Consumer

The purchaser of a product or service.

3.87 Percent Inflation Increase for Penn Mutual Variable Annuity

The Penn Mutual Inflation Protector variable annuity was launched in November 2010. This variable annuity product incorporates a living benefit feature and is designed to provide owners with an income base that keeps pace with the rate of inflation. The income base of the Penn Mutual Inflation Protector increases based upon the greater of: The rate of inflation as measured by the consumer price index urban (CPI-U), or; Annual market performance. The inflation increases are capped at a maximum...

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SOA Offers Consumer-Oriented Content for Retirement Decisions

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) just published a series of short whitepapers or “briefs” that focus on some of the major decisions that are encountered by retirees. This is a great resource for consumers who are seeking objective content produced by experts. The Society has clearly made efforts to create content that is accessible to a non professional audience. The briefs are clear, short and focus on consumer-relevant topics such as “when should I retire.” There are 11...

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Why is the Growth in Health Spending Considered a Problem?

Consumer discretionary spending is the major driver of the U.S. economy as household purchases make-up about 71 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).

Without growth in consumer spending, the economy would most likely go nowhere.

Since economic growth is generally considered a good thing, it stands to reason that we should be looking for things that contribute to consumer spending.

An interesting piece of research from an economist at Credit Suisse shows that health spending has been the primary driver of the growth in consumer spending over the past 50 years.

As reported in a Bloomberg piece, consumer spending has...

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A Clear Line in the Canadian Annuity Market

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty intends to propose legislation that bans banks from selling products that are similar to annuities. Canadian law already prevents banks from selling annuity products. Canadian finance officials are apparently concerned that the lines between annuity and banking products are increasingly blurred. Bank products that are represented as lifetime cash flow vehicles presumably fall under this area of concern. This hybrid or blurred product category more than...

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