Portfolio

Vanguard’s exchange-traded funds continue to increase in popularity among investors in the United States, the company reported today.

Equities continue their climb, notching gains of 15.7% so far this year, as measured by the S&P 500. This comes after a 13% gain last year. Against that backdrop, we asked Morningstar to rank the top mutual funds in the U.S. for the past 12 months. We limited it to open-end funds that have at least $100 million in assets and that have been in business for at least five years.

Older clients create three major challenges for advisors. If planners aren't analyzing their client base and preparing response strategies, they risk jeopardizing the future of their business.

The U.S. economic expansion is “two-speed,” favoring those who are already well-off financially, said Vincent Reinhart, the chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley.

A federal funds rate stuck near zero means cash will continue to deliver negative real returns for some time. Who in their right mind, the standard Wall Street taunt goes, would own cash when it’s a guaranteed losing proposition?

Forthcoming federal rules could require all investment advisors to implement formal anti-money laundering programs -- a shift that would bring RIAs under a similar regulatory regime as that governing broker-dealers, mutual fund complexes and other financial institutions.

Men and women alike underestimate how much money they will need in retirement. Here are some of the findings from an annual survey from the Employee Benefits Research Institute and Mathew Greenwald Associates.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Return Preparer Office said it is sending letters to 3,000 tax preparers who failed to use a valid Preparer Tax Identification Number.

Most advisors continue to check in with phone and email messages and continue to do some work even while on vacation. Dave Grant shares the steps he took to completely cut himself off from work for a family vacation.

Conventional wisdom has it that today’s low investment yields tend to harm low-income retirees, who receive little or nothing from the bank accounts and bonds they had counted on for spending money. That’s certainly the case, but a recent study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that low yields have even more impact on younger workers as well as on people with high incomes. Agreeing with those conclusions, Barton Close, vice president of investments, in the Chattanooga office of Raymond James & Associates, told On Wall Street, “Those low yields have turned around my strategies 180 degrees. Now I put more focus on current cash flow.”