Practice

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's regulatory reform bill is generally winning praise for provisions giving the government more power to smoothly unwind a large, systemically important firm, but is also raising a host of practical concerns observers say could undermine its effectiveness.

Although the Pension Protection Act of 2006 has gone a long way toward addressing many of the issues plaguing the defined contribution system, a report from State Street Corp. said that more has to be done to ensure participants adequately save for retirement.

Financial planners, watch your backs. Financial Engines, a retirement plan advisor co-founded by a Nobel Prize winner, completed an initial public offering Monday that blew the doors off the IPO market and affirmed investor belief in a business model that offers low-cost sophisticated retirement advice to individual investors.

You will almost certainly need to hire new, younger advisors at some point in your career. Do you know where to look—or better yet, what to look for?

As the defined contribution model replaces the defined benefit plan as the dominant retirement savings option, State Street sees room for improvement.

Donor-advised funds have gained in popularity as more private foundations have seen the benefits of the funds over the complexities of running their own foundation.

Buyers of long-term-care insurance chose cheaper policies and more inflation protection in 2009, according to research from the AALTCI.

The House Financial Services Committee plans to probe the regulatory failures that led up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers after a bankruptcy examiner released a damning report last week on the investment bank’s accounting manipulations.

SEI is offering enhanced, online portfolio and account monitoring services for wealth managers, to help them deal with increasing regulations concerning account reviews. SEI, portfolio monitoring, Richard Kardys

SIFMA and CMSA back Garrett's follow-up bill