Practice

Stable-value funds, available in such tax-deferred accounts as 401(k)s, have been attracting a lot of attention lately, having returned 4.7% in 2008, compared to the Dow’s 33.8% decline, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Healthcare costs for a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2009 would total $240,000 over the remainder of their lifetimes, up 6.7% from the $225,000 needed in 2008 and a whopping 50% from $160,000 in 2002, according to estimates by Fidelity Investments.

Putnam Investments has launched a new defined contribution platform for financial advisers and plan sponsors, using recordkeeping from FASCore, another subsidiary of parent company Great-West Lifeco.

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.

Target-date funds continue to take the heat for buckling under the pressures of the market’s decline.

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.

PIMCO and BlackRock are two of the first mutual fund companies to sign up for the Treasury Department’s new program to purchase troubled assets—PIMCO as both a buyer and manager of debt and BlackRock only as a manager. Other fixed-income fund shops are likely to sign up as well, Geoff Bobroff of Bobroff Consulting told Dow Jones.

FINRA has fined 25 broker/dealers for failure to complete self-assessments related to providing mutual fund breakpoints between 2001 and 2002.

Industry watchers are stunned that Vanguard, a champion of low fees, has caved in to the realities of lower assets by raising fees on 31 of its 110 funds, albeit a scant average of 0.05%. But the truth is, poor market performance has ravaged assets at many fund shops, and grappling with lower assets, they are looking for ways to control costs, MarketWatch reports.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - Andrew Donohue, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management, said Monday that he doesn't think the SEC will push for changes to rule 12b-1 govering mutual fund fees this year.