May 13, 2012

Stable-value products alive and well

The validity of stable-value products within a retirement plan has been both espoused and denounced for the better half of the last decade. The exclusion of these products as a qualified default investment alternative in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 was the supposed death...

• commodities

April 29, 2012

Family duties can threaten retirement

Your baby boomer clients are retiring during a period of prolonged market volatility, high unemployment, rapidly rising health care costs and plummeting home values. You know how this has affected their retirement plans, but have you considered the effect that these economic conditions have had on...

April 1, 2012

401(k) disclosure doesn't go far enough

By Tom Gonnella

This year, 72 million Americans will open their quarterly 401(k) statements and for the first time get a glimpse of the cost of their plans as spelled out in new fee disclosures. Likewise, 483,000 plan sponsors will receive similar fee disclosures from their various service...

March 18, 2012

What's behind money in motion

By Chris J. Brown and Laura Varas

“Money in motion” is a common term in financial services. There are trillions up for grabs and everyone is fighting to get his or her share. Many people think that the retiring baby boomers are the main story behind money movement. But the real drivers...

• ING Group,
• retirement planning

March 4, 2012

Picking the right cash flow strategy

By Craig Brimhall

It isn't an easy time for retirees and those nearing retirement to settle on a cash flow strategy. Consider the head winds that they face: • Stock market returns have been disappointing, and fixed-income yields are historically low. Ten-year Treasury notes yield just 2%, a...

February 19, 2012

Look deeper in choosing target funds

As the popularity of target date funds has grown over the past five years, so too has the publicity around the differences among the managers and the wide variations in performance and risk exposure that can result. The lack of a consistent approach among managers also makes it...

• ING Group,
• retirement planning,
• target date funds

October 16, 2011

Have no fear of DOL fee disclosure regs

The late TV journalist David Brinkley once mused that a successful person is someone who can build a foundation from the bricks that others have thrown at him or her

• retirement planning

September 18, 2011

The difference tax-free income makes

By Craig Brimhall

Income sources are not all created equal from a tax perspective

September 4, 2011

Connect with middle-age investors

By Chris Brown and Laura Varas

Advisers looking to expand their client pool in these turbulent times would do well to take a second look at affluent middle-age investors

August 21, 2011

Selling small businesses on retirement plans

By Carol Dogans

As overall longevity increases, outliving retirement resources is more likely than in the past, making retirement planning more important than ever