Third and Fourth Quarter of 2019 Stable Value Sales and Assets Survey
Participating companies reported stable value assets totaling $404.4 billion. Combined with General Account with Portfolio Guaranteed Rates, total qualified assets amount to more than $726.6 billion, an increase of 5 percent on a common company basis.
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 […]
Presidential Election 2020: Who Will Find a Path to the White House?
How helpful are election polls 14 months ahead of the 2020 presidential election? “You can make the case … that President Trump could win in 2020,” Stephen Pastrick, a vice president in the government affairs office of Goldman Sachs, said in mid-October at the 2019 SVIA Fall Forum. “And you can make the case he’ll […]
Retirement Income: A Roadmap for Plan Sponsors
For years, employers have poured resources into helping employees save for retirement via workplace savings programs. They have spent far less time, energy and money helping workers figure out how to prudently spend down their savings once they’ve left the workforce. Now, that’s changing. With the baby boomer generation retiring in droves, providing drawdown options […]
Mixed Bag: How Americans View Their Financial Security
A number of important metrics suggest American workers should be in a good place financially. Unemployment levels are near historic lows. Participation rates in 401(k) plans are up, and according to Alight Solutions, a provider of benefits administration and human resources services, the average 401(k) account balance grew nearly 38% over the past eight years, […]
Stable Times Volume 23 Issue 2
The biannual publication of the Stable Value Investment Association that covers both industry concerns and association activities. Table of contents: Democratic Strategist Brazile Calls for Bridging Political Divide The 116th Congress: Outlook for Retirement and Health Initiatives Stable Value Grows Election 2020: Examining the Issues That May Decide the Presidential Race Navigating a Late-Stage Economic […]
Democratic Strategist Brazile Calls for Bridging Political Divide
Donna Brazile knows partisan politics up close—she twice served as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, and she managed the presidential campaign of Democrat Al Gore in 2000. But the longtime political strategist says the hyper partisanship gripping the U.S. today is threatening the country’s democracy. “We’re at the point where I believe we’re […]
