Portfolio

Finally, insiders launched candid criticism at the mutual fund industry last week, to help it respond sensibly to the economic meltdown and reposition itself to regain investor trust.

Abigail Johnson Chairs Fidelity Fund Board

Conn. Fails to Pass Hedge Fund Bill

Thanks to shady money managers like Bernie Madoff who ruined it for everyone, the lucrative and surreptitious heydays of hedge funds may be gone for good.

From recommending different products to rethinking their risk management strategy, some financial advisers say they have changed their approach in the wake of last year's market slump. Indeed, many retail investors remain on the sidelines of the stock market, with assets in equity funds only half of what they were in late 2007 before the economic crisis began and the market lost 56% of its value.

Finally, insiders launched candid criticism at the mutual fund industry last week, to help it respond sensibly to the economic meltdown and reposition itself to regain investor trust.

NEW YORK - Many financial advisers are feeling extremely guilty for failing to protect their customers from the 30% equity drop in 2008, but it will take more than remorse to earn clients' forgiveness.

The growing trend for companies to suspend or even eliminate 401(k) matches in this recession will inevitably translate into fewer people contributing to their retirement savings, writes Rockefeller Foundation Associate Vice President Janice M. Nittoli in an editorial in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Now Is No Time to Skimp on Retirement Plans.”

Money market fund assets fell by $25.22 billion to $3.764 trillion in the week ended June 3, the Investment Company Institute said.

Great-West Retirement Services has launched an updated set of target-date funds that it believes will address some of the problems that were found with target-date funds in 2008.