Alternative investments

The wealthy are still giving despite the economic downturn, according to a study by Barclay’s wealth and luxury market consultant Ledbury Research. The study queried 300 Americans and 200 British with an average of $5.4 million in investable assets and found that the wealthy were much more willing to give up luxury goods, staff, eating out, holidays and travel before they would stop giving to charity. Only their children’s education ranked higher than charitable giving when they were asked what they would give up if the downturn proves more protracted.

Jackson National Life reported a record $3.4 billion in retail sales and deposits in the second quarter. In the first half of the year, sales and deposits totaled $6.1 billion, up 3% from the first half of 2008.

The $4.5 billion U.S. Natural Gas Fund, an exchange-traded fund, may have an investment mandate for the U.S., but regulators’ crackdown on speculation is forcing the fund to look overseas, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The combination of investors’ love affair with exchange-traded funds and their renewed interest in fixed income in the wake of the market downturn is creating a field day for bond exchange-traded funds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney became the latest firm to place restrictions on the sale of leveraged, inverse and leveraged inverse exchange-traded funds.

Fidelity Investments has joined the growing chorus of fund companies, brokerages and regulators warning investors about potential outsized losses in leveraged exchange-traded funds due to the effect of compounding.

The recent drop in financial markets has rekindled the demand for safer, conservative financial products like stable-value funds.

Sometimes we seek out opportunities for change. Other times change is thrust upon us. Market conditions in the past 24 months have produced seismic shifts in the mutual fund industry, and several business drivers have emerged that will shape our industry's future. As asset managers, distributors, suppliers and others evaluate their next steps, these demands will drive strategies and shape new solutions.

Financial advisers have been going independent or switching wirehouses in record numbers since the economic crisis began at the end of 2007, and brokerages are scrambling for ways to get them and their loyal clients to come back.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney has added a fixed income annuity from Nationwide to its unified managed account platform, so that investors have the option of selecting lifetime income. The brokerage is calling the option Select Retirement.

Exchange-traded funds have attracted $35 billion so far this year, far less than in previous years, but growth is likely to return at a rapid clip once the recession winds down, according to Strategic Insight. By comparison, investors have withdrawn $49 billion from mutual funds.

Between November and March, hedging programs at variable annuity firms supported 94% of their guarantees, up from 93% in the prior period, Milliman said.

UBS has stopped selling leveraged exchange-traded funds, saying that the funds don’t conform to its belief in long-term investing due to the “short-term nature of these securities.”

After earlier warning that it was concerned about investors holding leveraged exchange-traded funds for 10 days or longer, FINRA, in its latest podcast, appears to be backpedaling.

The Hartford has cut nearly 270 jobs in its investment products division, and more layoffs are expected, The Hartford Courant reports. The division sells variable annuities, mutual funds and retirement plans.

Firms attempting to prepare and strengthen their risk management systems in this rapidly changing regulatory landscape are finding it's a bit like trying to hit a moving target.

NEW YORK -- Most retirement planners agree that retirees should maintain some equity exposure during retirement in order to keep up with inflation and a retirement that could last three decades or longer, but what this level of exposure should be -- and whether or not the government should set some parameters -- is being widely debated.

The U.S. should adopt a Systemic Risk Council made up of top financial regulators, according to Investment Company Institute President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens, during testimony July 23 before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.

To MetLife, variable annuities are not an all-or-nothing proposition.

Say what you will about variable annuities; they returned about 6% or more for investors in 2008 when others saw 40% or more of their holdings wiped out, The Wall Street Journal reports. In fact, they were one of the best investments of the past decade, due to their minimum guarantees.