Individual Account Plans and Related Guidance under FAB 2012-02R
"In particular, we are requesting a transitional realignment period for making the 'second round' of the annual participant level fee disclosures required by the Final Regulations. In addition, we recommend clarification of the 'at least annually' standard in a way that will permit plan administrators more flexibility and reduce plan administrative expenses." (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries)

IRAs Remain Linchpin of U.S. Retirement Savings, But Savvy Account Management Often Lacking
"At the end of last year, IRAs had $5.4 trillion in assets compared with $5.1 trillion in 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans. Some 40 percent of U.S. households own at least one type of IRA, which offer tax incentives to save for retirement. Many of these IRA holders are left to their own devices to manage their accounts." (Daily Journal)

Top Five Ways Gen X and Y Consumers Can Improve Their Chances for a Secure Retirement
"[1] Improve your financial knowledge.... [2] Get Help.... [3] Participate in employer-sponsored retirement savings plan or start an IRA.... [4] Steadily increase your contributions.... [5] Don't withdraw your retirement savings." (LIMRA)

Seventh Circuit Decides American United Life Was Not a Fiduciary
"[T]he 7th Circuit found that [American United Life Insurance Co. (AUL)] was not an ERISA 3(21) fiduciary just because it winnowed the universe of 7,500 mutual funds to offering about 400 on their platform for selection by a plan sponsor.... Key to this decision is that the plan sponsor chooses the final line-up, and regardless of whether AUL has the ability to change the investments offered at their discretion, if they don't exercise that discretion, then they are not a 3(21) fiduciary." (Plan Tools, LLC)

[Guidance Overview] How 'Safe' Are ERISA 401(k)/404(c) Safe Harbors?
"[P]lan sponsors confronted with potential liability claims immediately claim that they are absolutely immune from any liability due to said safe-harbors. The mood quickly changes when the truth about 401(k)/404(c) safe harbors is explained." (The Prudent Investment Adviser Rules)

The Two Least Understood Investment Rules That Most Hurt 401(k) Investors
"[A]cademic research suggests the optimal portfolio size is between 30 and 50 stocks ... Beyond this number, the cost of diversification tends to eat away at the portfolio's investment performance.... [T]he average number of holdings in the typical mutual fund far exceeds this optimal portfolio.... Why do so many retirement investors believe they should buy more than 2-3 mutual funds, which in themselves are already diversified portfolios?" (Fiduciary News)

Three (Bad) Reasons 401(k) Investors Are Over-Cautious
"Investors look at the short-term, especially after market collapses like 2008/09, because they revert to a 'safety first' mentality.... For those unwilling or unable to work with an individual adviser, ... the best way to cure the problem of over-cautiousness comes down to this simple rule: 'Don't look at the short-term media.'" (Fiduciary News)

Three (Bad) Reasons 401(k) Investors Are Over-Cautious
"Investors look at the short-term, especially after market collapses like 2008/09, because they revert to a 'safety first' mentality.... For those unwilling or unable to work with an individual adviser, ... the best way to cure the problem of over-cautiousness comes down to this simple rule: 'Don't look at the short-term media.'" (Fiduciary News)

[Opinion] Your 401(k) Is Invested in What?
"If you don't know what your choices are, you better ask someone. You see, the trouble arises when the participant (that's you) isn't aware of what investment options are available, or worse, decides not to choose from among them. And unfortunately, your default investment option might be a stinker.... [N]ot all 401(k)s will default to an age appropriate target date fund. Some will default to the most conservatively allocated option. You might be 25 but the default could be an income fund which is better suited for an 80-year-old." (The Street)

Stick with Your Long-Term Retirement Investing Plan, Even When Times Are Good
"Successful investing requires the investor to control emotions.... [T]he best way to do this is to stick to a few basic retirement saving principles: 1. Rebalance Your Investments on a Consistent Basis.... 2. Do Not Allow Market Conditions to Dictate Your Contribution.... 3. Stay on the Road." (Smart401k.com)

[Official Guidance] Text of SEC Request for Data and Other Information About Duties of Brokers, Dealers, and Investment Advisers
"We are specifically requesting quantitative and qualitative data and other information and economic analysis ... about the benefits and costs of the current standards of conduct of broker-dealers and investment advisers when providing advice to retail customers, as well as alternative approaches to the standards of conduct, including a uniform fiduciary standard of conduct applicable to all investment advisers and broker-dealers when providing personalized investment advice to retail customers. We recognize that retail customers are unlikely to have significant empirical and quantitative information. We welcome any information they can provide." (Securities and Exchange Commission)

[Official Guidance] From DOL: 'Target Date Retirement Funds: -- Tips for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries' (PDF)
"[EBSA] prepared the following general guidance to assist plan fiduciaries in selecting and monitoring TDFs and other investment options in 401(k) and similar participant-directed individual account plans. [Topics include:] Establish a process for the periodic review of selected TDFs.... Understand the fund's investments -- the allocation in different asset classes (stocks, bonds, cash), individual investments, and how these will change over time.... Review the fund's fees and investment expenses... Inquire about whether a custom or non-proprietary target date fund would be a better fit for your plan.... Develop effective employee communications.... Take advantage of available sources of information to evaluate the TDF and recommendations you received regarding the TDF selection.... Document the process." (Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Brief of Amici Curiae to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Abbott v. Lockheed Martin Corporation (PDF)
"This Court has already made clear that a fund's performance must be evaluated in relation to its own disclosures, not to the performance or profile of other funds that share similar labels. Allowing a plaintiff to certify a class -- even provisionally -- on this rejected theory of liability would impose significant adverse consequences on the sponsors, administrators, and beneficiaries of ERISA plans." (U.S. Chamber of Commerce; ERISA Industry Committee; American Benefits Council)

[Opinion] Employer Stock in a 401(k): Caveat Emptor
"The implications associated with holding some employer securities (e.g., 10% of an account balance) aren't generally significant, but higher levels of employer stockholdings (e.g., over 25%) can significantly reduce the likely 401(k) balance at retirement.... [E]mployer stock just generally isn't worth the risk." (MarketWatch.com)

Offering Too Many 401(k) Options Hurts Plan Participation and Asset Allocation
"When a 401(k) plan offered only two investment options, 75% of employees participated. When 59 investment options were available, however, the participation rate dropped to 61%. Expanding on this study, [Sheena Iyengar, professor of business at Columbia University] examined the impact that more investment options had on the 401(k) participants' asset allocation. For every additional 10 investment options available, the average 401(k) participant's equity allocation fell by 3.28%. Some neglected equities altogether." (Business Insider)

Are In-Plan Options the Next Frontier for Insured Retirement?
"[A] new study ... pinpoints guaranteed lifetime income options offered within employer-provided defined contribution plans as an opportunity to address many emerging retirement security challenges.... [W]orkers who convert a portion of their accumulated assets into a guaranteed income stream can effectively manage many of the risks inherent to the defined contribution retirement system such as longevity risk, volatility and sequence of returns risk, as well as excess withdrawal risk." (Insured Retirement Institute)

Ten Things Your 401(k) Wants You to Know
"Here are 10 things that your 401(k) would like you to know. 1. Average 401(k) account balances are up but that average account still won't support the average person's retirement.... 2. You should utilize tools to calculate your retirement readiness and adjust your savings strategy.... 3. It's important that you understand the fees you pay to participate in your 401(k) plan.... 4. Diversification is a key component to a successful investment strategy.... 5. Compounding interest works for you." (Milliman)

[Opinion] Switching Jobs? Ditch Your Old 401(k)
"When changing plan offerings, administrators routinely chase returns and do not improve performance. In fact, about the best thing [a recent] study could say for employers' fund-picking ability was that the index-lagging funds they chose performed 'better than comparable, randomly selected funds'.... To make matters worse, the inability of administrators to properly select funds is then compounded by plan participants' tendency to follow investment strategies that add no value, and to chase returns." (MarketWatch.com)

Beginner's Guide to Annuities
"A recent study released by the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), showed that the 3rd quarter of 2012 set a new all-time record for annuity sales. This could be a result of lingering effects of the 2008 crash leading retirement investors to the idea of financial security." (Smart401k.com)

Target-Date Mutual Funds Help Young Workers Set Up Smart 401(k)s
"Not enough young people who are eligible for a plan participate in one, and even those that do participate save only about 5% of their pre-tax income. Most advisers say that 10% is a minimum savings target. But twenty-somethings finally seem to have got the message when it comes to the importance of owning stocks, diversifying, and staying away from plan loans." (TIME)

[Opinion] Text of Comments to Financial Stability Oversight Council on Proposed Money Market Mutual Fund Reforms (PDF)
"We are very concerned that the Proposed Recommendations will adversely impact money market funds, and as a result will also negatively impact tens of thousands of retirement plans and millions of plan participants.... Collectively, the Proposed Recommendations would limit the use and availability of money market funds for retirement plans because they would require plan record keepers to make significant and cost prohibitive changes to their record keeping systems. Record keepers are unlikely to undertake making the required changes." (The SPARK Institute)

Retirement Accounts Draw Attention of U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
"The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is weighing whether it should take on a role in helping Americans manage the $19.4 trillion they have put into retirement savings, a move that would be the agency's first foray into consumer investments.... The bureau's core concern is that many Americans, notably those from the retiring Baby Boom generation, may fall prey to financial scams ... [T]he consumer bureau -- established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act -- sees itself as a potential catalyst for promoting a coherent policy across the government[.]" (Bloomberg)

401(k) Investors Want Automatic Savings Increases and More Help in Making Retirement Decisions
"74 percent of employees surveyed want clear examples that will show them how their savings will pay off in the future; 71 percent want employers to increase their savings rate by one percent automatically each year; and 62 percent of employees 25 and younger said they want their employers to show them how to spend less so they can save more, compared to 53 percent of all employees surveyed[.]" (State Street Center fo Applied Research)

Target-Date Funds Grow in Popularity as Investment Choice, But Do Your Homework
"This no-brainer option has become the retirement rage in the wake of the passing of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which allowed employers to automatically enroll their employees in target-date funds. Since then, total target-date fund assets have jumped four-fold to $475 billion as of November 2012.... More than 80% of retirement plans managed by mutual fund giant Vanguard offer them, and nearly a quarter of participants stash all of their retirement cash in a target-date fund.... But target-date funds come with risks." (New York Daily News)

[Guidance Overview] Individual Brokerage Accounts: What Plan Sponsors Must Disclose to Participants
"The participant disclosure requirements for brokerage accounts should not be overlooked by plan sponsors and committees. Though the requirements are less for designated investment alternatives, there are specific items that must be disclosed -- initially and annually. It may be easy to assume that a plan's providers will automatically make the disclosures. However, the Participant Disclosure Regulation places the legal burden squarely on the shoulders of the fiduciaries -- the plan sponsor and the committee members[.]" (Drinker Biddle)

New Proprietary Funds Case Presents Issues of Standing, Statute of Limitations (PDF)
"A financial services company sponsoring a 401(k) plan that includes the sponsor's own mutual funds on the plan's investment menu has an inherent conflict of interest and needs to avoid even the appearance of favoring its own funds.... [Claims] recently made against SunTrust with respect to its selection of eight proprietary mutual funds ... for inclusion on the investment menu of its in-house 401(k) plan ... allege that this resulted in (i) a breach of fiduciary duty and (ii) a prohibited transaction, but SunTrust raised interesting defenses[.]" (The Wagner Law Group via 401k Advisor)

Employers Eye Returns in 401(k)s
"[A recent study] examined 43 plans with an average asset size of $310 million between 1994 and 1999.... The plan sponsors added a total of 215 mutual funds and dropped 45. More than half the additions were of funds from an investment category that wasn't previously represented in the plan's menu.... [T]hree years after they were added, the new funds beat a random group of similar offerings only by 44 basis points. Dropped funds, on the other hand, experienced a slight improvement in their performance after being removed from the 401(k) menus, besting similar randomly selected funds by 17 basis points." (Investment News; free registration required)

401(k) Success Impeded by 'Chasing Returns'
"Plan administrators most often choose to include, as new plan investment options, mutual funds that subsequently perform worse than their comparable stock or bond benchmark indexes, according to [a recent] study ... [which found that] when making changes to their plan's fund offerings, administrators are likely to 'chase returns' (that is, select funds with strong short-term performance records, which may indicate they are presently over-valued following a recent run-up)." (Society for Human Resource Management)

Dig Deep When Selecting Target-Date Funds for Your 401(k) Account
"Should you go the target date route? Here are a few factors to consider: Are you comfortable allocating your retirement account from among the other options available in the plan? Are there advice options available to you via your retirement plan? These might include online help, in-person meetings or managed account options. Do you work with a financial adviser on your accounts outside of the plan? If so, the adviser might be in a position to provide advice on your 401(k)." (U.S. News & World Report)

Annuities with Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawals Have Both Benefits and Risks, But Regulation Varies Across States
"As older Americans retire, they may face rising health care costs, inflation, and the risk of outliving their assets. Those entering retirement today typically face greater responsibility for managing their retirement savings than those who retired in the past. Lifetime income products can help older Americans ensure they have income throughout their retirement. [Variable annuities with guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits (VA/GLWB) and contingent deferred annuities (CDA)] may provide unique benefits to consumers.... This report (1) compares the features of VA/GLWBs and CDAs and examines potential benefits and risks to consumers and potential risks to insurers, and (2) examines the regulation of these products and the extent to which regulations address risks to consumers." (U.S. Government Accountability Office)

[Guidance Overview] 2012 Q&As: DOL Meeting with ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, May 9, 2012 (PDF)
32 pages. Topics addressed include 403(b) Distributions; Deferred Annuities in Defined Contribution Plans; Medicare; Electronic Delivery; Health Savings Accounts; and Participant Investment Directions. "The responses reflect only unofficial, nonbinding staff views as of the time of the discussion, and do not necessarily represent the official position of the DOL. Further, this report on the discussions was prepared by JCEB representatives, based on their notes and recollections of the meeting." (Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, American Bar Association)

Is Your Employer's 401(k) a Good Deal?
"Although it almost always makes sense to contribute enough to get your company match, whether you should put more than that into the same basket depends on how much you're being charged in administrative fees, the quality of the investments available, and other factors. Alternative baskets for your retirement savings include individual retirement accounts and variable annuities, both of which also can shelter tax-deferred earnings." (The Wall Street Journal)

Accounts of Most New 401(k) Participants Include Target-Date Funds
"Most experts will tell you that the most important decision in retirement saving is deciding how much to save, not how those savings will be invested -- and yet, for years, much of the education and discussion about retirement saving has been focused on investing.... [T]arget-date funds, as well as their older counterparts, the lifecycle (risk-based) and balanced fund(s), have become fixtures on the defined contribution investment menu. For a large and growing number of individuals, these 'all-in-one' target-date funds, monitored by plan fiduciaries and those that guide them, are likely to be an important aspect of building their retirement future." (Nevin Adams via EBRI)

Five Lessons from My Parents' Retirement
"1. Pursue a traditional pension plan -- aggressively.... 2. Compensate for the absence of a pension plan, if you can't find one.... 3. Don't forget about health care expenses in retirement.... 4. Save like you're going to live forever.... 5. Get started early, and get serious." (MarketWatch.com)

Rethinking Optimal Wealth Accumulation and Decumulation Strategies in the Wake of the Financial Crisis
"Using annual data for stock and bond returns from 1926 through 2011, this paper first investigates the distribution of historic returns and then uses that distribution to determine optimal consumption and portfolio asset allocation for a risk-averse household facing labor-income uncertainty and longevity risk. The household is also entitled to Social Security retirement benefits.... The majority of households derive most of their lifetime consumption from labor market earnings and Social Security, with earnings from financial assets being relatively insignificant. Unless households plan to accumulate a substantial amount of financial assets and invest a substantial share of these assets in stocks, their incorrect portfolio allocations reduce their lifetime utility and lifetime consumption relatively little." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

Ordinary Folks Losing Faith in Stocks
"Defying decades of investment history, ordinary Americans are selling stocks for a fifth year in a row. The selling has not let up despite unprecedented measures by the Federal Reserve to persuade people to buy and the come-hither allure of a levitating market. Stock prices have doubled from March 2009, their low point during the Great Recession. It's the first time ordinary folks have sold during a sustained bull market since relevant records were first kept during World War II[.]" (Associated Press)

Prolonged Low Interest Rates Killing Retirement Savings
"A recent study ... calculated the impact of market volatility, longevity and sustained low interest rates on a hypothetical retirement portfolio of $300,000 ... [under] three scenarios: one with no market volatility or longevity risk; another with both market volatility and longevity risk; and the third with market volatility, longevity risk and an extended period of low interest rates.... In the second scenario, the portfolio ran out of income 21 percent of the time. In the third scenario, when low interest rates were factored in, the failure rate in the simulations rose to 54 percent." (BenefitsPro)

Busted Boomers: How to Bounce Back After Being Out of Work
"Millions of older Americans now have the experience firsthand: A longtime job suddenly evaporates. Months, even years of unemployment ensue. Eventually, a lower-paying job is found and gratefully taken. But what now? How to make up for the setbacks in retirement savings?" (AARP)

$89 for an Umbrella and No Money to Retire
"[T]he reality is that not everyone is going to shell out 89 big ones for an umbrella, no matter what the brand. For a large segment of the U.S. population, money is a scarce resource and confidence in a secure future is low. According to ... [a recent survey,] 68% of respondents say they have 'little to no' confidence in the stock market as a way to prepare for retirement, [while] 80% of investors urge lawmakers to act now so that savings is encouraged. Unfortunately, most of the initiatives that individuals cite as 'must have' elements of a national retirement readiness program are in direct conflict with the political grab to raise taxes." (Pension Risk Matters)

Interest in Annuities Is Growing
"Variable annuities continue to be the dominant product sold today, but anticipation is that [deferred income annuities] will be the fastest growing product in 2013, at least on a percentage basis. Annuities are now the most unsolicited products requested by clients, and nearly three in four financial professionals had clients who requested to purchase an annuity over the past year[.]" (PLANADVISER.com)

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