How Stable Is Stable Value For 401(K)S?
Without a doubt, stable value is experiencing a resurgence of sorts in the wake of money market reform and recent volatility. Pavilion Advisory Group interviewed four major stable value managers (Galliard, JPMorgan, New York Life and Putnam) on the state of the marketplace. Key questions asked were: What major trends did you notice in 2015? […]
New research from Prudential predicts expansion of stable value market
Growing numbers of plan sponsors and intermediaries may be open to embracing stable value in the coming years, according to a new white paper released today by Prudential Retirement, a business unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU). Favorable perceptions of stable value among plan sponsors and intermediaries coupled with the changing regulatory environment for […]
The Stable Value Conundrum
For years, fewer than half of defined contribution (DC) plans have offered stable value funds. It’s not because plan sponsors and plan advisers don’t know about the asset class. And it’s not because they don’t know about stable value’s benefits: most people know the funds offer steady returns and principal protections. Prudential Retirement set out […]
Stable Value Making a Comeback
A recent survey found that 30% of intermediaries who recommend stable value offerings say they are doing so more this year than they did last year, and 35% say they expect that trend to accelerate over the next three years. The Prudential survey of more than 400 plan sponsors and 300 intermediaries (advisors and consultants […]
Policy Maker Outlines Ideas for Improving Retirement Savings Plans
The modern defined contribution retirement savings plan—what most people today know as a 401(k)—is now three decades old. Its close cousins, 457 and 403(b) plans, have been around even longer. We’re still trying to get them right. The problem? While Americans held approximately $6.8 trillion in defined contribution plans at year-end 2014, according to the […]
Consumer Interest Groups Back Proposed New Fiduciary Standards
Proposed new fiduciary rules from the U.S. Department of Labor have drawn mixed reviews from the retirement industry, but consumer watchdog groups are fans. In April 2015, the DOL proposed expanding the definition of a fiduciary to effectively require anyone offering advice on or managing retirement accounts to act in the best interests of their […]
Millennials’ Financial Outlook Better than Advertised—At Least for Some
Conventional wisdom holds that young adults today face a dimmer financial future than their parents and grandparents. It’s a sentiment exacerbated, certainly, by the financial crisis of 2008, the great recession that accompanied it, and the slow pace of economic recovery since then. In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, the vast majority […]
Fixed-Income Managers See Opportunities Despite Low Interest Rates
Despite extraordinarily low interest rates that would seem to have nowhere to go but up, some investment managers contend that fixed-income markets were offering some solid opportunities heading into 2016. A key variable in that outlook is U.S. monetary policy. Ever since the Federal Reserve set the target for its benchmark federal funds rate near […]
Advisor to Global Leaders Sees U.S. in Throes of Political and Social Revolution
The deep partisan divide in Washington, D.C., may suggest to some that the country’s future is not as bright as its past. Best-selling author and polling advisor Stanley Greenberg isn’t among them. He contends the U.S. is poised for further greatness. But he does see the country being transformed by a series of revolutions whose […]
