Published by Ian Lundahl on 14 Jul 2010
Summer is finally here, and credit card firms have added some new rewards programs to help defray the flight costs of summer travel. New retirement themed marketing campaigns were also introduced this June, and Merrill Lynch introduced a new site (Merrill Edge) with a focus on self-directed investing.
Published by Ian Lundahl on 10 May 2010
With financial issues on the minds of many investors during tax season, firms utilized the opportunity to promote new online retirement-focused ideas. April also brought with it Earth Day, and a few firms highlighted their various environmental incentives, especially electronic document delivery. Mobile was also once again a hot topic with Apple’s iPad taking center stage with one e-Monitor firm rolling out an iPad app. Continue Reading »
Published by Ian Lundahl on 16 Apr 2010
We were recently granted access to view an account display for Fidelity’s MetLife Growth and Guaranteed Income variable annuity (MGGI), released in late November 2009 and reviewed in the November 23, 2009 Annuity Monitor Update.
Published by Ben Pousty on 13 Apr 2010
AXA Equitable recently became the first Annuity Monitor firm to implement digital document delivery. Annuity policyholders received their 2009 annual reports - normally a bulky, hundred-plus page paper booklet - on a single compact disc. This convenient distribution method will help save not only the environment but also millions in operating expenses. Continue Reading »
Published by Ben Pousty on 08 Apr 2010
By Ben Pousty, Corporate Insight, March 03, 2010
TIAA-CREF’s TC Listens website is an innovative new medium for obtaining client feedback online.
Financial services firms have always coveted feedback and opinions about their websites and online services. This information offers an invaluable blueprint for improving the user-experience for three key audiences—prospective investors, clients and financial professionals. It also sheds light on the practices of competitors.
Published by Ben Pousty on 05 Mar 2010
Published in the February 24th Issue of RIJ
With variable annuity sales down, firms are intensifying online product marketing campaigns to reach more prospective investors. No annuity product was hit harder during the financial crisis than variable annuities. Many variable annuity contracts saw significant drops in value, in many cases 30% or more, due to the products’ heavy exposure to the financial markets. For an investment that supposedly offers a guaranteed retirement income stream, variable annuities had been exposed as flawed and ultimately risky investment vehicles.
Despite the firms’ best efforts to evolve variable products to fit the new financial landscape, variable annuity sales remained flat throughout 2009 and were down significantly in contrast to 2008. In response to the lackluster sales numbers, firms have intensified their online marketing campaigns to the public, placing additional promotional muscle behind high-profile variable annuity product launches. Continue Reading »
Published by Ian Lundahl on 11 Nov 2009
Like a trick-or-treater’s bag, heavy with an assortment of candy at the end of Halloween, this October offered a bit of everything…
Retirement gets social
After first launching a beta version in February 2008, TIAA-CREF made its retirement-focused online community, MyRetirement.org, publically available this month. MyRetirement is one of the broader online communities we have seen to date. Instead of focusing entirely on products, or featuring commentary exclusively from firm employees, TIAA-CREF provides customers with an open platform on which they can discuss retirement, as well as other topics of interest. TIAA-CREF’s decision to launch a beta version of the community was also significant; doing so allowed the firm to seed its discussion boards with user-generated content, meaning that when MyRetirement was officially opened, new users were able to join active conversations. Continue Reading »
Published by David Rosenberg on 05 Nov 2009
We recently came across an InvestmentNews article highlighting new efforts by Merrill Lynch in the area of retirement income planning. Given the current state of the economy (and of investors’ retirement accounts), good planning is now more critical than ever to ensure that clients can retire comfortably - at least, relatively comfortably.
According to the article, the firm is starting a new retirement income training program for financial advisors called Merrill Lynch Retirement Income Framework, which is based on reviewing best practices of advisors across the country. While details of the training program are not provided, the article quotes Aimee DeCamillo, the firm’s head of personal retirement solutions, as saying that the program takes into consideration the risk of clients outliving their assets, inflation, health care costs and planning risks.
Merrill Lynch is also leveraging its connection with Bank of America, according to the article, by setting up a new program whereby clients with at least $250,000 in their retirement accounts can periodically transfer money to a Bank of America deposit account to provide convenient access to retirement income at local branches and ATMs. Clients can give their financial advisors permission to monitor the spending in their accounts to help assure that they remain on track.
Merrill Lynch has been one of the more outspoken firms with regard to retirement income planning for some time now. In fact, we published a research report on Retirement Income Planning almost two years ago, and even then, we highlighted Merrill Lynch as a leader. Despite the focus on retirement income, however, the firm has lacked the robust client-facing tools that we have seen from Fidelity. It will be interesting to see if Merrill Lynch will introduce new online features in conjunction with the new financial advisor push and Bank of America partnership.
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Published by Ian Lundahl on 14 Oct 2009
In February of 2007, TIAA-CREF introduced a beta version of their retirement-focused online community, MyRetirement.org, to a select group of clients. Recently the firm rolled the site out to its broader client base through an email invitation.
MyRetirement.org provides a unique outlet for the firm’s clients to discuss a number of topics, including investment and saving strategies, travel and leisure plans, even health and fitness tips. This broad range of financial- and lifestyle-focused content should appeal to the interests of the firm’s unique customer base, i.e., those with backgrounds in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields. Continue Reading »
Published by Ian Lundahl on 05 Oct 2009
The big news for September revolves around Roth conversions. In the advisor realm, there was an influx of promotions surrounding the 2010 Roth conversion opportunity. A number of firms in our coverage groups are now supplying their advisors and brokers with new online marketing materials to help get ahead of the competition.
