Practice

WASHINGTON-Democratic leaders of the House Financial Services Committee are exploring creating a federal regulator or modifying a multi-state compact to increase oversight and provide more uniform standards for insurers of municipal bonds and other financial products.

In lockstep with a broadened direction by insurance firms to strip off the complex bells-and-whistles riders and bonuses of the recent past and to issue packaged retirement income solutions-and meet the demands of the new buzzword: decumulation-the other publication I edit, Annuity Market News just relaunched on Friday as Retirement Income Reporter.

The Baby Boomer generation is once again taking credit for saving the economy, according to Reuters.

The Baby Boomer generation is once again taking credit for saving the economy, according to Reuters. The enormous spending power of the 76 million citizens born between 1946 and 1964 has helped keep the last two consumer-led recessions short and shallow.

Last week's extreme volatility in the U.S. and international stock markets has many retirees and Baby Boomers approaching retirement worried that their life savings will fall short of expectations.

Way to go. Some marketing experts are beginning to get it right. The "Magical Mystery Tour" that's been the past 60 years of Baby Boomer buying power doesn't have to end with mutual fund companies instilling the dreaded fear of outliving one's retirement savings, dying impoverished and, possibly, alone.

UBS Global Asset Management and Genworth Financial plan to introduce a guaranteed income for life option for 401(k) participants.

The Supreme Court's decision in Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC v. Scientific Atlanta will mean that mutual fund companies, could be better protected from class-action investor suits involving third parties that support the administration and running of a fund's trading floor and back office.

Registered investment advisors have had a good run over the past three years. And some 28% of RIA firms have experienced growth of more than 100%, according to a new study published by Fidelity Investments.

By now, most asset management executives have seen the predictions that large-cap growth will be the way to go in 2008. But digging deeper than mere asset class predictions, MME spoke with two industry leaders to tease out nuances of what fund managers can expect this year.