A recent private letter ruling (“PLR”) offers tax relief for the annuity-owning clients of registered investment advisors. Issued by the IRS in August, the ruling allows fee-based advisors who manage client assets in non-qualified annuities to bill from them directly without creating a taxable event. Because of the positive impact on client experiences, many financial...Continue Reading
If you’ve worked in financial services for the past 20 years, or you follow financial media, you might think that Baby Boomers were the only American generation. Indeed, most of us regurgitate the dog-eared ‘10,000 Boomers turn 65 every day’ stat the way elementary students dispassionately recite the Pledge of Allegiance. With so many children...Continue Reading
Midwest Holding subsidiary American Life has launched their first-ever Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity (MYGA) for the RIA market. American Life consulted with financial advisors about the kinds of annuity products they want access to, and they identified a “fast-growing demand for MYGA products tailored to Registered Investment Advisors and their clients.” This new fee-based MYGA is...Continue Reading
The unexpected Gift of Social Distancing The age of social distancing has given me an unexpected gift. I’ve found that I actually have some extra time on my (very clean) hands every day. Aside from the home schooling (math is my strong suit), there’s nothing new that’s been added to my plate. I do mostly...Continue Reading
Markets reacted terribly to news of the Corona Virus hitting American shores last week. Stocks suffered their largest weekly loss since 2008. Antsy, nervous, excited—whatever you want to call it—folks are on the defensive. Markets are volatile. But where can they, especially retirees, find shelter? Conventional wisdom says that retirees should shoulder less risk by...Continue Reading
The origin story This year marks the 10-year anniversary of Simplicity OID. The company has a storied history, full of ups and downs, tough times and perseverance and rewards. Several people still with Simplicity OID were here when it started. I’m not one of those people. I’m one of Simplicity OID’s newest employees, so when...Continue Reading
Grow Your Business by Focusing on Others Business Networking International (or BNI), a networking organization with more than 3700 chapters in the United States alone, has a motto: “Givers Gain.” The basic principle is that, when you approach networking from the perspective of what it can do for you, you’re unlikely to get much out...Continue Reading
Investors Increasingly Drawn to Lifetime Income Thanks to Harry Markowitz’ Modern Portfolio Theory, the 60/40 portfolio has been a widely appreciated investment strategy. It makes sense. Put most of your money in stocks for growth and diversify by allocating a chunk of it to bonds for stability and protection. But we’ve been experiencing an extended...Continue Reading
The Future is Unbundled Sequence-of-return risk can play havoc with an individual investor’s retirement income. The “fragile decade” – the five years before and after retirement begins – is a uniquely volatile time in a retiree’s life, because it can be unclear just how much money can safely be withdrawn from retirement accounts to sustain...Continue Reading
Citywire recently published an article entitled “Attack of the Annuities!” and, as you might expect from an article with a title patterned after schlocky B-movies, it leans toward sensationalism on the subject of annuities in the RIA space. The article sets the tone with a quote from Ken Fisher: “I would die and go to...Continue Reading
