Despite the market's lukewarm reception to John Hancock's slimmed-down variable annuity, other insurers continue to introduce competing products aimed at financial advisers who have usually sidestepped such VAs.
ING plans to replace its traditional variable annuity offering with a simplified VA product that comes with a scaled-back commission.
InvestmentNews today announced the winners of its inaugural Adviser's Choice Awards, which honor financial advisers' top picks for the most outstanding companies and portfolio managers in the mutual fund industry.
The humble variable annuity is gaining in popularity
John Hancock Funds LLC today launched an international fixed-income fund to enable investors to hedge against rising interest rates.
The Investment Company Institute has slammed assertions kaChing Group Inc. made regarding mutual fund fees, continuing an online sparring match between the two.
Guggenheim Partners LLC, an investment firm founded by the famous family for which it is named, said last week that it is acquiring Security Benefit Corp. — and with it Rydex SGI.
Venture capital today is survival of the pluckiest.
For most investors, not having access to their money is a drawback.
Fearing a backlash from investors who are still piling into bond funds, mutual fund companies are rolling out sales and marketing campaigns to encourage investors to shift assets into other products.
Their name is an oxymoron, but high-quality junk bonds themselves make a lot of sense in the fixed-income space right now.
Nationwide Financial Services Inc. yesterday bumped up its variable annuity living benefits, signaling a return — for some carriers — to the generous benefits that backfired on insurers when the stock market imploded in 2008.
First-quarter fixed-annuity sales in the U.S. were down 52% from the year-ago period, falling to an estimated $16.7 billion.
A period of fierce competition to build annuity premiums awaits life insurers as they contend with industry consolidation and the difficulties of standing out from rivals
Hint: they think the retirement products attract customers who are frightened by the market
Life insurers, whose capital buffers shrank during 2008's downturn, emerged from 2009 with a rebound in capital. The reasons? Regulatory changes and a climbing equities market, according to Moody's
Polls show that employees want an annuity option in their pension plan menu. But they also prefer a lump sum to an income stream when they hit retirement age
Combining a variable annuity with a guaranteed-minimum-withdrawal benefit in conjunction with a traditional portfolio can help hike income
Insurer's new boss said the Connecticut company will avoid focusing on any one product after VAs contributed mightily to two straight years of losses
Sales of both variable annuities and fixed annuities fell in 2009, according to the latest data from LIMRA.
