Hunt Cautions Against Premature Spending Cuts—Or Counting Out President Obama
By Randy Myers Congressional Republicans won big in the recent midterm election, often running on an anti-spending platform. But cutting federal spending too soon could be a mistake, warns Al Hunt, Washington managing editor for Bloomberg News. It also could be a mistake, he says, to assume that the GOP’s big showing in 2010 will […]
The Labor-Treasury Agenda: Improving Defined Contribution Plans
By Randy Myers The federal government wants defined contribution plans to work more effectively for their participants. Retirement savings plans are looking healthier than they did just a short while ago, but total plan assets slipped to $2.7 trillion in 2008 from $3.8 trillion in 2007. They have rebounded to $3.5 trillion by the first […]
Swap or Not? Regulators Assess Stable Value under Dodd-Frank Act
By Randy Myers Is a stable value fund really a swap? Under the terms of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the over-the-counter derivatives market now falls under the purview of federal regulators. Those regulators–at the Securities & Exchange is reason to believe that stable value funds do not meet […]
Behind the Curtain: 401(k) Particpants Ride Out Market Storms
By Randy Myers Many investors panicked during the stock market downturn that stretched from late 2007 to early 2009, but investors in 401(k) plans proved remarkably unflappable. In examining the retirement plans T. Rowe Price Group Inc. administers on behalf of clients, it found that the percentage of eligible employees who participated in those plans […]
Post-Mortem: The Midterm “Recession Election,” and a Look Ahead to 2012
By Randy Myers Republicans may have manhandled Democrats in the recent midterm election, but it’s probably too soon to assume their victory will carry over to a win in the White House in 2012, says political pundit David Wasserman, house editor of the Cook Political Report. Addressing the 2010 SVIA Fall Forum, Wasserman attributed the […]
Stable Value Continues to Deliver on Its Promise
By Randy Myers In an uncertain economic environment, stable value funds have continued to deliver to investors what they have long promised–long-term returns comparable to those available from intermediate-term bond funds but without the corresponding short-term volatility–SVIA president Gina Mitchell told participants at the organization’s 2010 Fall Forum in Washington, D.C. Since the end of […]
Why Stable Value Makes Sense as a Source of Retirement Income
By Randy Myers Many financial experts are touting immediate annuities as a tool for generating retirement income. Behavioral economics suggests they may want to look at stable value funds, too. The problem with immediate annuities, author John Nelson told participants at the 2010 SVIA Fall Forum, is that they require retirees to exchange a lump […]
Editor’s Corner: Stable Value: Ever Evolving
By James King, Head of Prudential Retirement’s Stable Value Markets Group Stable value is a lot like Clark Kent?mild mannered and rather undistinguishable?until a threat looms. Like Kent’s alter-ego Superman, stable value kicks into hero mode to preserve participants’ capital and provide consistent, positive returns in any given economic cycle. With its ever-evolving nature, like […]
A Fine Line: Can Wrap Contract Provisions Become Too Restrictive?
By Randy Myers The stable value industry sailed through the financial crisis of 2008 with minimal disruptions. Market-to-book-value ratios for the average stable value fund fell during the market downturn and have since recovered on average to better than 100 percent. Throughout the market volatility of the past three years, investors in stable value funds […]
