The SOA has recently sponsored research projects covering low-interest-rate and high-interest-rate scenarios. The projects look at the interest rate impact on assets, liabilities, and their interactions. The researcher will identify potential drivers of such scenarios and provide risk management recommendations for annuity writers and regulators.

Sixty-eight percent of working Americans are worried they will run out of money in retirement, according to a recent Harris poll. What can we as an industry do about it? This session poses two alternatives. The first deals with creating customized campaigns using participant behavior and personal situation to suggest simple steps to improve retirement outcomes. An alternative approach is to push for plan redesign defaulting participants to appropriate actions. Our speakers will discuss the pros and cons of each approach and how both could be implemented to drive better participant outcomes.

The 4.8 million pre-retiree and retiree households with financial assets of $1 million or more control a majority of all financial assets in the U.S. Many will turn to financial advisors and other professionals to help them manage their wealth and meet their retirement objectives. In this session, hear the latest research on how the affluent work with advisors, what services they value, and the dynamics of asset consolidation.

Global economies continue to diverge with monetary policies similarly moving in different directions. The implication could be profound, particularly as the Federal Reserve prepares for the first rate hike following the termination of quantitative easing. Whether it’s the fixed income market, equities market, commodities, or currencies, we are in uncharted territory. Quincy Krosby will focus on the U.S. and global landscapes and the impact they will have on investments and the financial services industry in 2015.

Today’s retirement products and advisory business is more complex than ever. In addition to new technologies and regulatory structures, the client has changed. Today there are not one or two generations of clients, but four-plus generations planning for, transitioning to, or living in retirement. How do product developers, marketing strategists, and distributors of individual annuity and retirement income products as well as defined contribution and defined benefit retirement plans engage across the generations? Drawing upon original research and business cases outside the financial services industry, this energized presentation will provide insights into how the generations work, speak, trust, and view retirement and identify engagement strategies to make tomorrow’s retirement today’s priority.

This session will review developments and emerging issues in individual annuities, including: a) the growing non-GLB VA/ Structured annuity market, b) drivers of indexed annuity expansion, and c) the demand for income annuity products in spite of low interest rates. Predictions of key future directions in the market will be offered. We will also review 2013 VA GLB owner experience regarding withdrawal and surrender behavior.

This session will be an active discussion of some of the most pressing issues facing recordkeepers and asset managers in the retirement plan space. A panel of advisors will provide perspectives of differing practices and markets, with members representing the small, mid, and large plan markets. Each will also work within or speak to the typical advisor practice that serves each market. Panel members will be successfully working within the field and be influential among both their peers and the industry. Come to hear advisor perspectives on: What makes a carrier “preferred”; how recordkeepers can help with practice growth; plan level benchmarking; the best way to work with advisors and more.

With the shift from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans as the primary basis for retirement plans, the retirement industry has realized that much needs to be done to make DC plans into effective retirement plans. In particular, there is a new realization that DC plans, while effective at accumulating savings, must also provide ways to de-cumulate or provide retirement income. Presenters will discuss ways to better structure DC plans to provide retirement income that can be accomplished today, but will also discuss some of the challenges that may complicate a move to a retirement income focus. They will also discuss ways that regulators could improve the environment for DC plans to provide retirement income.

Consumerism is on the rise, but could the industry’s communication habits be getting in the way of its intentions and compounding the growing number of households that do not own financial products? Does the language commonly used by the financial services industry motivate consumers to adequately prepare for retirement or does it confuse, intimidate, and drive would-be buyers into a state of paralysis? This session showcases the latest research from LIMRA and innovation consultancy Maddock Douglas to unravel the six pillars of authentic communication that, if applied correctly, will impact your business in a meaningful and measurable way.

Variable Annuities with guaranteed income benefits continue to drive sales. However, other designs have also started to sell, such investment-only VA’s and Structure Note VA’s. Come hear about the latest designs across the spectrum. How do companies decide which types to offer, and where to focus their efforts? What designs are most popular? What techniques and approaches do companies have at their disposal today to manage these risks already in force, or as newer generations of guarantees are written? Find out how your company’s strategy compares to others.

Retirement plan sponsors often need guidance in making decisions regarding the role, scope, and delivery of financial advice to plan participants. This session will provide an overview of the professional financial advice industry including the strengths and weaknesses of currently available approaches to providing financial advice, particularly as an employee benefit. This session will also include examples and questions that plan sponsors might find helpful in deciding how to offer financial advice to plan participants.

Come to hear the “inside story” about how Washington is addressing retirement for people like Fred. Fred lived his life dreaming about retirement — warm weather, golf, fishing, relaxation. In 18 months, his retirement plans went from dream to disappointment. Fred was forced into early retirement after 30 loyal years to one company, while the 2000 market crash and major health issues resulted in massive medical expenses and personal financial crisis. Come to this session for the insider story about current regulatory and legislative issues on the table to help other Americans like Fred experience their retirement dream instead of retirement disappointment.

Historically, FIAs have been a strong role player within IMO distribution where the product focus has been an accumulation vehicle linked to the S&P 500 Index along with the option of guaranteed income. Recent trends see product designs encompassing a broader set of indexing options and product distribution expanding strongly into the financial institution space. Along with these shifts is a related increase in the technological capabilities of carriers, marketing organizations, and agents to support the sale of these products. This session will explore these trends. What do we expect to change or stay the same as these trends continue and FIAs play in the big leagues?

With the seemingly never ending evolution of technology, annuity providers are continually seeking new solutions and technology to manage customer relationships, update or replace annuity administration systems, implement straight-through-processing, and to support the day-to-day operations of the annuity line of business. Join our presenter for an overview of the need to know technology trends for annuity providers.

In-plan income is a hot topic for 2015, and this panel of employers will offer plan sponsor perspectives on various options to include in-plan purchases of guaranteed income. Hear from sponsors who have adopted, are considering adopting, or have chosen not to adopt an in-plan income solution. Learn about what drives each decision and what matters to these sponsors. What do they worry about . . . and what is the appeal of in-plan options? This session offers an inside view of what plan sponsors really think about when it comes to implementing an in-plan income solution

A growing number of companies are looking to incorporate predictive analytics techniques into their experience review and assumption setting processes, especially for those factors where there is not a lot of credible historical data available. This session examines the development and application of predictive models to better explain policyholder behavior for variable annuity policies with a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit rider. Presenters will discuss their experience with the process of developing and utilizing these models as well as the benefits, issues, and challenges of implementation.

Jim Carroll has been the featured trends and innovation speaker at a wide variety of corporate leadership meetings for Fortune 1000 organizations. Listen as Carroll outlines what he’s seen global innovation leaders concentrating on to ensure market success. Learn what organizations are doing to position themselves to seize transformative opportunities and do great things!

This breakfast and interactive session will focus on current retirement topics impacting the Canadian market and is open to all attendees interested in Canadian-specific issues. 

(Pre-registration is required for this session.)

Sponsored by CANNEX Financial Exchanges

Tom Crawford, a strategic communications director with expertise in corporate governance, retirement security, and tax policy, will provide a Washington insider’s view on how government, public policy, markets, and globalism have converged to impact everyday Americans and financial services consumers.

Learn from two top industry thought leaders in retirement income planning — Wade Pfau, Ph.D., CFA, professor of Retirement Income at The American College and Michael Finke, Ph.D., Professor of Personal Planning at Texas Tech. Wade and Michael will discuss cutting edge research on how Deferred Income Annuities can help mitigate key risks during retirement. They will also demonstrate how a DIA with investments provides a less risky portfolio compared to a systematic withdrawal plan from an investment only portfolio.

Think about how you reserve airline tickets, purchase movies, books, and music, and balance your checkbook. Chances are the methods you use are significantly different from 25 years ago. Yet, annuity distribution is largely unchanged since the 80’s: the vast majority of sales remain face-to-face meetings between clients and advisors. You will walk away from this session with a better understanding of new distribution opportunities and the potential integration of these new outlets with current distribution channels.

Many plans are offering managed accounts, which raises the question, what are managed accounts and how can they benefit plan participants? Participants may not be aware that managed accounts are different than other qualified default investment alternatives because they are investment services — not investment products — and they are not always regulated in the same way as other professionally managed 401(k) plan options, such as target date funds and balanced funds. Based on research completed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, come and find out what makes managed accounts unique and how they can be improved to better serve plan participants.

The financial decisions retirees make, including the financial products they purchase and the advisors they work with are considerably influenced by emotions and expectations about managing money in retirement that are often not accurate. An understanding of these emotions and expectations are essential to optimize success of those serving the retirement income market. Information from several research studies on emotions, expectations, and misperceptions of retirees and pre-retirees will be described, with interpretations from leading researchers.

Retirement timing and phasing strategies are important components of a successful retirement plan. But can they completely eliminate the risk of retirement wealth shortfall for typical retiree households? How much less retirement wealth is needed to make it through retirement without running out of money if you retire at age 70 instead of age 66? This session describes the results of a microsimulation study that explores these issues in light of many postretirement risks, including longevity, inflation, investment, health, and long-term care risks.

The workplace retirement plan industry has made great strides helping employees understand the importance of saving and investing. But an extremely important challenge that we have yet to address adequately is improving financial literacy. How do we combat the fact that 50 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement? How do we help when the average credit card debt per household is over $15,000? And what can be done to remedy the lack of education in schools that leads to an adult population with no solid financial foundation? In this session you’ll learn what you can do to get involved — and Pay It Forward.

Big data and predictive analytics are hot topics in the industry today...and for good reason. Companies are investing in big data initiatives to gain valuable insight into their business to drive future growth and profitability. What will your data buy you? This session will go beyond the basics of what big data is and how companies are organized to leverage it. Presenters will explore potential uses of predictive analytics within marketing and distribution to generate new business opportunities.