Portfolio

Trust in the U.S. financial system has fallen to 20%in March from 26% in December, as measured by the Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index, which surveyed 1,007 adults to obtain the reading.

Orinda Asset Management has launched the Orinda Multi-Manager Hedged Equity Fund, a fund that seeks long-term capital appreciation with an emphasis on risk-adjusted returns and reduced volatility.

Van Eck Global has launched the Market Vectors LatAm Aggregate Fund ETF, which will track the BofA Merrill Lynch Broad Latin America Bond Index.

BOSTON - Managed accounts used to be for the wealthy, but in the last 18 to 24 months, they have become increasingly available to the mass affluent because of a reduction in costs and an increase in efficiency, said AJ Harper, managing director of Lockwood Advisors, an affiliate of Pershing, a BNY Mellon company, in an interview at the Money Management Institute annual conference here.

Community banks’ investment programs are not yet back to their pre-financial-crisis levels of success, but the numbers confirm that 2010 was a step in the right direction.

The previous minimum was $3,000 for eleven of the twelve funds in the series.

In the last 18 to 24 months these proudcts have become increasingly available to the mass affluent because of a reduction in costs and an increase in efficiency, said AJ Harper, managing director of Lockwood Advisors, an affiliate of Pershing, in an interview at the Money Management Institute annual conference.

Their plans are evidenced in a survey by Harris Interactive for Aberdeen Asset Management.

But investors redeem $1.9 billion from equity funds.

The “magic” 5% tax-free yield is ­sustaining strong demand from retail investors.