Navigating a Late-Stage Economic Expansion: Why Interest Rates Are Likely Headed Lower
The current economic expansion is already the longest in U.S. history. So it is not particularly surprising that it has been showing occasional signs of winding down. More dramatic is what that might mean. Speaking at the 2019 SVIA Fall Forum in mid-October, Steven M. Friedman, senior macroeconomist for the global fixed income team at […]
Tapping the Short End of the Yield Curve: Fixed-Income Opportunities for Stable Value
Over time, longer-duration fixed-income assets tend to generate higher, albeit more volatile, returns than shorter-duration fixed-income assets. But investing further out on the yield curve doesn’t always offer rewards commensurate with the risks, says Joseph Graham, investment strategist at institutional money management firm Lord Abbett. And that has some intriguing implications for stable value managers. […]
Implementing Reg BI: Financial Services Firms Look for Guidance
On June 5, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted its long-awaited Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI). It mandates upgraded standards of conduct for broker-dealers, requiring, among other things, that any recommendations they make to retail customers be in the customers’ best interest. Five months later, the financial services industry is still trying to figure out […]
Election 2020: Veteran Pollster Examines the Issues That May Decide the Presidential Race
After more than four decades as a Democratic pollster, Peter Hart knows there’s too much time between now and November 2020 to safely predict who the next president of the United States will be. But the founder of Peter D. Hart Research Associates has some strong ideas about what will shape the outcome of the […]
Stable Times Volume 23 Issue 1
Download PDF The biannual publication of the Stable Value Investment Association that covers both industry concerns and association activities. Table of contents: Stable Value: The Consultants’ View The Shift: Fed Makes U-Turn on Monetary Policy On Deck: What the 116th Congress is Doing About Retirement A Precarious Existence: Transamerica Study Finds Retirees’ Financial Health at […]
Stable Value: The Consultants’ View
For years, stable value providers have known their success depends on winning the confidence not just of retirement plan sponsors and participants but also plan consultants. In April, the stable value industry took advantage of the 2019 SVIA Spring Seminar to find out how consultants are thinking about stable value products and what they’re hearing […]
The Shift: Fed Makes U-Turn on Monetary Policy
For the Federal Reserve, it’s all about inflation right now. After raising the federal funds rate nine times since December 2015, the Fed’s summary of economic projections now implies no rates hikes in 2019, down from previous expectations for two, and just one in 2020. In addition, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has suggested the Fed […]
On Deck: What the 116th Congress Is Doing About Retirement
Passing retirement legislation proved difficult in the 115th Congress, in which Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress. Could things proceed more smoothly in the 116th, now that Democrats have regained control of the House while Republicans remain in charge of the Senate? Actually, they may, says Angela Montez, senior vice president, general counsel and chief […]
A Precarious Existence: Transamerica Study Finds Retirees’ Financial Health at Risk
On the surface, life after work would seem to be pretty good in the U.S. right now. In a new survey of more than 2,000 retirees by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 86% of the respondents said they are enjoying life. Six in 10 are spending time with family and friends, approximately four in […]
