Money Management Executive Latest News

During the second and third quarters, American households should recover as much as $6 trillion of the $14 trillion in wealth that they lost since the onset of the financial downturn last year, Barclays Capital analysts said. Even so, consumers probably won’t be ready to start spending freely again any time soon, Barclays said.

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Troy Paredes told the Investment Company Institute’s Capital Markets Conference Thursday that as long as mutual fund fees are negotiated in “good faith” between an investment manager and a fund board, the Supreme Court or any other court should not interfere in the inner workings of mutual funds, MarketWatch reports.

Reserve Funds paid back an additional $1 billion of the once $63 billion Primary Fund to shareholders, leaving a remaining balance of $4.5 billion. The asset manager is holding $3.5 billion of that in a special reserve for legal and accounting fees.

Mutual funds took in $16.45 billion in the week ended Sept. 16, marking the 27th straight week of inflows, now totaling $283 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Nearly half of U.S. companies are now automatically enrolling workers into 401(k) plans to encourage them to save for retirement, and an additional 33% are considering it, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt.

Fidelity has adjusted the holdings in its Freedom Fund lifecycle line as well as other asset allocation portfolios to include more international stocks, commodities and TIPS. International exposure throughout all of the Freedom Funds will rise from an average of 20% to 30%, with exposure to U.S. stocks falling commensurately.

The new rules of investment, post financial crisis, have investors giving bonds newfound respect and questioning even the safest investments, the Associated Press reports.

The Hartford Financial Services Group has created a new division called Hartford Life Distributors in which all sales and marketing for both investment and retirement products will be handled. This includes all strategic relationship management and business development for mutual fund, annuities, 401(k) plans and 529s.

Investors are less confident and more conservative about their retirement savings and personal finances following the financial crisis, but this presents a tremendous opportunity for advisers and mutual fund companies to help them, according to The Hartford.

Lord Abbett has decided to exit the bundled small plan 401(k) business, effective Oct. 1, to instead focus on the defined contribution investment only market. Hartford Financial Services Group will manage the transition of approximately 8,000 plans, 59,000 participants and $1.2 billion in assets, and will waive any potential costs associated with the transfer.