Portfolio

The Shareholder Communications Coalition has formed a new website, shareholdercolation.com, to educate the general public and policymakers in Washington about challenges to the proxy voting system.

PIMCO has launched the Global Multi-Asset Fund, a mutual fund that will provide broad diversification across risk exposures and asset classes. Co-Chief Investment Officer Mohamed A. El-Erian will lead the team that runs the fund. Other key executives on the team include Vineer Bhansali, a managing director and head of the portfolio management analytics group, and Chris Mewbourne, a managing director and generalist portfolio manager.

Nearly half of the senior citizens eligible for Social Security payments that begin at age 62 plan to begin drawing down those assets immediately, rather than waiting prudently for the higher payments that top off at age 66 for those born between 1943 and 1954, according to a survey of 600 Americans between the ages of 55 and 69 that Fidelity Investments sponsored.

Fidelity Investments might lay off as many as 9%, or 4,000, of its 44,500 global workforce by early next year, according to reports. That would be a considerable cut, on top of 1,000 who have been laid off in the past year through three rounds.

MFS Investment Management has formed a defined contribution investment only (DCIO) business development office, to be headed by Matt Gannon, who now assumes the title of senior vice president and director of DCIO and strategic alliances.

While leading banks, mortgage originators and brokers, insurers and investment banks have all taken serious hits from the financial crisis, investment management firms—most notably mutual fund companies—have been holding strong, buoyed by a steady stream of fees.

Banks and other financial companies that are willing to stomach a few more quarters of volatility could find themselves well positioned to acquire wealth management companies or talent, according to analysts and industry executives.

Despite the earth-shaking, “extraordinary” events in September, and the stock market declines “of historic proportions,” financial advisers are still telling investors to stay the course and predicting the financial crisis will continue as a recession through next year—but won’t worsen into a Depression, Money magazine and the Orlando Sentinel report.

While reports have surfaced in recent weeks of incredibly wide discounts on closed-end funds that signal undue risk, rather than buying opportunities, some financial advisers say that with a little homework, there are, actually, some wise buys to be had on closed-end funds, Dow Jones reports. Further, with most closed-end funds paying dividends, that is yet another strong case for considering such funds.

For many of the same reasons exchange-traded funds are so popular in bull runs, ETFs are appealing to investors in the market downturn; investors awaiting a turnaround in the economy, but not knowing which pockets will come out first ahead, are seeking broad market exposure, The Wall Street Journal reports.