News Feed

Investment advisor advocates are breathing easier after the Department of Labor announced Monday that it has pulled its current proposal on the definition of a fiduciary off the table. The agency will take up the issue in early 2012 and repropose a fiduciary definition after more industry input. For now, the move provides a reprieve for advisors who were worried that the current proposals would encumber firms with costly restrictions on how they deliver advice to…

Financial planners can prove their worth if they find ways to lessen the chance that their clients will not outlive their retirement funds. David Blanchett, director of consulting and investment research for the Retirement Plan consulting Group of Unified Trust in Lexington, Ky., last week detailed how planners can implement sustainable withdrawal strategies so that retirement income works for their clients.

One of Mark Lacher's clients introduced him as "the firm that does all our insurance and a million other things for us." Is that how clients see your relationship too? Read in today's BeAdvised as Lacher shares three inter-related areas that he believes has to become the units of measurement going forward.

A flood of U.S. retirements is threatening to burst its dam and drown aging Americans with rising living costs, but one group is proposing a novel way to protect private-sector workers: Invest in public pension plans.

The Internal Revenue Service has released guidance aimed at clarifying the tax treatment of mobile phones provided by employers to their employees.

All too often, the messages employers intend to convey aren’t the ones employees hear. For companies with a warped communications strategy, a panel of experts offered first-hand advice for becoming an “organizational chiropractor” to straighten out misaligned messaging.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday withdrew a controversial proposal to subject financial professionals to a higher standard of care when advising companies on their retirement plans, bowing to pressure from securities industry groups and lawmakers.

Of the endlessly debated provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the requirements for Medical Loss Ratios stand out for insurance companies because the requirements are designed to dictate how those companies pay their bills. A new study sheds light on the MLR rule; read as experts weigh in.

On Tuesday, Sept. 27, I’ll be moderating the keynote panel discussion at EBN’s Benefits Forum & Expo, featuring four HR/benefits professionals from companies listed on Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work. If you had the panelists as a captive audience (here’s who they are, by the way), what would you ask them?

Life insurance agents are expressing concern about a proposed change emanating from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Find out what happened at a congressional hearing last week.