Innovation Isn’t Enough: Aligning Retirement Income Solutions with Participant Needs
By Randy Myers The retirement industry is pouring energy into developing lifetime-income solutions, but product development alone may not be enough to win them a place in defined contribution (DC) retirement plans, says Christopher Bailey, a director and researcher in the retirement practice at Cerulli Associates. Speaking at the 2026 Stable Value Investment Association Spring […]
ERISA at 50: A Foundational Framework That Could Use Some Updating
By Randy Meyers Fifty years after it went into effect, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) remains the backbone of the U.S. private retirement system. However, it is also a framework whose 1970s-era design is sometimes out of sync with modern needs. At a panel discussion during the 2026 Stable Value Investment Association Spring […]
Positioning Stable Value for a Changing DC Landscape
By Randy Myers After more than three decades of explaining stable value to retirement plan sponsors, the industry is once again grappling with a familiar challenge: articulating the role of a long-term product in a world increasingly focused on short-term results. That challenge was a central focus of a panel discussion at the 2026 Stable […]
Participants Mostly Stay the Course as Volatility Drives Engagement but Little Trading
By Randy Myers Retirement plan participants are paying closer attention to their accounts during bouts of market volatility but are largely resisting the urge to act. That was a central takeaway from a panel of recordkeepers speaking about recent participant behaviors at the 2026 Stable Value Investment Association Spring Seminar. “The general conclusion … is […]
When “Following the Rules” Isn’t Enough
By Randy Myers There’s a difference between doing things by the book and doing what’s right. Losing sight of that distinction helped earn former Enron Corp. CFO Andrew Fastow a six-year prison sentence two decades ago. Today, Fastow spends part of his time counseling business leaders on how they and their organizations can avoid similar […]
Goldman Sachs’ Jennifer Guenther Sees Resilient Economy
By Randy Myers Even with war in the Middle East disrupting global energy supplies the outlook for the U.S. economy remains positive, says Jennifer Guenther, vice president and senior market strategist in the Client Solutions Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. She also contends that the backdrop for fixed income remains favorable and that the […]
New Frontiers for Stable Value
By Randy Myers The stable value landscape has changed over the past two decades. The asset class is no longer the automatic default for new contributions to retirement plan accounts, and baby boomers are drawing down balances as they segue into retirement. One senior executive recently likened stable value to a “melting glacier.” Against that […]
Retirement Income: Redefining the Conversation
By Randy Myers As millions of Americans enter retirement the challenge of turning savings into steady income has never been more pressing, says Jason Fichtner, executive director of the Retirement Income Institute of the Alliance for Lifetime Income, by LIMRA. And, he says, stable value has an immediate role to play in responding to that […]
Politics and the Press: CNN’s Manu Raju on Washington’s Divide
By Randy Myers When you consider the portrait of Capitol Hill painted by CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju, the federal government shutdown that began October 1 hardly seems surprising. “The two parties are probably more polarized than ever,” Raju said during an October 8 presentation at the 2025 SVIA Fall Forum. He described a […]