Portfolio

In an effort to expand its annuity business, The Hartford is expanding into the structured settlement annuity market, providing tax-free payouts to people who receive settlements related to a workers’ compensation or personal injury claim.

Parents are on track to cover only 16% of their children’s college education, Fidelity Investments’ 5th Annual College Savings Indicator study shows. In the study’s five-year history, this is the first year that the indicator’s steady decline has come to a halt, at 16%.

Russell Armstrong was the 47-year old husband of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" cast member Taylor Armstrong. Tragically, Russell committed suicide on Aug. 15, about one month after Taylor had filed for divorce. His untimely death and the subsequent squabbling by surviving relatives highlight the importance of estate planning whether you're famous or not.

Transamerica is planning to roll out the Transamerica Global Tactical Fund in October. Sub-advised by Aegon Investment Management, the fund will invest in exchange-traded funds that focus on high-yield bonds and non-U.S. debt, including emerging markets.

SunGard has added credit risk analysis to its SunGard Global Network Short-Term Cash Management portal, relying on data from Standard & Poors, Sector Treasury and Crane Data.

As if the stock market's wild vacillations in the past few weeks weren't evidence enough that few have a firm hold on the U.S. economy's near- and long-term outlook, Fannie Mae this week issued an analysis that says the likelihood of a dreaded double-dip recession is now a 50/50 proposition.

The equities analysts at Swiss-based UBS are taking an increasingly dim view of the U.S. and global economies and are suggesting that investors should be reducing their equity exposure from “overweight” to what they call a “neutral tactical stance” of stocks, bonds and cash.

Standard & Poor’s may be negative on equities markets these days, but its analysts are pretty high on utilities stocks and ETFs.

As if the stock market's wild vacillations in the past few weeks weren't evidence enough that few have a firm hold on the U.S. economy's near- and long-term outlook, Fannie Mae this week issued an analysis that says the likelihood of a dreaded double-dip recession is now a 50/50 proposition.