Retirement planning

Advisors spent much of the last two years telling clients not to worry about the day-to-day shifts in the market, that their goals are long-term. But are they applying their own mantra?

Although women are just as optimistic as men about the stock market, women are much less confident about their investment decisions, according to a survey by MassMutual.

Retirement plans, endowments, foundations and other large investors in North America will turn over $420 billion in assets to new investment advisors, according to the “2010 Consultant Search Forecast” survey of 70 leading investment consulting firms by eVestment Alliance and Casey, Quirk & Associates.

Can Congress really help Social Security survive Boomers or will it funds run out?

Last year, the company’s annuity sales rose 58.3% to $16.3 billion from a year earlier as fourth quarter sales rose 71.4% to $4.8 billion from the previous year.

Are recent changes to variable annuities making them harder to sell?

Only 47% of U.S. respondents were living their ideal life in their golden years.

Fidelity expects 401(k) assets to increase as more employers auto-enroll employees into 401(k) plans and utilize features that allow 401(k) contributions to be automatically increased annually.

Transamerica Life Insurance Co. has enhanced the guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit schedule for its Retirement Income Choice 1.2 and Retirement Income Choice 1.4 annuity riders. Each rider now pays one percentage more a year.

How can advisors expect to reach individual investors when there are 76 million of them?

To enable portfolio managers of its target-date funds to respond more nimbly to extreme market volatility, starting in April, AllianceBernstein will allow these funds to move up to 20% of their assets from equities and real estate investment trusts into bonds and cash.

Contributing to retirement savings is not a strong suit for most Americans, which is why ING Group Inc. wants to make it easier for individuals to develop that much-needed nest egg.

Financial advisors are also trying to incorporate more products with guarantees as their clients remain nervous about the economic outlook, according to a survey.

But analysts say that the success it has had so far could be short-lived.

Fund managers should consider improving target-date fund disclosure to better align these products with the individual risk tolerance of investors, particularly in light of increased regulatory scrutiny over the performance of these funds in 2008, a retirement income expert says.

Putnam Investments is betting that actively managed products like its absolute-return funds will resonate more with skittish investors than index funds and exchange-traded products, which might be cheaper but mirror the market's volatility.

Bank of America Corp. expects “significant” growth in 401(k) assets this year, but analysts are skeptical about where and how the banking company can expect to generate new business.

The financial crisis has made a permanent impression on American consumers, who are likely to save 6% or more of their income over the next decade, translating to as much as $800 billion stashed away each year, according to a new study by Allianz Group.

Boomers are losing confidence in a lot of institutions, "not just financial ones."

Many U.S. employers are increasingly losing confidence in their workers’ ability to save for retirement and, as a result, plan to step up efforts to help workers maximize 401(k) savings.