Health-Care Expenses
Decline—a Little
The annual Fidelity Investments estimate of the retirement
health-care costs for a 65-year-old couple fell back 8% to $230,000, driven by
Medicare changes in the new health reform law. A Fidelity news release said the
figure has jumped an average 6% annually since Fidelity issued the first
estimate in 2002—of $160,000. According to Fidelity, reduced out-of-pocket
expenses for prescription drugs for many seniors resulted in the reduced
estimate. –PA
Nearly Half of
Advisers
Don’t Focus on Rollovers
In its “Advisor Assets in Motion” report, Cogent Research
found nearly 50% of advisers are not winning as many rollover assets as they
could be. Cogent divided advisers into three tiers of achievement in capturing
the rollover market. “Low” rollover advisers have up to $3 million in rollover
assets, “mid” rollover advisers have between $3 million and $5 million, and
“high” rollover advisers have more than $5 million in rollover assets. About
one-third of advisers would fall into the highest tier, Cogent found. The
highly successful rollover advisers convert more retirement accounts, and the
size of those accounts is 2.4 times larger, averaging $344,000, than advisers
who fall into the second tier in terms of rollover success. —PA