Portfolio

The Valley Forge, Pa., company's decision comes just a few months after a similar move by Charles Schwab.

More than 25 investment managers have already signed on to the platform.

Indexes will focus on required business performance standards required to support their current stock prices.

Industry net income noted as the single-largest factor in the 2009 improvement.

Dow Jones has added four new indexes to its growing family of required business performance (RBP) indexes. The new indexes are designed to measure the likelihood that companies can deliver the performance required to support their current stock prices.

It used to be that dividend-paying stocks and stock funds were seen as fit only for orphans and widows. But following the market volatility of 2008 and the current uncertainty of the low-yielding bond market, investing in companies that pay dividends is now seen as a prudent choice.

Connecticut's financial hub is struggling to rebound in the wake of the recession, but planners hope the area's relatively low real estate rates and high vacancies could attract jobs back to the area.

Overall sales of annuities though bank holding companies were up slightly at $2.62 billion in 2009, according to the latest Michael White-American Bankers Insurance Association Bank Annuity Fee Income Report. The results, however, were skewed somewhat by BHC-in-name-only Morgan Stanley.

Women are living longer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are prepared for the risks of longevity.

Two veterans of the hedge fund world are touting a product they say lets advisers focus less on investment decision-making and more on business development and client service.