In
Bali, a plane was forced to make an
emergency landing after smoke alarms went off. The Aviation Herald reports the
cargo flight from Australia to Kuala Lumpur, with four crew and 2,186 sheep
on-board, was flying just to the south of Indonesia when the smoke alarms
sounded. Emergency services didn’t find any trace of fire or smoke and
identified the cause to be the result of gasses and man.ure produced by the
sheep. The plane and its cargo were able to depart the island about three hours
later.
In
Daytona Beach, Florida, a man was
dining at the Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet when, suddenly, another man fell
through the ceiling onto him. The man who fell through ceiling was a would-be
thief who had made it through the ceiling to the manager’s office, but failed
to open a lock box that held money. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that
it was after he gave up his attempt that he fell through the ceiling. He tried
to get up and run away, but was tackled by another diner.
In Saugerties, New York, a woman called
911 to report a medical emergency. An ambulance arrived and transported her to
a hospital in Kingston. However, she signed herself out of the hospital shortly
after arriving, the local ABC News station reports. Turns out she was just
using the ambulance to get to Kingston so she could see her boyfriend. She has
been charged with falsely reporting an incident.
Dimensional Fund Advisors Launches Target-Date Solution
Dimensional Fund Advisors, a global investment management
firm, announced the launch of the Dimensional Target Date Retirement Income Funds, described as “a next generation
solution developed to help manage uncertainty around consumption in retirement.”
The series of 13 funds are “carefully designed to address
market, interest rate, and inflation risks leading up to and throughout
retirement.”
David Booth, Dimensional chairman and co-CEO, says “defining
and managing the right risks” are both critical steps when determining a retirement
plan participants’ asset allocation. “A good target-date solution should
balance the tradeoffs between growth investments and an appropriate
risk-hedging asset,” he adds.
With these goals in mind, Booth
notes the new Dimensional TDFs “are designed to manage relevant risks,
in particular, interest rate and
inflation risks, so investors are less exposed to the effects of random
market
forces. This may reduce uncertainty about how much consumption their
investments will support in retirement, and enable plan sponsors,
consultants,
and financial advisers to use meaningful information about expected
retirement
consumption to help investors plan for a more successful retirement.”
The Dimensional Target Date Retirement Income Funds use
asset-allocation strategies to invest in “income-growth investments,” mainly global equities and fixed
income, as well as complementary “income
risk management investments.” The portfolios aim to address risks with a hedging strategy based on established
liability-driven investing (LDI) theory and an inflation-protected fixed income
portfolio.
NEXT: AB Reveals Holistic
Annuity Fiduciary Service
AB, formerly known as AllianceBernstein, has launched a new
fiduciary service that “will assume fiduciary responsibility for annuity
selection in connection with its Lifetime Income Strategy service.”
As the party responsible for annuity selection, AB will
perform these duties as an investment manager under Section 3(38) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the firm notes. AB's new
service is “intended to alleviate the burden and risk associated with a plan
fiduciary's responsibility as it relates to the inclusion of guaranteed income
options so that plan sponsors can feel more confident in offering lifetime
income solutions to employees.”
Richard Davies, senior managing director for defined
contribution at AB, says it is very clear that policymakers and regulators want
to encourage plan sponsor adoption of guaranteed income solutions, so it makes
sense to roll out this new service now. “With our new fiduciary service, a plan
sponsor can delegate responsibility to AB for its insurance product selection,”
he adds. “This should make plan sponsors feel more comfortable in offering
employees guaranteed income in retirement.”
AB says its Lifetime Income Strategy is a natural extension
of its customized target-date expertise and provides participants with a
personalized asset-allocation strategy that helps build critical retirement
savings, followed by guaranteed income for life. Guaranteed income through the
Lifetime Income Strategy is provided by multiple insurers through a technology
platform established by AB to operate as an insurer marketplace. This
marketplace is a core element of AB's fiduciary service as it helps to ensure
that guaranteed income is fairly priced, the firm says.
AB's multi-insurer approach is also meant to help address
sponsor concerns around sustainability, as insurers participating in the
marketplace can change over time without reducing the ability to generate
guaranteed income for current and future plan participants.
To learn more about AB's defined contribution solutions, go
to www.abdc.com.
