Portfolio

New York State may have changed the way mutual fund companies compete in the 529 college savings plan market.

The downward pressure on 401(k) and other retirement plan balances over the past few years will mean problems for employers - but especially for the millions of workers who are ill-prepared to fund their retirement.

It takes society 30 years to become comfortable with a new technology - be it steel plows, electric lights or video recorders. The device doesn't matter. By that standard, financial advisers are doing pretty well with separately managed accounts.

The 529 college savings plan has yet to catch America's attention the way many providers would have hoped. While it is still early in the product's lifespan, it has struggled with profitability issues, low awareness levels among average investors, and potentially crushing legislative barriers.

AllianceBernstein has rolled out six mutual funds that will be modeled after investment strategies that its private client team uses. Called the Wealth Strategies funds, the family of six funds offer growth, tax-managed growth and various balances between growth and fixed income, with two of the offerings investing in tax-exempt fixed income. AllianceBernstein decided to offer these strategies to retail investors who today, after three years of a bear market, are aware more than ever of the importance of sound portfolio construction, said Michael J. Laughlin, executive vice president of Alliance Capital and chairman of AllianceBernstein Investment Research and Management.

Struggling to maintain profitability in 529 plans and facing low general public awareness about the products, firms are increasingly adding features and catering to the needs of the high-net-worth client, hoping to snag the bigger fishes in the investment pond.

Employers expanded the number of 401(k) plans in the nation by 4% in 2002, according to the National Defined Contribution Council (NDCC) and the Spectrem Group.

Eaton Vance has launched the Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Dividend Income Fund, an equity-income fund designed to take advantage of new favorable tax rates on dividend income.

The AIP Alpha Strategies I Fund has dared to go where no other open-end mutual fund has tread before: into the hedge fund realm. The fund is the first to offer a variety of hedge fund investment techniques packaged as an open-end mutual fund sporting continuous sales of shares, daily liquidity and transparency of all securities, both long and short.

Finances and health insurance are on the minds of Baby Boomers, as 36% of them say they think about their retirement savings nearly every day, according to a recent survey by Pulte Homes.