“GAO Retirement Study” “401(k) Annuities”
Continue Reading Pang/Warshawsky vs. GAO: Recent Study Challenges Traditional Thinking About DC Annuities
Lifetime Income
Can DC Annuities Reduce Risk of Poverty?
By Robert Toth on
Posted in Lifetime Income
I sat sown this morning to follow up with Part 2 of my mini-series addressing the fiduciary risks in purchasing DC annuities (link here to Part 1), when a Plan Sponsor magazine article caught my attention. It spoke of a study which linked the lack of pensions with the risk of poverty among women…
Addressing Fiduciary Concerns in the Purchase of 401(k) Distributed Annuities: Dealing With The Five “I’s”- Part 1, Irrevocability
By Robert Toth on
Posted in Lifetime Income
The first element in a fiduciary review is to get at least a layman’s grasp on the nature of insurance and insurance regulation. Pooling risks with others is an uncomfortable concept that is foreign to fiduciary with a defined contribution mindset Because of pooling and this “30 year risk,” insurance is regulated in ways of no other industry…
Continue Reading Addressing Fiduciary Concerns in the Purchase of 401(k) Distributed Annuities: Dealing With The Five “I’s”- Part 1, Irrevocability
The Case For “Distributed Custodial Accounts” From Terminated 403(b) Plans
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b), Lifetime Income
What Happened
One of the biggest disappointments arising from the issuance of the 403(b) regs has been the inability of employers to effectively terminate their plans. At first, the IRS caused quite a favorable stir when it announced that the regs would specifically classify the termination of a 403(b) plan as a distributable event, and…
Annuity Advocate Appointed to Senior Treasury Post
By Robert Toth on
Posted in Lifetime Income
Mark Iwry, one of the principals of of the Retirement Security Project, has been appointed as Senior Advisor to Treasury Secretary Geithner and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Retirement and Health Policy.
First and foremost, our heartfelt congratulations to Mark. This is a post well suited to him, and an appointment which will serve the nation’s…
The DC Annuity Fog
By Robert Toth on
Posted in Lifetime Income
It has been a couple of weeks since we’ve last posted a blog, and with good reason. Between Evan, Monica and I, this two month span has us doing some 15 presentations and articles, whie keeping up with clients (and a couple of us squeezing in some overdue vacation time!). Monica is speaking this week…
The New Generation of Annuities: Balancing Flexibility, Stability and the Pooling of Interests
By Robert Toth on
Posted in Lifetime Income
I mentioned in a posting last week that we will take some time on this blog to work through a number of the legal and technical issues related to annuitizing out of 401(k) plans. This, in effect, allows the 401(k) plan to offer the best features of the Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution plans without…
401(k) Annuities: “Defined Benefit” Guarantees Using a 401(k) Account
By Robert Toth on
Posted in Lifetime Income, Lifetime Income Published Papers
It is back to the future, in an odd sort of way. There is growing trade press coverage on the interests of 401(k) plans and plan participants on turning a portion of participants’ account balances into a "defined benefit-like" guaranteed income stream. Follow, for example, this link to Plan Advisor.com.
There are really two ways…