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David Babbel & His “Controversial” Annuity Study
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article entitled: “Beware of ‘Independent’ Investing Research”. In the article it discusses a study on annuities that was performed by University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, led by David Babbel. The controversial title of the WSJ articles stems from the fact that the study was co-sponsored by New York Life.
For anyone looking to read the study it can be found here:
Investing Your Lump Sum at Retirement, David F. Babbel and Craig B. Merrill, August 2007 (11 pages)
which was based off of:
Rational Decumulation, David F. Babbel and Craig B. Merrill, May 2007 (36 pages).
Both were co-sponsored by the Wharton Financial Institutions Center and New York Life Insurance company.
I would like to think that professors at our most prestigious universities have higher ethics than those on Wall Street, but I can understand those who believe their is a conflict of interest. However at the end of the day, I think this nets a positive for society to have our top academic minds studying the retirement issues that many baby boomers face. But please, read the study for yourself. Read the assumptions and reach your own conclusion on the validity of his findings.
