Bank Investment Consultant articles from February 2009

Bank Investment Consultant archives from February 2009

Mutual Funds Versus VAs; Do the higher costs of variable annuities and variable life insurance products cause them to underperform mutual funds? Not always.(Retirement Edge)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Craig L. Israelsen It's no secret that variable products cost more than mutual funds. The average annual expense ratio for variable annuities (VA) is about 2.4% (or 240 basis points), compared with 1.5% for variable universal life...

Free Advice.(Bankinvestmentconsultant.com)
February 1, 2009... We're racing ahead at bankinvestmentconsultant.com with our amazingly popular coaching sessions, live online events available for free to every reader through bankinvestmentconsultant.com's AdvisorMax portal. Just visit the site and click on...

The Retirement Revolution; How two banks tackled implementing retirement services for the masses.(Program Management)(Company overview)(Survey)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Edited By Pamela J. Black Banks have been slow to capitalize on the tremendous opportunity to repackage investment services as retirement planning for the mass affluent. It's an approach that consumers understand and that...

Holding On In Ohio.(Branching Out in Ohio)
February 1, 2009... BIC: What new opportunities are there in your territory? Schlosser: Working in a credit union lets us market our services to employee groups and that leads to new business that would be difficult to get as an independent. Stefanov: My...

Partners In Love And In Business; Bank reps often find synergies by working with a spouse.(Cover Story)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Joanmarie Kalter "For better for worse, for richer for poorer...." As every couple exchanges wedding vows, they acknowledge that marriage is a financial union as well as a personal one. But a growing breed of bank advisors has...

Financial Triage; How to help clients calm down when they're getting stressed out over money.(Driving Sales)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Susan Bradley These days, Clients are experiencing record levels of uncertainty in their lives. This uneasiness manifests itself in their bodies, behaviors and finances. As a result, the way they feel and function suffers. I call...

Too Hasty?(Editor's Letter)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Pamela J. Black, Editor in Chief Shoes just keep dropping in the aftermath of the subprime crisis. What looked like "secure" top national banks-Citicorp and Bank of America-will probably need more propping up now that underestimated...

NEW PRODUCTS.
February 1, 2009... Annuities Rydex Variable Trust Managed Futures Strategy Fund, added to the Monument Advisor variable annuity Jefferson National (866) 667-0564 www.jeffnat.com Insurance Variable Universal Life, new version ...

Once a Safe Haven, T-Bills Lose Their Luster.(UpFront News)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Steve Garmhausen Deciding where wealth management clients should put their money this year is a daunting business, but investment executives at some banking companies seem to wholeheartedly agree on where it should not go: Treasury...

Bank Annuity Income Jumps.(UpFront News)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Menchaca Bank annuity commissions and fees rose to $814 million in the first nine months of 2008 from $714.9 million in the first three quarters of last year, according to the Michael White-Symetra Bank Fee Income Report. ...

Confidence Rises, but Investors Are Still "Very Angry".(UpFront News)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Howard J. Stock Confidence rose among millionaires and affluent investors in December, according to the Spectrem Group's indexes of both groups. While the Millionaire Index and the Affluent Index were both significantly down year...

Market Meltdown Hits Senior Citizens.(UpFront News)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Howard J. Stock The financial crisis now has most older Americans panicking about their futures, according to a new survey by Golden Gateway Financial, an Oakland, Calif., financial resource center for retirees. Golden Gateway...

Safe Options May Hurt Retirees Later.(UpFront News)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Menchaca More than one-third (37%) of older people keep most of their assets-including long-term assets-in liquid accounts, such as CDs, savings accounts and money market funds, according to a study of 1,027 people, age 63 or...

Advisors Expect 2009 Rebound.(UpFront News)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Matt Ackermann The majority of independent advisors still expect to increase assets and develop new business this year, despite difficult market conditions, according to a survey by SEI Investments in Oaks, Pa. In the survey,...

Ruling Allows More 529 Strategy Shifts.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Matt Ackermann The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued a ruling that allows 529 college savings plan account owners to change their investment strategy twice this year. The ruling, which was issued on...

Till Death Do Us Part; How second-to-die life insurance policies protect wealthy clients' legacies.(Product Insight)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Howard J. Stock Second-to-die life insurance (also known as survivorship insurance) were mainly intended for one purpose: To pay any estate taxes to non-spouse heirs over and above the estate-tax exemption. This year the...

Having It All; How top producer Melanie Weischwill manages a team and a family.(Producer Profile)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Howard J. Stock Melanie Weischwill is anyTHINGbut the victim of her success. She has continued to prosper as a $1 million-plus producer, and, since October 2007, a newly promoted program manager at First Victoria National Bank's...

Rebalancing Act; Frequent opportunistic rebalancing in volatile markets can add to portfolio returns.(Financial Planning)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Gobind Daryanani Since September, we've seen markets in turmoil, with considerable emotion in play. Equity classes no longer have the correlations that were used to allocate assets efficiently. As a result, the bases for asset...

Working IT Out; Your contract should include a clause on how to exit.(Cover Story)
February 1, 2009... Byline: Joanmarie Kalter A family business: "When it works, there's nothing better; when it doesn', it's horrible." So says Ruth Hayden, financial consultant and educator in St. Paul, Minn., who teaches a popular course called "Couples and...