Annuity Market News articles from October 2007

Annuity Market News archives from October 2007

The Weakness of Strength Ratings: Subprime Debacle Revives Questions About Agency Practices.
October 1, 2007... After the Interstate 35W bridge gave way in Minneapolis last August, public attention focused on the safety of bridges across the U.S. and on the reliability of bridge inspectors. Meanwhile, the meltdown of the market for subprime...

Allianz of America Shoots Down AIMS: Carrier Closes Income-Oriented Startup; MacDonald Resigns.
October 1, 2007... Allianz Income Management Services (AIMS), a bold $15 million venture that was created specifically to tap the Baby Boomer retirement market, collapsed in August with the resignation of CEO Robert W. MacDonald and the dismissal of at least two...

New Ways to Spin SPIAs: New York Life, Wharton Ph.D. Make the Case for Income.
October 1, 2007... Every marketer of income annuities knows that it's hard to describe the benefits of these products in a way that's simple, disarming and compelling enough to a public that often regards them as expensive, irrevocable and opaque. But...

Best Time to Buy an Annuity? In Your Fifties.
October 1, 2007... What's the best age someone should invest in a variable annuity? A working paper from Massachusetts Institute of Technology's department of economics suggests the best time to introduce annuities into an individual financial plan is during...

At Deadline.
October 1, 2007... New York Life Eyes Japan's Annuity Market New York Life, the largest U.S. mutual life insurance company, may enter wealthy and aging Japan as part of a strategy to diversify beyond its home market, its Asia chief executive told Reuters. ...

People Moves.
October 1, 2007... Thrivent Selects Anema to Craft Retirement Solutions Thrivent Financial has selected Mark Anema as vice president of accumulation and retirement income solutions. In this position, he will oversee accumulation products, such as deferred...

Annuities' Forgotten Companions: Living Benefit Riders.
October 1, 2007... Lost amid the recent evolution of annuities from misunderstood investment products to championed cogs of retirement savings strategies, is the value offered by living benefit riders. Acting as annuities' better half, elective living benefits...