Practice

The saga of Samuel Israel continues, with the $450 million Bayou hedge fund swindler now being sent to federal medical prison forpsychiatric evaluation. U.S. White Plains District Court Judge Kenneth Karas has sent Israel to Butner North Carolina Federal Medical Center for a complete medical and psychological evaluation, which could take up to 90 days.

General Motors recently announced it would stop matching employees’ 401(k) contributions. Sadly, that’s likely to become the norm at many companies, especially if the economic crisis deepens and lasts into next year or beyond, USA Today reports.

Nearly half of the senior citizens eligible for Social Security payments that begin at age 62 plan to begin drawing down those assets immediately, rather than waiting prudently for the higher payments that top off at age 66 for those born between 1943 and 1954, according to a survey of 600 Americans between the ages of 55 and 69 that Fidelity Investments sponsored.

Mary Schapiro, chief executive officer of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, recommended that the brokerage industry be continue to be self-regulatory, but overseen by one tier looking for systemic risk and another scrutinizing business conduct. Schapiro made the remarks at the annual meeting of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

MFS Investment Management has formed a defined contribution investment only (DCIO) business development office, to be headed by Matt Gannon, who now assumes the title of senior vice president and director of DCIO and strategic alliances.

Few people know as much about mutual funds as Matthew P. Fink. For more than 40 years, Fink dedicated his career to serving the industry and its 88 million shareholders through his work for the Investment Company Institute, serving as its president from 1991 to 2004.

WASHINGTON - Despite signs of renewed strength in the credit markets, the Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday unveiled a new program to provide more liquidity to money market mutual funds.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Despite the recent daily thousand-point swings in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the understandable uncertainty among investors, Individual Retirement Accounts and 401(k) plans still remain American's dominant and trusted retirement vehicles.

XBRL US is asking mutual fund companies, investors and users of prospectus filing information for feedback through Nov. 24 on how well their suggested data tags will work for mutual fund summaries on risk/returns and schedules of investments.

With the markets tumbling, a recession on the horizon and people growing increasingly fearful of losing their jobs, more parents are delaying saving for their children’s college education, Investment News reports. Sales of 529 plans fell 33% in the first six months of the year to $6.3 billion, down from $9.8 billion a year earlier.