Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. He can be reached at cyril.tuohy@innfeedback.com.
Sales of fast-growing indexed annuities could eat into the VA market’s recovery, a Morningstar analyst said.
Behind the staid numbers, annuity companies are experimenting with product tweaks as they push to distribute through new channels in search of growth, which is likely to come from reaching down to the mass affluent and middle markets.
New RIA firms are managing an increasing amount of investor dollars, a new survey finds.
Merrill Lynch will again accept commission-based individual retirement accounts, but the invitation excludes commission annuities.
With Ohio National closing its annuity business, the next step is how soon the block might be put up for sale.
One thing is for sure, there won’t be any shortage of inquiring buyers who want to know.
How clients, bosses or even other family members perceive financial advisors is often different than how those very same advisors see themselves.
Last fall, three big wirehouses dropped a bombshell on the broker recruiting world with plans to opt out of an agreement to provide safe passage to advisors leaving for another firm.
A decade removed from the 2008 financial crisis advisors have shifted toward “safer” products as they approach planning through a more balanced and holistic lens, a new survey found.
After 17 consecutive quarters of declines, second-quarter sales of VAs rose – if ever so slightly – 2 percent to $25.8 billion compared with the year-ago period, LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute reported.
Thirty-four percent of variable annuity owners cannot remember why they bought them, a new survey finds. But at least one analyst says that is merely a sign that VAs are very versatile, with a number of different uses, and that advisors are trusted and doing a good job.
Allianz will make its annuities available on the Envestnet Insurance Exchange, the second insurer to list its products there. Advisors at banks, broker-dealers, independent insurance agencies and registered investment advisors will be able to research Allianz annuities using the exchange, which is connected to Envestnet’s wealth management platform.
Women have much better investing skills, a new MassMutual survey finds.
Age has little to do with how retail advisors communicate with wholesalers, new research finds. Advisors gravitate either toward technology or traditional face-to-face contact based on the distribution channel in which they sell.
The number of RIA merger-and-acquisition deals collapsed compared to the first quarter, which saw a record 49 transactions, an industry tracker reported. The reasons are numerous, but an analyst said the future prospects for M&A remain strong.
Top advisors are able to utilize technology, prefer face-to-face meetings and find ways to put the client first, a new survey found. Those advisors diverge from the rest of their peers in some areas, while in other areas both groups exhibited similarities, the survey found.
Advisors looking to sell out need to pause and consider who they are selling to, say succession planning experts. Scammers are getting their foot in the door by buying books of business and defrauding clients, an outcome that can sully decades of good work.
Advisors seeking to match clients with the best annuity benefits need accurate expense-to-benefit ratio tools to help protect them in an era of regulatory pressure. For example, lifetime withdrawal riders allow retirees to receive income for the rest of their lives, but cost extra.
The traditional assets under management (AUM) model is growing strong even as new fee-based arrangements crop up each month, the report by Cerulli Associates found.
A new Schwab survey finds that nearly 75 percent of registered investment advisors are planning to hire over the next 12 months. Likewise, many firms are offering many more holistic services such as tax prep.
33 percent of baby boomers, 32 percent of Gen Xers and 27 percent of millennials say paying off debt is their greatest financial priority now.
Envestnet is integrating annuities into its wealth management platform, giving advisors a more complete view of client retirement portfolios. The first insurer is offering annuities on the exchange, which one analysts says will spur others to follow.
A new study shows millennials, a group about 80 million Americans born between 1979 and 2000, are paying more attention to financial planning and goal setting as they save for a home and start families.
Summer means vacations and vacations mean slipping off with a good book. We talked to several financial advisors to find out what they are reading for our annual summer reading list.
Top advisors maintained their fee structures even as pricing for fee and commission product lines fell, new research finds. Only 30 percent of advisors lowered prices year over year, the study showed. What does it mean for the future?
Financial scams are costing Americans millions of dollars annually, authorities say. Several recent advisors and brokers are facing serious charges and jail time for a variety of schemes.
RIAs of all sizes continue to grow and continue to take market share from wirehouses. The market share for managed accounts held by wirehouses dropped below 50 percent last year for the first time, down from a peak of 71 percent in 2001.
For the first time the market share for managed accounts held by wirehouses dropped below 50 percent last year, from a peak of 71 percent in 2001, according to Cerulli.
Younger clients are counting wealth as more than money. RIAs who are really committed to holistic advising are going the next step and helping with clients’ well-being.
Advisors are getting older and so are their clients. They both probably need to learn about succession planning for a secure retirement. Not only is it a service but also a lot of opportunity that comes with the liquidation of a business.
First-quarter RIA mergers and acquisitions rocketed to a record 47 deals, bouncing back from 33 deals in the fourth quarter, according to new data.
Someday the bear will come. How well are advisors preparing clients?
Digital-first agencies find that step No. 2 might be handing it off to an advisor.
Americans generally worry about wages, but younger workers are also concerned about affordable education.
More than 50 percent of financial advisors expect to go deeper in their social media relationship with their clients.
InsurMark says Simplicity acquired it because of its success in the financial advisor market.
More consumers are anxious about their finances and want to hear about annuities, according to the latest Greenwald survey.
Advisors should give fixed indexed annuities (FIAs) a serious look because FIAs offer a compelling story in an era of low bond yields, according to Roger G. Ibbotson, one of the most recognizable names in finance.
Some industry observers say demographic, regulatory and technology trends have generated new momentum for many RIAs to consider offering fee-based annuities. The potential for mutual growth is high, some say.
Fee-based indexed and variable annuities are still posting small sales, but the numbers are rising. A key to future sales is whether the products catch on with registered investment advisors (RIAs), analysts say.
Insurance company M&A deals fell sharply in 2017 and isn’t expected to rebound anytime soon. Several trends are impacting the potential for M&A deals, including tax reform and technology.
Advisors and brokers say fee-based compensation is a difficult transaction with many annuities. In addition, clients often save money over the long run sticking with the traditional commission-based model.
Researcher shows why advisors should show clients how to boost their Social Security and save their retirement by leveraging annuities.
Even though many registered investment advisors offer insurance, a large percentage of them refer their clients to an outside insurance advisor, a survey found.
With Monday’s sharp downturn, the Dow Jones has lost about 2,200 points since Jan. 26, a decline of nearly 10 percent. But financial advisors say that is just a normal correction to recently explosive market growth that was unsustainable.
Advisors across the industry are being given the go ahead to text clients. Companies such as Merrill Lynch and Voya have strict guidelines on texting, but executives say they must be active in a communication channel favored by so many Americans.
The financial world could see an exodus of advisors from firms in the coming months, one analyst says. Advisors are expected to leave while they still can do so without penalty as more and more firms plan to exit the broker protocol agreement.
The pricing and hedging challenges that come with variable annuities with living benefits might make them a bad match for consumers in search of retirement income, a pair of economists say.
With tax cuts enacted, a booming market and clients aware of the fiduciary standard, registered investment advisors say the conditions are ripe for a strong 2018. The new survey also found that most RIAs expect strong asset growth this year.
About 42 percent of advised retail assets were invested under a fiduciary standard at the end of 2016, a new report found. That shift to fiduciary is growing as brokerage firms move clients into fee-based accounts and investors expect a fiduciary obligation.
We asked advisors what they would like to see in the coming year.
Giant brokerage firms are divided about the broker protocol, an agreement to prevent lawsuits if advisors move to competitors. Some say the differing strategies are sure to lead to more lawsuits and cause problems throughout the industry.
Fixed and indexed annuity sales drop below $50 million for the first time since 2002.
A new survey found that 58 percent of people view health care costs as the No. 1 obstacle to financial security, a rise of 13 points in one year. What Congress will do with the Affordable Care Act is just one reason for the angst.
“The war for talent starts at the undergraduate level,” said Kate Healy, managing director, Generation Next, at TD Ameritrade Institutional.
Wirehouse Morgan Stanley is leaving the broker protocol, an agreement to prevent lawsuits in the wake of advisors departing for other firms. Will other wirehouses follow suit and clamp down on advisor movement?
Merger and acquisitions among registered investment advisors fell sharply in the third quarter as advisors see less reason to merge in the wake of an 18-month delay of the Department of Labor fiduciary rule.
More annuity owners are using guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits to turn on the retirement income spigot. The increase might be attributable to advisors and annuity owners being more comfortable with how the GLWB riders work, one analysts said.
The rapidly growing fee-based registered investment advisor (RIA) channel is also the largest holder of passively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to data released by an industry consultant.
Republicans are kicking around an idea to force “Rothification” of retirement accounts. Opponents say it is a bad idea that could hurt Americans’ retirement readiness. The controversial idea is not expected to be part of 2018 budget or tax reform plans.
Generating income in retirement and planning for the risk of living too long are among the trends that will define the future of consumer wealth, one analyst says.
