401(k)

Following recent talk of 401(k) debit cards and tighter credit, it was bound to happen that homebuyers would turn to their 401(k) to help finance a home purchase, despite warnings against doing so from most financial advisers.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Mutual fund industry leaders admit that years of deregulation allowed the current economic crisis to unfold, and many are anticipating a backlash of new and excessive regulations to result.

Fidelity Investments' institutional wealth management arm is ratcheting up its pursuit of financial advisers and wealth managers who want to run their own shops.

For many investors, buying into and saving for the retirement American dream is no longer a reality, according to a new survey from AARP of 1,628 workers over age 45, conducted last month.

Total retirement assets in the U.S. fell 5.2% during the first quarter of 2008, from $18.0 trillion to $17.1 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute.

The labor supply may experience shortages in coming years as more Baby Boomers retire, according to a study by KPMG.

Identity theft, data loss and other privacy violations are among the leading threats faced by financial institutions. Depending on their nature, they can inflict reputational and brand damage, cause revenue losses and prompt civil liability suits by customers. What's more, regulators are taking an increasingly hard line in these matters. Two new regulatory measures to safeguard investor privacy have far-reaching implications for investment companies, and executives need to take steps to comply.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to propose as early as the end of the month rules that would enhance municipal disclosure, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in an interview.

Target-date funds, also known as lifecycle funds, are rapidly rising in 401(k) plans as the favorite qualified default investment alternative because they're much more appropriate than the traditional money market fund for hands-off investors.

Americans have changing needs for retirement products as they grow older, and mutual fund companies that recognize and respect the differences between the age groups can be much more effective.

The Pension Protection Act is proving to help people better prepare for retirement by easing employers’ liabilities for automatically enrolling workers in retirement savings plans. But millions of middle- or lower-income Americans are still underserved, particularly if they work for small employers that don’t offer a 401(k) plan, The Wall Street Journal reports.

AUSTIN, Texas - Making sure your company's 403(b) retirement plan is in compliance by Jan. 1, 2009 can be a daunting task, especially if you haven't gotten started yet.

AUSTIN, Texas - New 403(b) regulations are coming, whether or not plan sponsors and vendors are ready for the changes.

Although Roth 401(k) features became effective Jan. 1, 2006, few employers immediately implemented them, since they were new and recordkeepers were still developing systems to accommodate the new feature.

Fees have become the top reason that retirement plan sponsors switch providers, according to Spectrem Group.

The SPARK Institute has created a document for 403(b) vendors and plans sponsors that outlines technological best practices related to information sharing.

Millions of retirees who are turning 70-1/2 are forced to take money out of their tax-deferred IRAs or 401(k)s each year, or pay a stiff penalty to the government.

The Pension Protection Act is succeeding at encouraging employers to automatically enroll and annually increase contributions for workers, Vanguard has found in an analysis of the defined contribution plans it administers.

Symetra Financial has launched a new awareness campaign titled “Don’t Fear 65,” laying out a path for retirees to live a worry-free retirement.

Fidelity is expanding its three-year-old plan to “virtualize,” or standardize, its servers—so that there no longer is great a bond between data, applications, desktops and storage, and the underlying server and operating system infrastructure— focusing on both x86 and reduced-instruction-set computing, or RISC, servers, Network World reports.