Practice

While just about every financial services firm is gung ho about social media’s potential as a marketing tool, Aite says that few have any cohesive strategy, or any proof it’ll work.

More people get more retirement money from employer plans today.

Affluent Americans are so concerned about not having enough money on hand for emergency expenses that they are putting their retirement savings at risk by keeping money in low-yielding products, such as savings accounts, CDs and money market funds.

The FDIC Chairman discussed her priorities for the rest of her term, and the many bankers who think she is too focused on consumer protection will be surprised to hear her list.

A state regulator fined a Bank of America investment unit for allowing its advisors to mislead clients about bonds related to government sponsored enterprises.

Some employers are not depositing workers’ retirement or health plan contributions.

Imagine this: An entire generation of investors has accumulated a significant amount of investable cash, but was too apprehensive of the stock market, of advisors, and of the potential costs, to know how to invest the money.That is the scenario that today’s financial advisors are likely facing with Generation X and Generation Y investors, according to MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based money management firm, that released a study on 613 retail investors with $100,000 in household investable assets. Investors under age 46, or those considered Generation X, displayed a much more conservative approach than anticipated, the company said in a study released last Thursday.

Fund executives also don’t like the proposed new name “marketing and service fees.”

The mutual fund industry has weighed in through its comment letters on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan to rename 12b-1 fees as “marketing and service fees” and capping them at 25 basis points.

The Department of Labor is cracking down on employers who fail to deposit workers’ retirement or health plan contributions but using the money for their own purposes instead.