An investor website is promising to give clients their first clear look under the hood of their brokerage accounts to see whether they are getting a good deal for the prices that they pay.
John Finlaison wrote an urgent letter to the chancellor of the British Exchequer, imploring the government to change the way it priced and sold life annuities to the public.
Why do most people love pensions but hate annuities? That, in essence, is the “annuitization puzzle” spoken of by Franco Modigliani, a Nobel laureate in economics.
Sales of variable annuities rose in 2007 to $179.5 billion, then took a dive along with stock markets in 2008, falling to $151.9 billion, according to data from Morningstar Inc.
Tumult on the variable annuity scene is dampening sales at broker-dealers, raising some concerns about the impact on revenue for the firms and their representatives.