Alternative investments

Trading activity is reaching record levels at discount brokerages, as increasing numbers of mutual fund investors give up the ghost on long-term investing, The Wall Street Journal reports. About 20% of online investors, or 7.5 million people, have increased their trading levels, according to TowerGroup.

Exactly 50% of participants in 401(k) plans would like to have the option of rolling their money into a guaranteed income solution, but that does not exist in their plan, MetLife found in a recent survey, its seventh annual Employee Benefits Trends Study. Only 21% of employers said they would consider offering guaranteed income solutions, and only 16% of employers currently offer income annuities in their 401(k) plan.

With about two dozen insurance companies downgraded by one or two notches to a negative outlook during the first quarter, brokers who sell variable annuities are beginning to wonder if those insurers will be able to honor the annuities’ guarantees.

One shift in distribution strategy the financial crisis has caused, which fund sales directors should take note of, is that banks are looking far more attractive to a variety of advisers and more are hiring top talent.

The top wealth management executive at Beneficial Bank in Philadelphia said his unit aims to take advantage of its rivals' "distractions."

While most mutual fund companies struggled in 2008, John Hancock Funds finished the year in solid standing, buoyed by a strong first half and careful strategic planning. President and CEO Keith Hartstein recently spoke with Money Management Executive's John Morgan about the key areas that drove Hancock's record $8.5 billion in sales, some regulations he would like to see changed and his outlook for the rest of 2009 and beyond.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department extended its $3 trillion temporary guarantee program for money market mutual funds through Sept. 19 to provide continued reassurance for investors.

Guaranteed living benefits are driving sales of variable annuities, Milliman found, with 96% of those sold in 2008 including GLBs, up from 87% that had GLBs in 2004.

A last-minute Bush administration regulation that would permit advice in 401(k) plans was called into question Tuesday by a number of consumer advocates and other experts who testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - The United States is determined to show the world it is leading global economic recovery efforts, even if that means creating what some in the industry view as risky new risk regulators.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - Having exhausted their multimillion-dollar, class-action claims against big tobacco companies, the nation's top trial lawyers are now turning their attention to the mutual fund industry.

Envestnet and Nationwide are partnering to offer financial advisers an array of retirement income products, namely annuities.

New York Life has added insurance to its charitable gift annuity program to make it more attractive to investors and charities like. Because the stock market’s performance has been so weak, not to mention increasing longevity, the obligation of charitable gift annuities to continue to pay donors an income for life has put undue financial risks on the charities that offer them.

With mutual fund investors burned by negative returns of 30% to 50% over the past year, they are unlikely to remain confident about their investments, Celent predicts. As a result, the universe of 7,000 funds could shrink by as much as 70% over the next five years, leaving only 2,000 funds in existence.

It's counterintuitive-wealth managers are ratcheting up the price and providing lower returns on variable annuities. Some providers have doubled prices in the past six months, and more changes are expected.

Mutual funds have been able to thrive for the past 85 years thanks to their ability to adapt to changing markets and help investors stay diversified during good times and bad.

Investors seeking safety and stability have recently been moving massive amounts of their assets into money market mutual funds, causing the funds to swell to nearly $4 trillion and making them the single largest mutual fund asset class, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Thinking about retirement is anything but positive and encouraging, even for those in their 20s with a 40-year time horizon for saving. Most planners recommend an absolutely ungodly sum of cash as the entry point to safe and sound years. The government continues to predict the demise of Social Security. Insurers warn about soaring healthcare and long-term care costs. And now, with the market having wiped out $11.1 trillion in market wealth since it peaked in October 2007, retiring is absolutely unrealistic for many.

Congress is considering whether to make major revisions to the fair-value accounting rules that have created so much controversy lately. Possible changes include suspending the rules, improving value-at-risk measurements and reinstating the uptick rule.

Invesco's Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management plans to take advantage of the "chaos" in the financial services industry to add assets and customers, according to its new chief executive officer.