Financial planners and accountants are in for a busy year or two if President Barack Obama gets his way on the budget and a health care reform bill.
Charities are getting increasingly nervous that the repeal of the estate tax may mean fewer donations this year from wealthy investors who opt instead to leave their estates to their families.
Nearly 90% of financial advisers who took part in a recent survey said that they recommend Section 529 college savings plans to their clients.
The beneficiary form is the single most important estate-planning document of individual retirement accounts and Roth IRAs, determining the ultimate value of the accounts, who ends up with the money and for how long.
Many financial advisers who attended the Technology Tools for Today conference last week are looking to squeeze as much money as they can from their precious technology budgets.
In an attempt to pull further away from the transactional nature of annuity sales, brokerage executives are using tools to help their financial advisers fit product sales into a planning context.
Last week, AIG announced it was unloading its Asia-based operations. On Monday, the embattled insurer agreed to sell its Alico unit to MetLife for $15.5B. Is Nan Shan next?
The quest for cash continues, as the besieged company agrees to sell off its Asian unit to Prudential PLC for $35.5B. The next to go? Ask MetLife.
Variable annuity assets climbed to $1.35 trillion in the fourth quarter — thanks in large part to the recovery in the stock market.
New annualized premiums for individual-life-insurance policies were down in the fourth quarter and for the full year of 2009, with the most dramatic declines hitting variable universal life, according to LIMRA.
The recent Supreme Court decision makes pay-to-play regulations unconstitutional — or at least, that's the take of one securities attorney. Others don't see it that way.
Industry group worried that securitization would encourage promoters to entice seniors to sell their life insurance policies, even when it's not in their best interests to do so.
In an attempt to pull further away from the transactional nature of annuity sales, brokerage executives are using tools to help their advisers fit product sales into a planning context.
If you had money in the stock market over the past decade, you probably agree that it was one bumpy experience. It might lead you to think your retirement account didn't fare too well. A new study by Fidelity Investments shows consistent contributions and staying in the market paid off for many, but the gain was due more to a commitment to saving than stellar market performance.
After nearly four years of linking its management fee directly to its investment performance, TFS Small Cap Fund (TFSSX) is raising the white flag and reverting to a more traditional static expense ratio.
Despite double-digit unemployment, big deficits and a raft of other looming concerns, the economy isn't bad enough to justify the more than $9 trillion sitting on the sidelines in various low-yielding bank instruments.
Making one's true love happy will cost a whopping $87,403 this year, a minuscule increase from last year, according to the latest cost analysis of the items in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
Sales of the popular indexed annuity helped Allianz maintain its place as the top seller of IAs.
The financial crisis took a toll on 529 college savings plans, but plan participants are for the most part staying put and looking to the future, according to the results of an exclusive InvestmentNews survey, conducted for and presented today at the College Savings Foundation conference.
