Money Management Executive Latest News

Although exchange-traded funds continue to grow in popularity, few brokerages offer a dedicated ETF center on their website where investors can see quotes, news, screeners and educational tools about the products, according to "ETF Centers Revisited," a new report from Corporate Insight. Of the 17 brokerage companies that Corporate Insight follows, only five offer ETF centers, up from four in 2004.

Janus Capital's board of directors approved $500 million worth of repurchases of its stock. This comes on the heels of an earlier approval of $500 million in stock repurchases that expires at the end of 2006, of which $124 million had not been exercised as of Dec. 31.

Fidelity Investments has just announced that a retired couple will need $200,000 over the course of their golden years to cover healthcare costs, not including long-term care in the case of a serious illness. The estimate assumes that the retirees are not covered by employer-sponsored healthcare but factors in Medicare Part B and D premiums, co-payments and premiums, as well as the out-of-pocket costs of prescription drugs.

General Motors announced Tuesday that beginning Jan. 1, 2007, it will put the freeze on its pension plans for its salaried employees, thereby reducing its pension liabilities by a total of $1.6 billion. The new plan does not, however, affect union workers.

A relatively small number of funds have attracted a large share of capital in recent years, and that could mean trouble, according to Russel Kinnel, an analyst with Morningstar in Chicago.

Charles W. Brady, 70, who has served as chairman of the board of directors of Amvescap since 1992 and founded Invesco, one of Amvescap's six main brands, will step down from his position at the conclusion of the firm's annual meeting on April 27, the firm announced Friday.

Smith Barney's Aggressive Growth fund leads the field in the 2006 Mutual Fund All-Star ratings from USA Today.

Although there has been a good deal of noise in the past few years over mutual funds offering performance-based fees, mutual fund companies seem more to be talking the performance fee talk than actually walking it, MarketWatch reports.

Although mutual funds are supposed to be the investment choice of the masses, many of these companies are increasingly looking to building up their high-net-worth clientele by offering hedge funds and other private investment pools with minimum investments of $1 million, the Boston Business Journal reports.

Investors who favor precious metals eagerly await the launch of Barclays Global Investors new silver exchange-traded fund, although it has not yet been approved, according to MarketWatch.com.