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Advisors will often say their clients are "self-insured." But because insurance is, by definition, the pooling of risk, no one can actually self-insure. Having insurance means not having to shoulder the burden alone if things go south. It's hedging your bet so that, if the wheels fall off, someone...

Read about the common misconceptions RIAs have about annuities, and the truth behind them.

At a recent conference of financial planners who strongly consider themselves fiduciaries, I explained the benefit of tax-favored longevity insurance using a qualified longevity annuity contract (QLAC). I even called them a “no brainer” when building a retirement income plan for a client who doesn’t...

Attempting to sustain a fixed living standard using distributions from a portfolio of volatile assets is an inefficient retirement income strategy. This is a unique source of sequence risk. Four general techniques for managing sequence risk in retirement are highlighted in Exhibit 1.

The Journal recently talked with Finke to learn about his current research projects, his views on the future of education in the planning profession, his insight on effective retirement income planning, and his ideas for bridging the research-practice gap.

Imagine if you had to replicate—at an individual client level—every mutual fund you purchased by buying individual equities. You couldn’t do it. Not even for the simplest S&P 500 fund. Not because you don’t have the skill, but because there isn’t enough scale at an individual client level. And, it...

The 2019 RIA Retirement Planning Benchmarking Survey provides insight into advisors’ current retirement planning practices and strategies and helps advisors understand ways they may be able to better meet clients’ needs for predictable income and peace of mind in retirement.

No matter what you think of annuities, they are growing in popularity and could provide the income that clients approaching retirement are not likely to get from financial markets these days. Retirement experts Michael Finke, David Lau, Wade Pfau and David Blanchett weigh in.

The NAPFA Fall 2018 conference held recently in Philadelphia delivered on its promise to provide a blend of “tradition and financial planning innovation.” The work we do at DPL Financial Partners falls decidedly on the “innovation” side of the business, so it was great to see so much forward...

As an insurance consultant to RIAs, I am often asked to review legacy annuities. Every case is unique, but often I'm reminded why commission-based annuities are identified as one of the biggest violators of consumer value within financial services. Rider driven variable annuities are the most common...