Portfolio

Along with turnkey asset management programs, which allow advisers to outsource functions such as manager research, portfolio construction and performance reporting in order to gain operational and cost efficiencies, unified managed accounts are gaining popularity.

T. Rowe Price was named the Best Overall Fund Group for large companies at the 2010 U.S. Lipper Fund Awards ceremony held March 24 in New York.

A new investment firm is promising to shake up the way Americans invest by providing individuals with direct access to institutionally priced mutual funds and other investments.

Fidelity Investments expects sales of its 401(k)s to continue to increase through third-party financial advisers to small and midsized companies-and the company plans to reduce fees to gain additional share. In August, Fidelity plans to switch its Advisor 401(k) platform to a system where the adviser receives a flat fee from Fidelity instead of several different fees in the form of 12b-1 fees.

Charles Schwab filed arguments in federal court in San Francisco to try to preclude the Securities and Exchange Commission from suing it over its YieldPlus fund. Once one of the biggest short-term bond funds in the world, with $13.5 billion at its peak in 2007, YieldPlus lost 35%, before dividends, in 2008 due to high exposure to mortgage-backed securities, which comprised nearly 50% of its portfolio. Today, a mere shell of its former self, it stands at $184 million.

Recovery to Exceed Expectations: Barclays

As technology has become more advanced financial advisors have turned their attention to unified managed accounts to oversee all of their affluent clients’ assets, a trend that many in the industry think is here to stay.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is concerned that some mutual funds and actively managed and leveraged ETFs, in particular, may be investing too heavily in swaps and derivatives.

Institutional investors are warming to a market many now see as priced right, and an economy that they believe will be revived by corporate spending, even if unemployment fears keep consumers from opening their wallets.

Local budget cuts over the next couple of years will be drastic enough that the role of government in our lives will be re-examined.