Many investors today fear outliving their savings, a concern intensified by market volatility and persistent inflation, creating an opening for advisors to rethink how they deliver reliable retirement income solutions. 

Although annuities can address longevity risk, outdated perceptions of high fees and complexity still discourage clients, even though modern, low-cost versions now exist. To rebuild trust, advisors must simplify the experience by focusing on outcomes such as guaranteed lifetime income, downside protection, and tax-deferred growth rather than product jargon. 

Annuities also work best when integrated into a broader financial plan, balancing market exposure, liquidity needs, taxes, and estate goals instead of being presented as standalone products. 

Finsum: Ultimately, transparency, clear communication, and honest comparisons will help advisors shift annuities from misunderstood products to trusted tools.

The 401(k) system has significantly expanded retirement security, but many Americans still struggle to save due to rising living costs, shifting social norms, and limited access to plans. Looking ahead, five major trends are poised to reshape the industry: affordability pressures, new legislative and regulatory developments, increased consolidation and collaboration among providers, rapid innovation, and the rise of professional fiduciary services. 

Inflation and overlapping life milestones are making it harder for mid- and lower-income workers to prioritize retirement savings, increasing the importance of tools that support better habits and financial decision-making. 

Industry consolidation and wealth-retirement integration are creating more scalable, participant-focused models, while innovations like personalization, AI, CIT expansion, and retirement income solutions are transforming plan experiences.

Finsum:The growth of OCIO services and pooled employer plans is expanding fiduciary support, especially for smaller employers. 

Factor investing builds portfolios using characteristics such as value, momentum, quality, volatility, or size that have historically improved returns while reducing risk. Though not new globally, long used by institutional investors, it has recently become more accessible to everyday investors through rule-based mutual funds and ETFs. 

Factor investing is still a prominent strategy, with single-factor and multi-factor strategies designed to balance performance and reduce reliance on any one factor. 

The approach offers transparency and lower costs compared to traditional active management, since decisions follow algorithms rather than human judgment. However, factor strategies carry risks, including the possibility that past patterns may not persist and that widespread adoption can reduce their effectiveness. 

Finsum: Ultimately, factor investing is likely here to stay, and is a time tested investment strategy.’

Bitcoin has fallen under $92,000, extending its pullback from October’s record highs and raising questions about whether this is a brief correction or the start of another four-year cycle downturn. 

Analysts point to last month’s $19 billion in liquidations, combined with profit-taking by long-term holders, as key drivers of the recent slide. The decline also coincides with bitcoin’s historically vulnerable post-halving window, creating what some call a “self-fulfilling prophecy” of selling pressure. 

Still, firms like Bernstein argue the data supports consolidation toward a new bottom rather than the massive 60–70% drawdowns seen in past cycles. Institutional ETF adoption, supportive signals from the Trump administration, and continued large-scale.

Finsum: A break below the critical $93,000 level could also trigger a major buying opportunity for investors. 

Healthcare stocks have sharply outperformed the broader market over the past month, with the S&P 500 Healthcare Sector up more than 6%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s modest gain. A key driver has been exceptional strength in major pharmaceutical names, including strong earnings from Eli Lilly and big tariff exemption deals struck by Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer with the Trump administration.

These catalysts, along with record-breaking sales of GLP-1 drugs like tirzepatide, have pushed heavyweight pharma stocks sharply higher, giving an outsized lift to the market-cap-weighted sector index.

With pharma leadership, defensive momentum, and recent outperformance, analysts suggest this may be a compelling moment for investors to consider adding exposure to the healthcare sector.

Finsum: Investors are also rotating into defensive sectors, such as healthcare, consumer staples, and energy, as concerns about market overvaluation and an AI-driven bubble grow.

Private credit firms are increasingly shifting from traditional cash-flow lending toward asset-backed finance using collateral that now includes intellectual property, data centers, and energy infrastructure. 

Despite the US ABF market totaling $5.5 trillion, private credit holds only a small share and is partnering more frequently with banks to expand. The recent bankruptcy of First Brands has raised concerns about how well lenders understand the risks in ABF, especially as more unfamiliar assets require precise valuation in a downturn. 

Demand for digital and energy infrastructure is driving ABF growth, with data center financing alone expected to jump sharply by 2028. Yet the sector has not been tested under high interest rates or recessionary conditions, prompting warnings from regulators about potential systemic risks. 

Finsum: Look for asset return correlation in stress scenario to test your demand for private markets.

The S&P 500 fell last week, marking its weakest performance since early October as investors sold off tech stocks amid fading hopes for a December rate cut. Market volatility jumped sharply, with the CBOE Volatility Index rising roughly 14 percent and signaling heightened investor anxiety. 

Expectations for a rate cut dropped meaningfully, and concerns around inflated AI valuations added further pressure to the tech-driven market. 

In this environment, some investors are turning to volatility ETFs as tactical tools to hedge near-term uncertainty and potentially benefit from market swings. Several ETFs, including VXX, VIXY, and VIXM, offer exposure to VIX futures for those seeking short-term protection or volatility-linked opportunities.

Finsum: Rapid capital inflows into AI resemble past speculative bubbles, increasing the risk of concentrated losses if sentiment shifts.

Capital Group and KKR have launched two new interval funds that double quarterly share repurchase limits from the industry-standard 5% to 10%, offering a more liquid twist on traditionally illiquid products. 

The funds—Core Plus+ and Multi-Sector+—blend public and private credit, allowing them to support higher liquidity while still targeting alternative-style returns. Advisors are watching closely, as adding liquidity by holding more cash or Treasuries could dilute performance even as it broadens investor access. 

The move comes amid surging demand for alternatives, with interval fund sales tripling in recent years and overall alternative investment fundraising expected to hit $200 billion this year. While advocates say these products help democratize private credit, skeptics warn that rising rates or economic stress could expose the risks in leveraged private-market borrowers. 

Finsum: Many advisors may take a cautious, wait-and-see approach before embracing the new 10% liquidity model, but some may be more willing. 

FUTY and XLU both provide strong exposure to U.S. utilities, but FUTY stands out thanks to broader diversification, lower volatility, and more balanced subsector representation. As interest rates gradually decline and AI-driven electrification boosts long-term power demand, utilities are increasingly attractive for investors seeking stability and income. 

Both ETFs benefit from these structural trends, with similar yields and nearly identical top holdings, but FUTY’s larger roster of companies helps reduce concentration risk. While performance and valuation metrics between the two funds remain very close, FUTY’s lower standard deviations give it a slight advantage for risk-adjusted returns.

Investors should remain aware of sector risks, including interest-rate uncertainty and the heavy influence of top holdings like NextEra Energy. 

Finsum: This is a great way to get exposure to the energy AI boom.

The industry is entering a new macro environment that challenges long-standing assumptions about returns, inflation, diversification, and governance. After decades in which strong returns and easy diversification masked deeper structural risks, asset owners now face a paradigm where high valuations and slower economic growth may limit future returns. 

Inflation appears contained in the short term, yet structural forces such as deglobalization and rising public debt suggest it remains a long-run risk that investors must manage more deliberately. These shifts elevate the importance of real returns and purchasing-power protection as core objectives for DC plans, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and retirement savers. 

They also imply that traditional diversification is less reliable than it once was, requiring new approaches to allocating across asset classes and seeking differentiated return streams.

Finsum: In this environment, multi-asset investing becomes inherently active, demanding broader use of private markets.