Portfolio

The Hartford Financial Services Group has seen a surge in sales of retirement plans to charitable and religious organizations prompting the insurance and wealth management company to add three faith-based investment fund families to help boost growth.

The average 401(k) plan balance at the end of the first quarter was up 40% from the year-earlier period, according to Fidelity highlights from its first quarter 2010 401(k) figures.

The SEC, FINRA and national securities exchanges are proposing individual circuit-breakers for every stock available in the U.S. They would set in if a security price moves 10% or more in a five-minute period.

Peter Adamson, 47, a well-regarded money manager who pioneered the use of hedge funds in the 1980s, family office investments in the 1990s and currently serves as billionaire Eli Broad’s chief investment officer, has landed a job with the family office Oprah Winfrey is setting up to manage her billions. Adamson is reportedly Winfrey's first hire and is seen as a coup for the media mogul, worth an estimated $2.4 billion.

"I've been everywhere and seen everything and done everything...sophisticated, God, I'm sophisticated." -- Daisy Buchanan, The Great Gatsby

For some time now, pension funds and other institutional investors have been looking for new ways to hedge against inflation and generate solid, reliable income. By hiring seasoned industry professional Joyce T. Shapiro, Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors (FTREA) believes it has found a way to deliver on both demands.

If nothing else, the last two years have taught affluent investors and financial professionals that change is often unexpected, swift and brutal. But despite taking severe double-digit losses on their portfolios, affluent investors surveyed recently by HSBC still largely have the same portfolio allocations they did at the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.

By hiring seasoned industry professional Joyce T. Shapiro, Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors (FTREA) believes it has found a way to hedge against inflation and deliver reliable income.

New distribution momentum in bank brokerages and other intermediary channels is a source of good news for T. Rowe, which has been successfully rebuilding its assets under management while it expands its presence overseas.

Putnam Investments will reveal all of the fees in the defined contribution plans it manages through a new sponsor website that launches next month.