(Washington)

In what comes as a surprise to the entire industry, President Biden’s administration has just let the Trump-era version...View the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(New York)

ESG has been getting more and more mainstream, and yesterday it likely took the final hurdle to major acceptance...View the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(New York)

Inflation concerns are on the rise. The Fed has reacted with large unprecedented moves to the Covid-19 recession. The Biden administration is...View the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(Washington)

The meme stock frenzy is one of the best things that could have happened to broker reps. Why is that you might ask? Because it probably just distracted the new leadership of the SEC for about a year. The meme stock frenzy has dominated headlines and become a Democratic cause, which means newly nominated SEC chief Gensler will likely be focusing on that immediately upon taking over. Bitcoin is another emerging issue given the huge run-up in prices and public focus. Reg BI is obviously very important, but may become second fiddle because of the other, more newsworthy issues.

FINSUM: This makes perfect sense. It seems likely that the SEC might not move as fast in Reg BI changes because of Robinhood/meem stocks. As evidence of this, look no further than Reg BI hawk Barbara Roper, who has recently been talking more about Robinhood.

(New York)

Annuities are a widely available and popular product, and they are heavily utilized by retirees whose main focus is income. Therefore, it would make sense that tax planning around that income would be more of a major consideration—especially because annuities have some peculiarities as it regards taxation—but in general it does not seem to be an explicit topic. One of the first things to remember is the difference between qualified and nonqualified annuities—the former being in retirement plans, the latter not. Both require mandatory withdrawals after age 72. It is critical to remember that only interest, not principal is taxable when withdrawing money from a nonqualified plan. This is a big danger zone that some retirees fall into. Two other important notes: annuity interest used to fund long-term care insurance can be used tax free; and spouses can assume ownership of an annuity in the event of the death of their spouse tax-free.

FINSUM: For advisors who readily deal in annuities, this info will be second nature. However, there are a lot of advisors who are just starting to get into annuities and this info will be quite useful.