Although annuities can offer a guaranteed income stream in retirement, they come with significant risks and complexities. It's essential to thoroughly understand these products and consider whether they align with your financial goals and risk tolerance.
Banks needed the right version of Donald Trump to justify their high-flying stock prices. They got the wrong one. The US president’s chaotic and aggressive performance during his first few weeks in the White House has shocked companies, put investment plans and deals on hold and threatens to drag the economy into recession.
Google parent Alphabet Inc. agreed to acquire cybersecurity firm Wiz Inc. for $32 billion in cash, reaching a deal less than a year after initial negotiations fell apart because the cloud-computing startup wanted to stay independent.
For years, Federal Reserve meetings have been the main event on Wall Street as the central bank fought to contain runaway inflation.
US investment firms are rushing to grab a greater chunk of Europe’s market for active exchange-traded funds, an industry projected to grow to $1 trillion in assets over the coming years.
US housing starts rose in February by more than forecast after a weather-related plunge, led by a pickup in single-family home construction underpinned by builder incentives.
The share of US workers making a direct transition from one employer to another has slid near a four-year low, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, pointing to a weakening labor market.
I often encounter individuals struggling with financial stress – whether it's saving for retirement, building an emergency fund, or paying down debt. To better understand these concerns, Barnum conducted a comprehensive study on the financial wellness of working Americans.
There’s nothing like a good sale to get people excited—unless that sale happens in the stock market. Instead of celebrating a chance to buy at a discount, investors panic, dump stocks, and brace for economic doom.
The wealth industry could be headed into an era of accelerated innovation, as advisory firms shift from zero to full speed ahead with artificial intelligence.
No matter how conversant one is with global security issues, it’s hard to fully grasp what that abyss would look like; Jacobsen accomplishes this formidable task by spending more than a decade with the dramatis personae in the history of nuclear weaponry.
Prices can continue to rise, until they don’t. Have we reached the point where they don’t?
Digital tokenization of assets, made possible by the crypto-blockchain construct, can boost efficiency in the capital markets, thus greasing the wheels that drive the economy.
Disappointing retail sales last month added to concerns of a pullback in consumer spending in the US, while a pair of business surveys suggested growing caution.
Richard Perry ran a hedge fund for almost three decades before closing it in 2016. Now he has decided it’s time for a comeback.
A decade after being engulfed by a controversy that culminated in multiple enforcement actions and a regulator clampdown, these off-exchange trading platforms are touting a way to buy and sell stocks that’s even more opaque.
Gen Z is right to have negative feelings about the economy. Not only were its oldest members entering the workforce as the pandemic struck, but those in their early to mid-20s are also now bearing the brunt of a labor market that’s largely been frozen in place for the past two years.
The tendency of stocks to produce all their gains at night, when markets are closed, and systematically lose money during the daylight hours, has baffled researchers for four decades and potentially put retail investors at a disadvantage.
It took just 16 trading sessions for US stocks to tumble into a correction, leaving a frazzled Wall Street asking just how long the “adjustment period” White House officials have warned about will last.
It was only three years ago that a dispute between an infamous crypto billionaire and a titan of the financial establishment became the center of attention at an annual event known as the Davos of the derivatives market.
An “insurance renaissance” is quietly reshaping a traditionally sleepy industry as a surge in annuities sales fuels demand for investment products with shorter duration and less liquidity, according to AllianceBernstein, an $806 billion asset manager owned by insurer Equitable.
The share of US workers represented by a union ended 2024 at 9.9%. Strip out public sector workers and the rate was 5.9%.
Markets will be laser focused on Federal Reserve policy and economic projections next week, looking for signs about where interest rates are heading.
The average US 30-year mortgage rate declined for a sixth straight week to the lowest level since early December, sparking a pickup in purchase and refinancing activity.
US stocks gained after a volatile session as dip buyers emerged after a cooler-than-forecast February inflation report.
In a few short weeks, President Donald Trump has started silencing the buy-the-dip stock traders who set the tone on Wall Street for the better part of two decades.
There have been few winning strategies to seek refuge in as the stock rout sparked by President Donald Trump’s start-stop tariff war drags on for a third week.
After a search for a new chief executive officer that lasted more than three months, Intel Corp. has decided Lip-Bu Tan is the best choice to salvage the company’s future. He’ll take up the most difficult job in the chip business, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday evening.
If you have ever filed a homeowners insurance claim, you know it can feel more like an endurance test than a straightforward process. While insurers are legally required to honor valid claims, they have strong financial incentives to delay, underpay, or deny them whenever possible.
US consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in four months in February, offering some reprieve ahead of tariffs that are expected to drive costs higher.
President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports came into force Wednesday, triggering concern across export-reliant Asia and immediate reprisals from the European Union and Canada as the global trade war enters a rocky phase.
Treasuries fell despite evidence of cooler-than-expected US inflation as the data ignited a rebound in stock prices that eroded demand for bonds.
President Donald Trump is attempting the most sweeping transformation of government and policy in decades. The White House is moving furiously to slash spending, expand tariffs, repeal regulations and rewrite tax rules.
Europe’s plan to rearm in the face of Russian aggression and US detachment has already delivered a bonanza to equity investors. Credit funds are scrambling to get a share of the windfall, too.
While restrictive covenants serve an important role, their enforceability hinges on their scope, the dictates of state law and, ultimately, public policy considerations regarding balancing employer business interests with employee rights to pursue their careers.
When clients are scared, you want to be there for them and respond to their concerns. However, if you don’t pause from time-to-time to make sure you are responding in the most effective ways, you will find yourself continually frustrated and even possibly resentful of the interruption.
Understanding your clients isn't just about knowing who they are – it's about seeing how they fit into your business. By writing, visualizing, and analyzing, you can uncover the hidden patterns that are holding you back.
Modern direct indexing tools, using sophisticated technology, can identify tax loss opportunities on a daily or even minute-by-minute basis. As time progresses, I believe more advisors will see the potential of direct indexing.
As more advisors look to private equity as an effective means of diversifying their clients’ portfolios and providing a fertile source of uncorrelated alpha, the middle market merits a closer look.
The virtue economy, the only bubble I have ever called, has now completely burst.
Blackstone Inc. has won approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch its newest private credit fund, one of the latest efforts to give individuals access to assets that are mostly backed by institutions.
As Donald Trump’s tariffs send markets into a tailspin, pressure is mounting on the president to speed up his main proposal for juicing the economy: a sweeping tax bill.
US Treasuries surged and investors boosted their bets on Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts Monday as fear of a economic slowdown took hold across US markets.
Apple Inc. is preparing one of the most dramatic software overhauls in the company’s history, aiming to transform the interface of the iPhone, iPad and Mac for a new generation of users.
WEIRDness provides rewards – wealth, the pursuit of happiness, political freedom – that should cause it to succeed, over the long run, in the Darwinian competition between social systems that we call “history.” I hope it wins. WEIRD is good.
The PPA has made a mistake in designating an MA as a QDIA. Perhaps the drafters of the PPA were thinking about accounts that are actually managed, but those participants do not default, so that flavor of MA is not a QDIA, and is typically reserved for executives of the sponsoring firm.
On February 19, 2025, the Fed made a confounding statement about QT, aka balance sheet reduction. Per its latest FOMC minutes: “several participants suggest halting or slowing balance sheet reduction pending debt ceiling resolution.” Might the Fed be offering investors a liquidity warning cloaked as a reaction to a fiscal crisis?
One of the bond market’s favorite trades is getting fresh momentum in Europe, as the worst rout in German bonds in more than two decades propels selling of long-term debt.
A chorus of Wall Street strategists is warning about rising volatility in the stock market, with Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson the latest to sound the alarm on slumping economic growth amid President Donald Trump’s trade wars.
