Portfolio

Vanguard is changing the investment process for its four LifeStrategy series from a mix of active and passive management to an all-index approach.

401K GPS has launched it personalized 401(k) monitoring service, to ensure participants’ strategies fit their risk profile. While the service monitors portfolios on a daily basis, it issues quarterly recommendations on how investors should reallocate their holdings, based on retirement goals and market expectations. Should volatility in the markets become pronounced, 401K GPS will issue intra-quarterly alerts.

Vanguard is lowering the fees on six funds by adding low-cost Admiral Shares to them. Vanguard’s Admiral Shares program requires a minimum account balance of $10,000.

State Street Global Advisors has launched three new exchange-traded funds, the SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF, SPDR S&P Health Care Services and SPDR A&P Software & Services funds.

Scout Investments has launched the Scout Unconstrained Bond Fund, which will invest across the entire fixed income universe -- including investment grade, high-yield, governments, agencies, mortgage-backed, asset-backed and foreign markets.

The combined assets of the nation’s mutual funds decreased by $398 billion, or 3.3 percent, to $11.621 trillion in August, according to the Investment Company Institute.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumps 143.08 to 11,153.98 in a volatile trading session. Most of the gain came in the last 30 minutes of trading.

A significant number of advisers who serve 401(k) plans will ramp up their retirement income planning practices over the next few years, according to a new report from Principal Financial, called the “2011 Best Practices in Retirement Income Planning Study.”

Scout Investments has launched the Scout Unconstrained Bond Fund, which will invest across the entire fixed income universe—including investment grade, high-yield, governments, agencies, mortgage-backed, asset-backed and foreign markets.

State Street Global Advisors has launched three new exchange-traded funds, the SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF, SPDR S&P Health Care Services and SPDR A&P Software & Services funds.