Investment Instruments

Bank of America Corp. has reached a deal to sell its Balboa Life Insurance Co. unit to Securian Financial Group Inc. a privately held insurance and retirement planning company based in St. Paul, Minn.

Defined benefits and pension plans have fallen by the wayside, forcing plan sponsors to give employees a new kind of protection while still protecting the company against high costs. The answer? Annuities.

MassMutual recently announced three appointments for key positions at the company.

The combined assets of the nation’s mutual funds decreased by $70.7 billion, or 0.6 percent, to $12.403 trillion in May, according to the Investment Company Institute’s official survey of the mutual fund industry.

A growing number of 403(b) retirement plan sponsors use third-party administrators (TPAs) for key plan services, and a new analysis shows that practice may be leading to better plan design.

In what could be a boon to the annuity industry, a report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office said that delaying Social Security and purchasing an annuity may be the only way to ensure solvency in retirement.

PPACA wins in court, target date funds miss target and the HR frenzy in Vegas

Many target date funds are too aggressive in their exposure to stocks, putting investors at risk for market downturns after retirement, when they can least afford it, warned Putnam Investments executives Tuesday at a retirement panel talk in New York.