State Farm is tweaking its product offerings available to its agents, and the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule is partly to blame. Currently about 12,000 of the insurer’s agents are licensed to sell mutual funds and other retirement investment products, but come April, they will no longer have access to those products, according to an article on WGLT. And agents will lose out on the commissions associated with them. Investors will still be able to buy mutual funds through a call center. “We feel this decision struck the right balance between serving our customers and adhering to the DOL rule,” the insurer said, in a statement. The rule requires advisors overseeing retirement accounts to act in their clients’ best interests.
A federal grand jury in Texas has indicted Charles Banks, a financial advisor accused of defrauding retired NBA star Tim Duncan out of over $20 million, Yahoo 's The Vertical is reporting. Banks was indicted in two counts of wire fraud for his involvement in steering Duncan toward investments in hotels, wineries and beauty products without revealing alleged conflicts of interests. Duncan also accused Banks of defrauding him on a $7.5 million loan to Gameday, another company under Banks' control. Instead of limiting Duncan's exposure and getting the former NBA All-Star $1.5 million in cash back, Banks used Duncan's signature on a bank loan form to boost his guaranteed exposure to $13.5 million. Banks surrendered to authorities at the federal courthouse in San Antonio Friday morning, according to reports.
A vast number of Americans plan to work during what would have been their traditional retirement years, according to a new Bankrate.com report. Of non-retired Americans, 70 percent say they plan to work as long as possible during retirement, while only a quarter say they have no plans to work at all. Compare those numbers to the less than 20 percent of Americans 65 and older currently working, and a very different picture of American "retirement" emerges. Part of the reason for this appetite to work may actually have to do with the fact that half of current retirees say they are either very worried or somewhat worried about outliving their retirement savings. Of non-retirees who say they plan to keep working, 35 percent say it's because of money, while 27 percent say money concerns play a role but they enjoy working nonetheless. The rest simply want to work for the enjoyment of it. According to Jill Cornfield, Bankrate.com retirement analyst, working during retirement has a lot of benefits. "It's not just the money," she said. "When you can work as a consultant or find some part-time gig, it really helps you stay sharp.” And, hopefully, financially solvent.
