Portfolio

Fidelity Investments is planning to charge advisers for referrals to high-net-worth investors in its discount brokerage program that it makes to them.

After dropping 38.9% in 2008, slightly worse than the S&P 500’s 37% decline, the average stock mutual fund is up 9.9% year to date, quite a bit better than the index’s 5.3% return, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Americans are increasingly worried about their preparedness for retirement, The Hartford found in a survey. Thirty-four percent were either “extremely” or “very” worried about their ability to save for retirement, and 56% said they feared they would have to cut back on their contributions.

Canellos to Run SEC's New York Bureau

New Bill Would Reduce Taxes On Lifetime Annuity Income

Although there have been reports of one-third of employers cutting back on or eliminating 401(k) matches, for the most part, they have continued to add other features to the plans to increase participation and investment rates, Charles Schwab found. And that has helped most workers stay the retirement savings course.

NEW YORK -- Investors tend to stay quiet about financial products they don't understand as long as the profits keep coming in, but when the tide goes out and profits fall, they want answers.

A recent cartoon in The New Yorker surely sums up many retirement investors' feelings toward their financial advisers: It depicts them being sacrificed to a volcano.

Before the bottom fell out of the markets last year, most asset management firms thought they already had robust risk management processes in place. Now they're not so sure.

After consenting to a $40 million fine by the Securities and Exchange Commission for inflating the value of mortgage-backed securities in its Ultra Short Opportunities Fund, Evergreen Investment Management is now being investigated by the Massachusetts Securities Division for valuations in another mutual fund and a variable annuity.