Lots of interesting things happening lately with it comes to retirement planning…

Why Advisors Will Likely Clamor Soon for Cheaper Annuities

The article suggests that new fiduciary rules applicable to IRAs will encourage advisors to look at low-cost variable annuities and to charge an advisory fee for managing them. That could be helpful to consumers if the advisory fees themselves are reasonable.

However, the most appropriate market for these low-cost variable annuities is personal or non-qualified savings, where the low fees make the tax deferral benefit that much more valuable.

As the inventor of the first living benefit guarantee, I’m not sure the current living benefit guarantee designs make sense even with the lower product fees.

Are Retirees Better Off than We Think?

How is it that the Census Bureau and the IRS can’t agree on how much defined contribution income retirees have? It’s possible that statisticians are under-counting the income that IRA and 401(k) savings can produce.

One reason is that the default option for most people is to take withdrawals (usually to meet required minimum distribution, “RMD,” rules) rather than to convert the money to income.

Investors should ask their advisor how to create “pension-like” income from these savings, or do it on their own. It’s not difficult. We even have a tool that can help you do the research you need to understand your options, whether it’s for setting things up yourself or having a better-educated conversation with your advisor.

Why Ken Fisher Is Wrong on Annuities

Headline writers often rewrite the story, but “Ken Fisher is Wrong About Certain Annuities” just isn’t sexy enough.

While I generally agree with the experts’ views on income annuities, the truth is that these annuities are extremely under-represented in retirement portfolios.

Whether it’s about the lower commissions or the give-up of assets by advisors, the real problem is that income annuities are the “other.” They are different from a mutual fund, ETF, bond, etc., so investors haven’t quite figured out where (or how) they fit in the investment mix.

Until they become simply “another” asset class, all the studies in the world won’t make them any more popular than they currently are.