Wharton Professor Takes Financial Planning Models to Task
By: Randy Myers Wharton professor David Babbel has poked his head under the hood of a lot of financial planning models that purport to show investors their chances of having enough money to retire in old age. He doesn’t particularly like what he’s seen. “The models have several flaws in them,” Babbel told participants at […]
Plan Sponsors Taking More Nuanced View of Stable Value
By: Randy Myers Stable value funds play an important role in defined contribution plans, where they account for approximately $520 billion of the money U.S. investors have saved for retirement. Still, in the wake of the most recent financial crisis, retirement plan sponsors are taking a closer look at which investment options should stay in […]
Stable Value Seen Less Risky in Aftermath of Financial Crisis
By: Randy Myers From an investor’s standpoint, stable value funds have never been terribly risky. Their generally conservative investment approach and contract-value withdrawal guarantees have provided reliable performance. Yet now, in the wake of the most recent financial crisis, many stable value professionals believe their products have becomeeven less risky. “Not much has changed, but […]
SVIA Board Elects James King Incoming Board Chairman
By: Randy Myers SVIA’s board of directors elected James King as the incoming chairman at its April meeting. King, who will become chairman of the board in January 2012, currently leads the Communications and Education Committee as its chairman. King is a certified financial analyst (CFA) and serves as senior vice president and head of […]
Weathering the Storm: Stable Value Shines
By: Randy Myers It’s easy to see why much of America has acquired a skeptical view of the financial services industry. Over the past dozen years, Wall Street has been rocked by accounting improprieties, the bursting of the tech-stock and real estatebubbles, the Bernie Madoff scandal, and a credit crisis that prompted landmark bankruptcies in […]
Stable Value Performance to Date – David F. Babbel & Miguel A. Herce
Download PDF A study by David F. Babbel of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Miguel A. Herce, Charles Rivers Associates. Little in the scholarly economics literature is directed specifically to stable value funds, although they occupy a leading place among retirement investment vehicles. They are offered in almost half of all defined contribution plans […]
Stable Times Volume 16 Issue 1
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Stable Value Funds: Performance from 1973 through 2008
Abstract: There is a paucity of academic literature on stable value funds, although they occupy such a prominent place among retirement investment vehicles. They are offered in roughly one half of all defined contribution plans in the USA, with close to a trillion dollars worth of assets under management. This paper is the first to […]
