Investment Instruments

Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company replaced My Account Manager website and added expanded its Advantage and Choice fund line-ups.

Worker participation in employment-based retirement plans has stabilized.

A majority of investors surveyed recently by BlackRock misunderstood the potential tax implications of exchange traded funds, with 55 percent of respondents saying they were not aware that an ETF could pay capital gains even if the security was not sold at a gain that year.

Deep divisions among Senate Democrats over whether cuts to popular benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid should be part of a plan to slow the government's mushrooming debt pose a big obstacle to a deal for avoiding a potentially economy-crushing "fiscal cliff," even if Republicans agree to raise taxes.

The time is right for guaranteed income products such as variable annuities, explains Guardian's Doug Dubitsky - provided you can explain them to clients.

PBGC annual benefits have been increased slightly for recipients, with 65-year-olds getting approximately $1,500 more than before.