Practice

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.

The mutual fund industry is eager to hear the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court case that could determine the fate of the Gartenberg standard, an old legal precedent used to determine whether mutual fund fees are too high that has set a high burden of proof for investors and spared the industry from lawsuits.

The new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission is asking Congress to approve a large budget increase to pump up the agency's enforcement, examination and risk assessment efforts.

The Investment Company Institute has named Dean R. Sackett III and Donald C. Auerbach as leaders of its government affairs staff.

Unlike his predecessor, Paul Volcker, the current chairman of the Federal Reserve doesn’t believe money market funds should be regulated like banks, with reserve requirements and mandatory insurance.

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that a case three investors in Oakmark Funds had brought over what they alleged to be excessive fees failed to meet the burden of proof, setting an important precedent that protected fund firms against such cases.

Despite the plummeting economy, most 401(k) participants are staying calm and behaving normally, according to 2008 year-end data from the Investment Company Institute.

Approximately 37% of investors are participating in target-date funds when their employer offers one, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.