Insurance

Advisors need to be willing to take a financial hit for clients

Dave Grant thought he’d seen it all as an advisor. Then an investment review meeting turned deadly serious.

Growing fixed products, along with new fee-only offerings, are changing the shelf and the carrier rankings.

The RIA will be combined with Sontag Advisory to create an $11 billion wealth management powerhouse.

Dental expenses can eat away a considerable amount of retirees’ savings, but these costs are important to prevent health complications and other medical expenses.

There are a lot of options — and potential missteps.

Seniors will face a 20% penalty on top of income taxes if they withdraw funds from a health savings account for non-medical expenses before the age of 65.

Fixed and variable contracts ended 2018 at nearly reverse levels of revenue from their totals three years earlier.

Medicare will charge a high-income surcharge if seniors reported more than $85,000 (or $170,000 for joint filers) in modified adjusted gross and tax-exempt interest income.

Even middle-class households who have health insurance are at risk, as a researcher points out that they are the ones who filed for the most bankruptcies.

The appointment comes after an earlier announcement of broad leadership changes at the firm.

The No. 1 IBD requested that other variable writers “contractually reaffirm their commitments to protecting trails,” an executive says.

Seniors who intend to get a Medigap policy to supplement their traditional Medicare coverage may have trouble getting one.

Clients may want a new plan if there have been unfavorable changes to their old plans, they want more flexibility or because of a new illness.

The law now creates a different method of caring for relatives while preserving the family’s financial plan, a John Hancock associate counsel writes.

The planner is among the brightest minds in the financial planning profession, but his endorsement of the organization's certification standards is "decidedly enigmatic."

If your client's goal is to save more for retirement, there are some simple steps they can take to make that resolution stick.

There can be benefits in enrolling simultaneously, but there are also incentives to consider in waiting on Social Security, instead of claiming benefits at 65 when Medicare kicks in.

The cost of Wells Fargo's scandals continues to rise as regulators from all 50 states forced the institution to pay hundreds of millions in penalties for the creation of fake accounts, improper enrollment in life insurance, force-placed auto insurance policies and other activities.

In this circus of an industry, what chance does an average investor have of finding somebody who will actually work on his or her behalf?