Portfolio

Annuity sales top $231 billion in 2011, driven by robust sales of variable annuities.

Legacy expert attorneys Andy and Danielle Mayoras say the pop star's been very busy lately but it remains unclear what – if any – decisions she’s making herself and illustrates the importance of informed legal and estate planning regardless of your station in life.

BlackRock is looking to do some good while doing well at the same time with its latest values-based exchange-traded fund focusing on human rights.

ETFs have seen rapid adoption by investors and advisors in recent years, but while the products themselves are known for their liquidity and transparency, what’s less understood is the tax bite some may deliver at the end of each year. With this in mind, Financial Planning spoke with Adam Patti, CEO of IndexIQ, to talk taxes and ETFs.

The San Francisco company has not made it easy for fund families to work through its online platform, featuring five incompatible sites. That's about to change, with an Investment Manager Gateway.

Legg Mason, Inc. today reported preliminary assets under management of $638 billion as of February 29, 2012, an increase of up 1% and some $7 billion over January’s AUM. The firm managed $677 billion last March.

Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. has filed paperwork with the SEC to launch active exchange-traded funds, which are getting a lot of buzz courtesy of PIMCO’s latest offering and iShares’ proposed fund.

On the heels of Bill Gross’ latest active exchange-traded fund, BlackRock has thrown its hat into the active ETF space with a proposed offering of its own.

Nuveen Fund Advisors and GuideStone Funds garnered the top group honors at the 2012 U.S. Lipper Fund Awards.

Thanks to stagnant interest rates and lingering worries over the Eurozone and other developed markets, the exchange traded fund market in February grew 3.9%, or more than $44 billion assets, over the previous month, according to a snapshot report released by State Street Global Advisors.