Practice

As Baby Boomers head toward retirement, they will likely decrease the number of relationships they have with financial institutions and reshape the entire industry, according to new research from the Retirement Income Industry Association.

Rather than fixate on contributions and current 401(k) balance, a new website, ReviewMy401k.com, gauges investors’ risk tolerance, asks them for a complete list of the choices available in their 401(k) plan and how they are currently invested, and, from that, suggests a portfolio mix of the best funds available to them based upon their needs. It also provides quarterly reviews and updates of the investment mix.

Vanguard has introduced a new, broad market bond fund to be used exclusively by its Target Retirement and LifeStrategy families. The Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund will be benchmarked against the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index and is a clone of the $65 billion Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund.

Mistakes, bad luck and unexpected events can happen to any firm during good times and bad, but tackling misfortune in a forthright, brutally honest manner rather than trying to sidestep unpleasant truths can mean the difference between a small crisis and a full-blown public relations nightmare.

Fair value reporting seemed anything but fair last October when prices fell off a cliff.

In light of the recent market downturn and the difficult position that has left millions of near-retirees, Charles Schwab has launched a new suite of advice and tools specifically geared to investors within 10 years of retirement, called Real Life Retirement Services. Built as a type of social network, the accompanying website gives investors a place to ask questions and share their own experiences, including a survey that shows them how their retirement expectations compare with their peers.

The Department of Labor has ruled that financial advisers affiliated with the mutual fund companies administering 401(k) plans can offer advice. However, they must reveal the source of their fees, which will remain constant, regardless of their recommendations. If they use computer models, they must also disclose that.

Reflecting current financial turmoil, most investors are more attuned to whether a company is viable than to its performance, according to the 2009 Investor Brandscape report from Cogent Research.

The events that occurred in the financial services industry over the past year were once thought inconceivable. At this point, regulators are chomping at the bit to reverse how Wall Street does business, and investors are downright spooked. The editors of SourceMedia's business publications offer their views on how these dramatic shifts on Wall Street and in corporate America will impact businesses and investors this year.

NEW YORK - The whole world will be in a recession throughout 2009, economists say, but it will be the U.S. and its strong dollar that lead the world to recovery sometime in 2010.