Portfolio

Investors and advisors are concerned about IRAs and Ed Slott provides the answers.

State Street’s top executive says the Boston-based company wants to continue to “fortify the foundation” without losing sight of opportunities for further growth.“I look back over the last couple of years, and in spite of what looks like a recovered market there is still a lot of instability,” Jay Hooley, State Street’s chief executive officer said in an interview on Tuesday. “We want to be sure our foundation is solid in terms of capital and risk management and make sure we have returned to basics in terms of our core asset servicing and asset management businesses, but also we want to be sure we are investing in enhancing our product capabilities. Our focus is really the whole package.”

The combination of a robust U.S. equity market and the proliferation of company-sponsored retirement plans helped push total assets in 401(k) pans over the $3 trillion threshold at close of last year, up 13% from 2009.

ETFs attracted $41.4 billion in net new assets in the first quarter, more than double the first quarter of 2010.

KeyBanc Capital Markets doubled its personnel last month by hiring four professionals from Chapdelaine Credit Partners, a bond broker that closed in January.

Early indications are that March will follow suit, according to Kehrer-LIMRA.

SiVest Group, investment advisor to the Firsthand Funds, has launched the Firsthand Technology Value Fund, a closed-end, publicly traded fund.

The Web-based analytical tool allows advisors to compare more than 10,000 mutual funds and ETFs in 60 different categories and formats to help them pick and choose the products that will best meet their clients' individual investment needs.

The purpose of the institute is to provide in-depth investment insights to clients.