Month: April 2015

You just gave your annuity agent a great vacation, cruise or Rolex

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a consumer advocate and prominent critic of Wall Street, has taken aim at a new target: the biggest sellers of annuities and the cruises, international travel, iPads, cash and stock options she says they're using to entice brokers to sell their annuity products. She is particularly worried about near retirees and baby boomers who are especially vulnerable to poor investment decisions.

Warren is planning to send letters today to the 15 largest annuity providers which include Allianz SE's U.S. life division, Security Benefit Life Insurance, Jackson Life, AIG, New York Life Insurance, Prudential Financial, Aegon NV's Transamerica, Axa, Metlife, Nationwide Mutual Insurance and Pacific Life Insurance. She wants to know whether perks they provide encourage brokers to put personal interests ahead of the retirement goals of clients.

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chris wang quoted barrons

Money Managers Shift to Neutral: Barron’s Big Money Poll

“Neutral men are the devil's allies.” — Edwin Hubbel Chapin

This week's Barron's cover story features the results of their semi-annual Big Money Poll. The latest survey, emailed in late March, drew responses from 143 money managers across the country, representing some of the nation's largest investment firms and pension funds, as well as many smaller investment boutiques. The poll is interesting as it gives one a consensus view of market expectations.

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Why I Walk at the March for Babies

daughter

Last month, Apple's Tim Cook made headlines as he told Fortune magazine that he plans to donate his estimated $785 million fortune to charity — after paying for his 10-year-old nephew's college education. Cook said, “”You want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripples for change.””

While the average person doesn't have millions of dollars to give away, it is important to have a meaningful life and make a difference in the world. One way to do this is to find a worthy cause that resonates with your soul. Whether you donate unneeded household items, give money, or volunteer your time, there are many ways to get involved. In the end, you will help create the ripples for change, and you will create more joy for yourself while you are at it.

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First Quarter 2015 in Review: International markets melt up

I'm not sure where the first three months of the year went, perhaps they are still buried in Boston's snow piles. Wherever the time disappeared to, the central bankers took center stage in the first quarter and their actions dominated financial markets. The European Central Bank joined the QE party to the tune of at least 1.1 trillion Euros to be spent over the next 18 months. The Bank of Japan continues their monetary experiment of Abenomics and there is increasing speculation that they will push the dial further on stimulus which could last for the next 3+ years. Meanwhile economists in the US speculate on when the Fed will make their first rate hike. We don't expect a rate hike anytime in 2015, and maybe not even in 2016, thanks to low levels of inflation and slowing GDP growth.

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