Articles
Reference articles and commentary on annuities, lifetime income, and retirement finance. Updated over time.
Questioning the Need for Bonds in Retirement
It turns-out that in certain instances bonds may not be needed at all during retirement.
Required Reading
Should be read by everyone before voting.
Purple Health Plan Focuses on Entitlement Reform
Boston University Professor Laurence Kotlikoff advocates The Purple Health Plan--a Medicare alternative that is intended to head-off the looming fiscal disaster that is largely driven by Medicare and Social Security entitlement programs.
Q&A with Zvi Bodie and Rachelle Taqqu about Risk Less and Prosper’s Goal-Driven Approach to Investing
Old paradigms fade slowly. But as investor demands shift, we think the scales may tip toward goal-based principles sooner than most people think.
Prepare to Rely on Human Capital Rather than Financial Capital
In the absence of returns on financial assets, the returns from human capital may turn-out to be the primary lever for wealth creation.
Pimco’s Gross Describes a New Age of Risk
Gross sees the current landscape as fragile, high risk and dominated by large and growing factors at opposite ends of the risk spectrum.
Part Two of the Interview with Wharton Professor David Babbel
This is the second part of an interview with Professor David Babbel. Part one can be found here. Annuity Digest: Which study results were most surprising to you? I assume you went into the study with firm views on the non-normality of asset returns. Given that, was it: a) short-run…
Ordinary Investors Can Outsource their Hedging and Derivatives Management through Annuities
Concerned about the possibility of another market swoon? Take a look at some of the living benefits features that can be attached to most variable annuity products to hedge market risk and lock-in a floor of income. How about inflation risk? Buy a fixed annuity with inflation protection. How…
The Opportunity of a Lifetime for Life Insurers
There currently exists what would appear to be a once in a lifetime opportunity for life insurance companies who are essentially the manufacturers of asset decumulation products such as annuities.
The Odds of a Successful Retirement
A series of articles examines the odds of financial success in retirement for the average American household.